Jake
Well-known member
farm girl":3sgku0o8 said:
hate to be repetitive and a pain, but that is exactly why you needed to start looking harder after the first week of not seeing it!!!! This calf's death is YOUR fault....
hidden calf
- Thread starter farm girl
- Start date
hate to be repetitive and a pain, but that is exactly why you needed to start looking harder after the first week of not seeing it!!!! This calf's death is YOUR fault....
bgm
Well-known member
I think that might be a bit presumptive and harsh. You don't know why the calf died or when. We all know that we are going to loose an animal once in a while. We just do the best we can, learn from our mistakes and go on.
I do agree I would have found the calf alot sooner, but that still might not have changed the outcome.
Jake
Well-known member
bgm":1vchwh6i said:
The cow had still been milking for a month or two... disease attack or whatever the cause she should have gone and found it. There is a 99% chance that if she'd have done what a responsible person would have and found the calf in the first week of her knowing it was born I would guarantee if it was healthy it would still be alive. And if it was a unhealthy calf she could have knocked it and grafted one onto the cow. This business is harsh. It being her fault was the truth....
I appear to have a few different thoughts on this situation then most folks. If you expend as much energy and time as you can and can;t find the calf it's one of those harsh realities of the cattle business.
Had a cow that calved, saw the the calf and it disappeared under the hotwire into the woods. No big deal, klots of the calves duck into the edge of the woods and hide out. Didn;t see her again that day so had the neighbors come over and we walked every square inch of that ppiece of woods, only about 20 acres, never found the calf. Next morning cow still in the same place calling the calf. Searched the woods again, no luck. Started checking other areas to see if the little snot had just wandered off. When I got back the cow was contentedly grazing. That evening, same thing. Cow in the same spot along the fence calling and no calf. Searched even more, still no calf. First light the next morning I searched every square inch of the farm, I thought, finally gave up. Came back from the furthest part of the farm and the calf was nursing. I watched the little butthead. She wandered into the woods in the same spot the cow had been standing and calling. Watched the calf go into the woods, slip through the trees, go down a hill into a ditch and cram herself under a MF rose. I knew right where she was and it still took a couple of minutes to be able to spot an eye, that's all I saw, an eye. Next day she joined the herd but would wonder off over a quarter mile into the woods to bed down.
If the pack of dogs that used to run this place had come through and found her she would have been dead, or if she couldn;t have fought her way out of the MF rose the same resulsts.
All you can do is what you can do. Beat yourselves up for having a calf die, but it's still part of the business.
dun
Had a cow that calved, saw the the calf and it disappeared under the hotwire into the woods. No big deal, klots of the calves duck into the edge of the woods and hide out. Didn;t see her again that day so had the neighbors come over and we walked every square inch of that ppiece of woods, only about 20 acres, never found the calf. Next morning cow still in the same place calling the calf. Searched the woods again, no luck. Started checking other areas to see if the little snot had just wandered off. When I got back the cow was contentedly grazing. That evening, same thing. Cow in the same spot along the fence calling and no calf. Searched even more, still no calf. First light the next morning I searched every square inch of the farm, I thought, finally gave up. Came back from the furthest part of the farm and the calf was nursing. I watched the little butthead. She wandered into the woods in the same spot the cow had been standing and calling. Watched the calf go into the woods, slip through the trees, go down a hill into a ditch and cram herself under a MF rose. I knew right where she was and it still took a couple of minutes to be able to spot an eye, that's all I saw, an eye. Next day she joined the herd but would wonder off over a quarter mile into the woods to bed down.
If the pack of dogs that used to run this place had come through and found her she would have been dead, or if she couldn;t have fought her way out of the MF rose the same resulsts.
