The boss and our herdsman pulled up four cows out of our mature cow pen yesterday that had not yet calved, they palpated them and put them into a different pasture. Today they pulled up 8 that have not calved in the 2 and 3 year old pen to check them knowing that two have lost the calves (found the calves but could not identify the mamma.) Palpated the 8 today sure enough 2 of the 6 were open. When they were moving the 6 into the pasture with the 4 that still needed to calve from the mature pen they saw one of the 4 in labor. They decided to wait before putting the 6 in with them until she finished calving. So they waited, and sure enough she calved. The boss said the first calf hung up a bit at the hips but she pushed it on out. She got up licked the baby off and then started acting like she was in labor again. They decided they might better get her up since they were pretty sure it was twins. So they went to open gates and do what was needed to move her to a chute. When they got back to move her she had already had baby number two. Fair warning baby number two is pretty hard to look at so if you have a weak stomach just don't scroll down. I am posting this because I have never seen anything like it. Calf number one seems to be healthy, mamma is doing fine. Our herdsman said had he found baby number 2 in the pasture he would have bet the farm that it didn't belong to the cow that had it. But since they witnessed it they know she did. Calf number 1 weighed 72 pounds they didn't weigh calf number 2 but he was about the same size.
The cow is a 2004 model that has had a calf every year and done a great job with them. Today we are 48 days into our calving season. So yes she fell a bit back this year but still acceptable on calving interval.
gizmom
The cow is a 2004 model that has had a calf every year and done a great job with them. Today we are 48 days into our calving season. So yes she fell a bit back this year but still acceptable on calving interval.
gizmom