How cold is too cold for calving?

[redangus]

I had a heifer give birth to a young 64lbs female in the snow the other day with a temp at 24 and windy. The heifer had some ice in it's lumped up, wet hair. She was still wet and laying down. The momma was laying down beside her and didn't do a very good job of cleaning her up. I didn't know if she had ate yet or not.

I got the little girl in my truck for about 20 minutes with the heat on high. I massaged her with a towell and dried her off pretty good. She got out and sucked her momma dry.

How cold is too cold for calving?
How cold is too cold for calving when the mommas don't clean'em off good?

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I've got some very good mothers around here that can seemingly lick a calf dry in 3 minutes, lol. Seriously, I don't get concerned about a well tended calf until 0F - 10F or so, depending on whether the sun is shining or if its snowing. No sun, or snowing, I'll run them in earlier. I'll check its ears and if they seem to be getting colder, I'll run both animals in, dry the calf off well, then boot them back outside.

A poorly tended to calf, I'll start getting concerned by 20F or so. Once again, I play it by "ear". If the calves ears are staying warm, I don't worry about it. Sometimes all it takes is a towel to the ears out in the calving pen.

Whether the calf is well tended or poorly tended, I don't keep the animals inside after the calf is dry. I firmly believe it invites sickness, and slows the calf down. Calves in the sun will do far better than those not in the sun. If the little fella is inside and trying to get his first suck, I'll leave em be until hes done his business, then he gets the heave ho again.

Rod

 

[got_cows?]

I worry more about wind than temperature. If the calves are wet and it's windy out they get chilled before they ever have a chance to get dry.
We tried calving in March and had a bad time of it. We moved all our calving to April. It still can get bad but it usually only lasts a day or two and then is decent again.
If it's nasty outside and we have a newborn we usually shed the pair until the calf is dry and eating. No more than a day or two at the most. Then we move them out into a fresh field.
If the cow doesn't clean the calf off very good the temp. doesn't have to be that cold for the calf to get chilled. Of course a lot depends on how lively the calf is too. Some would lay there all day while others are trying to stand almost from birth.
Watch the new calves and intervene is necessary.

 

[Bez!]

Calve on snow is very common in Canada. They are tough and I have successfully calved out at minus 40.

Not ideal but it can be done.

Just need to take care to keep them out of wind and give them some straw. Tape their ears down to prevent freezing and be sure mom does her job immediately.

A hot box to get them started is sometimes a good idea.

A few other details but no sense in dragging them into this discussion.

Dry, out of wind a bit of straw for bedding and a good mom. They will survive.

DiamondSCattleCo is right on with his assessment.

Bez!

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Dry, out of wind a bit of straw for bedding and a good mom. They will survive.

I always forget to mention straw, but Bez is right. LOTS of clean straw is cheap insurance against sickness, and cold. I probably overbed, but I'd rather see nuthin but ears poking out of the straw than manure everywhere.

And as for the good mom, if an animal isn't a good mother around here, she hits the trail. I'm a little more lenient on hiefers, but after that second calf, I'd better see some mothering.

I've calved all over the calendar, and firmly believe that Mid-Feb to March calving is the ticket. If I had a little more barn space for drying out calves, I'd move back to January calving. Virtually ZERO sickness, and when things start to thaw out, the calves are up and going good so they can be punted out onto a wooded spring pasture. I believe this is why I have such a low rate of scours here, and all it costs me is a little sleep in February and March

Rod

 

[Bez!]

Dry, out of wind a bit of straw for bedding and a good mom. They will survive.

I always forget to mention straw, but Bez is right. LOTS of clean straw is cheap insurance against sickness, and cold. I probably overbed, but I'd rather see nuthin but ears poking out of the straw than manure everywhere.

And as for the good mom, if an animal isn't a good mother around here, she hits the trail. I'm a little more lenient on hiefers, but after that second calf, I'd better see some mothering.

I've calved all over the calendar, and firmly believe that Mid-Feb to March calving is the ticket. If I had a little more barn space for drying out calves, I'd move back to January calving. Virtually ZERO sickness, and when things start to thaw out, the calves are up and going good so they can be punted out onto a wooded spring pasture. I believe this is why I have such a low rate of scours here, and all it costs me is a little sleep in February and March

Rod

All over the calendar? Hope it was a big one! :lol:

We do it on grass now.

I keep a fresh field - no manure and grass about 14 inches high.

Flies? Yeah, a few but it sure beats frost bite and dressing up at 0200 for that late night check.

Bez!

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

All over the calendar? Hope it was a big one! :lol:

We do it on grass now.

<chuckle> Not big enough.