All you can do is what you can do. Beat yourselves up for having a calf die, but it's still part of the business.
dun
pacadowling
Well-known member
Jake: This calf's death is YOUR fault....[/quote]
Jeez Jake, you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Personally, I'd say the calf's death was gods doin. I agree with Dun, all you can do is what you can do, after that it is out of our hands. ;-)
Jeez Jake, you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Personally, I'd say the calf's death was gods doin. I agree with Dun, all you can do is what you can do, after that it is out of our hands. ;-)
bward
Well-known member
Amazing story Dun. This spring we had a first calf heifer calve and the next day at feeding time which was 5 Pm, I noticed that her calf was not with her and her udder was pretty large.
She didn't seem to be overly concerned but being a new mom I realize that sometimes they don't know what they are doing.
The next morning we went out to look specifially for the calf. A quick drive around proved fruitless so Hubby went back and got the quad in order to check every square inch of pasture.
He started down the fenceline and got to within 100 feet of the heifer when a blur of red hide caught his eye. He turned around and found the butt of a calf in a huge badger hole. He thought for sure it was dead. He was unable to pull it out and discovered the tail had been bitten several times and that a large peice of tail was missing. The heifer had tried to pull the calf out of the hole using her teeth! ( and gums?)
The hole was deep and had an exit on the slope of the hill. He reached into the side hole, found a neck and pulled on an ear. The calf mumbled a moo. It was alive! He was able to dig a little space, push the calfs head back and find one leg, then the other. Then he pulled the calf from the hole, his mother fretting and watching the event. The calf drunkingly ran to its mother and latched on for a big drink.
About 3 weeks later the rest of the calf's tail dropped off. Just too much damage. And you can bet the calf stayed glued to his mom after that. He would have perished if we hadn't persisted in our search.
She didn't seem to be overly concerned but being a new mom I realize that sometimes they don't know what they are doing.
The next morning we went out to look specifially for the calf. A quick drive around proved fruitless so Hubby went back and got the quad in order to check every square inch of pasture.
He started down the fenceline and got to within 100 feet of the heifer when a blur of red hide caught his eye. He turned around and found the butt of a calf in a huge badger hole. He thought for sure it was dead. He was unable to pull it out and discovered the tail had been bitten several times and that a large peice of tail was missing. The heifer had tried to pull the calf out of the hole using her teeth! ( and gums?)
The hole was deep and had an exit on the slope of the hill. He reached into the side hole, found a neck and pulled on an ear. The calf mumbled a moo. It was alive! He was able to dig a little space, push the calfs head back and find one leg, then the other. Then he pulled the calf from the hole, his mother fretting and watching the event. The calf drunkingly ran to its mother and latched on for a big drink.
About 3 weeks later the rest of the calf's tail dropped off. Just too much damage. And you can bet the calf stayed glued to his mom after that. He would have perished if we hadn't persisted in our search.
Bama
Well-known member
bward":272nz3z3 said:
Gives new meaning to "pulling a calf"
I take responsibility for my cattle, so yeah it is my fault. We drove around the entire farm the first night we couldnt find her, next day brought the four wheeler out, and the next day walked the entire thing and never saw a thing of her. Like I said, we have a lot of brush and debree from a tornado that has not been all the way cleared yet, and she could have gotten in there but I couldnt. The cow has a very large bag and one tit that looks like it is being sucked, this is why we believed she was still alive. That one was always shining and that half of her bag was down. We had neighbors over to help us look but it turned up nothing. You cant expect to not lose one once in a while, and I am no exception. Whether it was killed by coyotes or a health reason chances are it would have been dead when we found it. Finding it would have eased my mind but I didnt and I guess thats life. Thanks for all who responded, even those with critizism, you learn from your mistakes.
tryinhard
Well-known member
Farmgirl, you did all you could do. Thats well enough, like u n several others said u are gonna loose sometimes. I am probabyl the dumbest person on this board. I can realize and sympathize with u though. There are many people on this board who do. You know that there are some who will be critical also, just take it with a {BLOCK} of salt. One may not know how to spell {SHE-I-IT} but they can smell it if you step in it. Then there are those who seem to TASTE it also. Good luck.
