Just Wonderin'

[Farmhand]

I'm curious about why people are complaining about having to move newborn calves into a barn at night in 40 below weather. I have drawn the conclusion from this statement that they are checking their cattle daily and have seen one that is looking close - otherwise they would see no need to go check them in the middle of the night. We calve in January and have never had to move one in in the middle of the night. One looks close? She gets moved into the barn that evening. No calf in the morning? Open the door. Move her back in next evening. Repeat until calf is born. Too much work? We're out there anyway checking on them. Beats middle of the night checks. We run primarily Angus. There is an open front shed they have full access to. Everyone of them has gone to that shed to calve if we haven't already moved her into the other barn. Just seems to me that if you are going to winter calve that you would do whatever to keep from those midnight moves. What am I missing?

 

[msscamp]

Although I could be (and probably am) wrong here, I'm thinking it may be the cow/heifer that calves without showing any signs of impending calving. I think I'm fairly safe in saying we have all had those critters, and the one's that wait until the worst possible weather to calve. There is something about a dropping barometer, and the freak snowstorm, that really causes them to pop! Unfortunately, there is no way of predicting those circumstances, and they usually don't hit until about dark. At least, that is the way it is here. Of course, it could just be a lack of experience, too. Just my thoughts.

 

[dun]

msscamp pretty well sized it up. There are also those that won;t go to barn/shed to calve. They'll find the furthest most inacceptable spot to calve. Since the time frame of "normal" can run from a couple of weeks before to a couple of weeks after the expected calving date, moving them everyday can get to be a problem and getting them stirred up everyday isn;t conducive to their peace of mind.
Almost forgot, weather liars aren't particularly accurate. Sometimes their guesses about the weather and temps aren;t any better then ours about when a cow will calve.

dun

 

[Farmhand]

Yeah, I understand those situations. The ones I am wondering about are the middle of the night moves. Something had to be going on to make them decide to go check at midnight. I can't think of any other reason to get myself out of bed to go check cattle. Ours run 320 acres in the winter. Our set up allows us to lock down to about 10 acres for working purposes. The water supply is inside this 10 acres. We wait til they come in for water and just shut the gate behind them. And I know what you mean by weather liars. We trust our own insticts more. That's how we decide when to shut that gate. Open gate in the morning after checking that everyone is all right. We very rarely move a cow to the barn each night until she calves. Just the ones we think may be problems. We've always been glad we did with those couple.

 

[CattleAnnie]

Numbers of cattle can also compound the necessity for night checks, as well as those animals that don't give much physical notice of calving - ie. cows delivering twins are notorious for calving up to two weeks early.

In our case, sometimes we have thirty plus cows that look ready to calve within 24 hours, and there simply isn't enough room for them all to be in the barn.

We also like to keep the amount of manure in the barn to a minimum, and I personally am not keen to be shovelling up after a bunch of cows every morning that didn't even produce a calf in return for their mess. :shock:

I'm quite envious of your program though, as it must be wonderful to never have to assist with a leg back, breech birth, etc in the middle of the night. Our cattle seem to follow no set time schedule when it comes to delivery problems.

Take care.

 

[Farmhand]

Oh I never said we haven't had to assist difficult births in the middle of the night. We just never have to hunt all 320 acres first.

 

[CattleAnnie]

Darn!

Here I was hoping that you'd developed a strain of trouble-free calving cattle (that would have made the most popular breed thread!) ;-)

We don't leave the cattle out to calve in large pastures though, as that would be pretty darn rude on all involved (cows,calves,humans) when you're calving in Feb and March in Canada.

The ones that are closest to term are sorted aside and kept in large pens that are close to the barn, once they've calved and mothered up well (in another seperate area from the breds), the pairs are kicked out into into a field till 'grass time' (a.k.a. heaven).

Take care.

 

[J&T Farm]

Yeah we call it a springin pasture here. Smaller field close the the barn. We dont have to worry about the barn part. Not cold enough here to have to put them up. Mostly close to the chute.

 

[Farmhand]

CattleAnnie - oh how I would LOVE to develop cattle like that! Thanks for the chuckle!

Actually the rest of your post and J & T Farms is what I was trying to get at. If you know you are going to calve in snow, then make it easier for all involved. A little interior fencing and a barn near a water supply will make it easier to watch or assist a cow. I don't understand people who are crying about middle of night, 50 below weather, out in the back 40. Don't they realize that's when everything bad happens? It just doesn't have to be that hard.

I know - maybe they were just exagerating to get our sympathy. ;-)

 

[Susie David]

I move the cows into the barn when the temps drop and Susie tells me to....heck, I have to move the calves in the barn when it drops below the teens. Put a cover over part of the catch pen this summer and can make a nice calving pen with some panels...like my bride will let a cow calve in march outside the barn. We only keep a few cows these days so we can spoil them, besides at my age the only thing I get up for at night is the call of nature...alot.
DMc

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

"Unfortunately, there is no way of predicting those circumstances, and they usually don't hit until about dark. At least, that is the way it is here".


MSSCAMP...If memory serves me,I seem to remember reading some university research that indicated birthing time was influenced by feeding.Cattle fed in the am calved at night,and cows fed in the evening calved during the day.Anybody else remember this? :?: :cboy:

 

[msscamp]

"Unfortunately, there is no way of predicting those circumstances, and they usually don't hit until about dark. At least, that is the way it is here".


MSSCAMP...If memory serves me,I seem to remember reading some university research that indicated birthing time was influenced by feeding.Cattle fed in the am calved at night,and cows fed in the evening calved during the day.Anybody else remember this? :?: :cboy:

Yeah, that is what they say. We tried it and had no appreciable change in calving times. They still calved when THEY were ready.

 

[Susie David]

We tried it this past season...cows didn't read the same article. They all calved in the early morning even before an early breakfast.

 

[CattleAnnie]

We moved our feeding time from morning to evening, and noticed that instead of the majority of calves hitting the ground at 1 or 2 a.m., I was finding that there were a lot of calves hitting the ground around 5 or 6 a.m.

Really enjoyed the difference in birth times, as I do all the night checks around here, and am more alert later in the morning than around midnight. Plus the bonus of sometimes having dawnlight to work in and not struggle to pull the calf sled while carrying the flashlight (one of these years sure hope we can afford power and lights at the barn!).

Anyway, not saying it's Gospel. just what we've seen here.

Take care.