I've worked for a few outfits that calved at various times and tried 3 or 4 different times in my own herd. Maybe its just my management style or the way my luck runs, but I had troubles with April/May calving due to the spring rains we get. Rain on freshened calves seems like its worse than cold. June/July/August calving I had fly trouble, and its haying season. Had a higher mortality rate due to mothers leaving their calves behind and them baking in the sun (Doggoned Angus/Gelvieh cross cows I bought one year). Fall calving just ain't my thing. While others seem to get lots of growth out of fall calves, I sure can't seem to. End up feeding a lactating cow through the worst that winter has to throw at us, all for 1.5 lbs/day growth. At least Jan/Feb/Mar in Saskatchewan, you know exactly what you're going to be dealing with. So while I'll prolly be the last idiot in the area still getting dressed at midnite, 2 and 4 am, I'll be a happy idiot :lol:

Rod

 

[CattleAnnie]

No worries about being the only one up checking, Rod.

I might not be in your area, but I'm burning the late night oil here too. ;-)

Happy calving season.

Take care.

 

[Dap]

It's interesting how everyone has a different way of handling things. We never know what we're going to get here as far as weather. I think it was in 96 we had a blizzard in the middle of March. After that year I pushed most of the calving back to April 1. I always try to save a stockpiled field for them to calve in, and by then our grass is usually ready to take off anyway. Were not froze up like you guys up north, so to me cows near a barn usually equals a muddy mess.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Taping down the ears?? explain please.
We had one born in the barn, was hi of 15F with wind blowing 50 mph outside. One ear froze, I thawed it out but think we'll lose some of it - dang - it was 1 of only 3 heifers so far - 10 bulls!!!
Anyway, NY cold is different. We don't get as low a temp as Canada - but ours is a real DAMP cold - sun - what's that????

Well, I just came back from outside. Saw a cow laying down that I've been watching - had thought she was going into labor. Well, she was down with a leg up so I hustled outside & got her in the barn. She had two feet showing. As I was putting her in the barn, a friend drove up. We spoke for a few minutes & I asked her if she wanted to see the new calf. She said "she hasn't had time to lay down yet". We went in the barn & she was licking the calf - a Macho HEIFER !!! yeah!!

 

[msscamp]

Tape their ears down to prevent freezing and be sure mom does her job immediately.


Bez!

Bez, would you please expand on this? It could come in very, very handy around here! Thanks!

 

[Victoria]

There are too many factors to consider other than just temperature. Dampness is a factor, windchill, day or night, shelter, sun or no sun, etc. DiamondSCattleCo. has a good rule of thumb though for temperature but each individual animal will have different requirements. Just watch and if you have a useless cow you will probably have to help by at least giving the cow a swift kick in the butt.
We calve our commercial cattle starting middle of Feb. and our purebreds middle of Jan. We do all of our calving on the field, no nice big calving barn here. We do have a small barn for emergencies but we put out LOTS of straw.
When we had a Charolais bull the calves were cold far more easily we found. I'm not trying to knock Charolais, they are great animals they just didn't work for us. Since switching to a Red Angus bull we haven't brought in a single calf. They still get cold but they get up, move around and have a drink - that is what saves a calf. I do still sometimes dry off the ears a bit. Too easy to lose those on a cold day.

Quick story about how tough some calves are and this was a Charolais cross. When I was a kid my sister found a calf on her check that was frozen to the ground. The cow had not looked ready to come and had wandered away from the straw and had the calf on the ice and snow. My sister used a shovel and her horse to dig the dead calf out of the ground to haul away the body. It was when she was just finished that the calf blinked at her. Amazingly enough it was still alive. She brought it to the house and we warmed her up slowly in the tub and got colostrum in her. We had to put her and the cow in the barn for awhile as her hair was missing on the side she froze down. We kept her as a replacement thinking she had to be tough and she was a good cow.

 

[CattleAnnie]

Some folks use duct tape to tape the ears down tight to the side of the neck, as a temporary aid in preventing the ears from freezing.

The reasoning is that the ears will get some warmth from the body, and therefore not freeze.

They usually dry them a bit before taping. Of course, the tape is yarded off once the calf is dry and vigorous.

Take care.

 

[Bez!]

Some folks use duct tape to tape the ears down tight to the side of the neck, as a temporary aid in preventing the ears from freezing.

The reasoning is that the ears will get some warmth from the body, and therefore not freeze.

They usually dry them a bit before taping. Of course, the tape is yarded off once the calf is dry and vigorous.

Take care.

You got it. I just leave the tape on until mom takes it off. Generally speaking I cannot catch them to grab the tape.

Too old and slow now. :lol:

I used to keep most of the ears by doing this.

Bez!

 

[Victoria]

Never tried that one Bez, thanks for the tip!

 

[Farmhand]

Now that IS a great tip! Learned something new today. Thanks