hip locked

[wbvs58]

I will post this for those that don't know. Always restrain the cow before you start pulling. I had a heifer get up with my puller and chains already hooked to the calf and took off. Everything worked out except the heifer was down for 2 days, the calf was dead and she never bred back.

That's good advice. I know a guy that made this mistake. He was down on the ground putting chains on the calf, made the mistake of having one loop around his wrist. Cow decided to get up and run around, and drug him around for a long time. He was awhile recovering from that.

He was lucky Silver,I have heard of them ending up dead.

Ken

 

[wbvs58]

You will save having to deal with some hiplocked calves when pulling a calf if you don't rest on your laurels when you get the head and shoulders through, keep the momentum going and get the hips through the pelvis with a bit of speed.

Ken

 

[Nite Hawk]

This is the cows 3rd calf I had no reason to expect trouble, as she is wide as a D8, and when I went in to check the calfs position, there was plenty of room in there only it was a bit tight at both critters pelvic, but loose enough I figured it should have came out with a gentle pull. It helps that this cow is gentle and seems to know we were trying to help her, and she wasn't running off over the wild blue yonder, until the calf was hanging upside down and smacking her on the hocks and bawling. Then she seemed to get upset like she didn't know what to do, till she laid down and tried again to push it out again.
It seemed when my son lifted the calfs body from a "drop position" to a parallel with the ground position, ( cow was laying down) and I pulled with some old hemp type ropes ( no slipping there, un-like with the chains) the calf slowly came out. I think lifting the calfs body position must have changed the pelvic position inside, that and using hemp type rope instead of the slippery chains helped, because the rope never slipped at all that I remember, and the chains kept coming off, even though they were figure 8 shaped.
I was talking to a friend who had a hip stuck calf, and she said that some big guys got ahold of the calf and twisted it this way and that way, until it finally came out, it did some sort of damage to the back / pelvic area, and the calf never did walk right, and it ended up being butchered. However, at the time turning the calf was probably the thing to do,( maybe they were too vigorous??)
and one simply takes their chances--either get the calf out- or one has a injured/ dead cow or calf.
In this area, it isn't always possible to get a vet " at the drop of a hat" due to the remoteness of some of the areas in B.C.
so ideas / discussion on the issue is one of the best solution for problems-- seeing what others have done to either avoid the problem or solve it..

 

[greybeard]

However, at the time turning the calf was probably the thing to do,( maybe they were too vigorous??)
and one simply takes their chances--either get the calf out- or one has a injured/ dead cow or calf.

Yep. Getting a live calf out is 1st priority, hoping for it to be alive and healthy too. Getting arms/hands up in there to turn it helps if there is room to do it, even if you have to push it back some.
You just don't expect trouble from a 3rd calf but sometimes nature just throws a wrench in the works to keep us on our toes.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

GB - that is a great point that we have not discussed. People don't think about PUSHING THE CALF BACK IN. You need to get it back to a point that you can rotate the calf. A slimey calf is difficult to turn. You can put a cane/stick between the calves legs and GENTLY rotate the calf using its legs to rotate the shoulders which in turn rotates the hips.

 

[Lucky]

Looks like this thread went off the rails pretty quick. Sure is allot of back in forth about what things are called in different areas. Only thing nobody argued about was securing the cow to something when pulling the calf. I bet if someone started a thread about what to call the thing dug out in the pasture that Livestock drink out of it would be 100 pages long.
I've got a Dr Franks calf puller, squeeze chute, pretty good set of pipe corrals, blah blah blah but when it comes time to pull a calf you just do whats best at the time. Last one I pulled I used 2 Lariat ropes, an ATV, and pick up truck, and a golden rod fence stretcher. Would have been nice to have a flashlight and a helper but no luck there.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Looks like this thread went off the rails pretty quick. Sure is allot of back in forth about what things are called in different areas. Only thing nobody argued about was securing the cow to something when pulling the calf. I bet if someone started a thread about what to call the thing dug out in the pasture that Livestock drink out of it would be 100 pages long.
I've got a Dr Franks calf puller, squeeze chute, pretty good set of pipe corrals, blah blah blah but when it comes time to pull a calf you just do whats best at the time. Last one I pulled I used 2 Lariat ropes, an ATV, and pick up truck, and a golden rod fence stretcher. Would have been nice to have a flashlight and a helper but no luck there.

:shock: :lol: :lol:

 

[True Grit Farms]

Using a toilet plunger to push a breach calf back in helps make room for your arm to grab the feet.

 

[Gators Rule]

http://livestockconcepts.com/en/equipment/10326-calf-puller-ratch-a-pull-breech-spanner-.html

Well fellas, some of you just got schooled on the front page of this thread! :cboy: Now I guess I'm gonnahave to read to the end to see if any of the class admits to the error of your ways...or if you dig deeper! :cowboy:

 

[Nite Hawk]

In the right circumstances pushing a calf back in is a good idea if it can be done. Have done similar with lambs, but never thought of it with cows, but it is something to think about, but the size might be an issue especially when the cow is trying to push it out..

 

[wbvs58]

In the right circumstances pushing a calf back in is a good idea if it can be done. Have done similar with lambs, but never thought of it with cows, but it is something to think about, but the size might be an issue especially when the cow is trying to push it out..

Not that hard to do, True Grit's plunger is a good idea. Back in the 70's when I first started practice I worked in an old run down Vet practice that used to be quite a busy dairy practice back in the day, the good thing was in the junk pile under the house it had a lot of interesting old equiptment and there was no shortage of calving gear. One piece I used a lot was a Coombs crutch, just a stainless steel rod with handle and a U shape at the other end, it was great for repelling the calf and as well as an offending bent limb can be much more easily reached and straightened also the leg usually pops up closer. You don't lose ground by pushing them back in.

I was never in a busy cow practice so my experience is limited but one that I have experienced thinking it was hiplocked that wouldn't shift was a calf with one back leg forward, trying to go through the pelvis at the same time as the hips. It is a difficult one to know that it is happening.

Ken

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Put BOTH of your arms in & push. That's almost the only way you can correct a leg back or head back, but you need to crawl right in to get er done.

 

[Nite Hawk]

Once we got the calfs body parallel with the ground and not dropped down towards the ground in an arch and then with a good pull she came out, so I am thinking that the lifting of the calf jiggled the hips somehow so they could come out..

 

[Nesikep]

Put BOTH of your arms in & push. That's almost the only way you can correct a leg back or head back, but you need to crawl right in to get er done.

I have a very old vet book, and it shows the procedure with a "cutaway" view of the cow.. guy is there up to his elbow and can reach the malpositioned leg.
I'm 6', up to my shoulder, and can *nearly* get it