Lucky me! TWINS!!

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Jeanne - Simme Valley

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Some of you newbies might not know it, but, I HATE TWINS.
Had my oldest cow go into labor, was down pushing about 10am. By 10:30, she had been REALLY pushing & "screaming" - only a tip of a toe was showing inside the vulva. Called hubby to come home. 20 minutes later had her in the chute. Pulled a heifer - easy pull. Hubby said things didn't feel right, so went back in, yup - more feet. Upside down, head back. Had heck of a time, but got HIM flipped over & got head up & easy hand pull. Both doing great. Cow in excellent condition and ONE DAY LATE!
Bull weighed 98# & Heifer was 88# - that was a bellie full!
As luck has it (or bad luck), had a first calf heifer that was a week away from being due not showing any close-up signs, calved during the night outside. Brutal wind & cold. Found dead calf.
So I quickly scooted her into the upper barn & hubby hauled calf up to her. She was pretty tentative - soft little moos & little licks. I put O-No-Mo on calf, tubed calf with powder colostrum. By evening calf would suck my finger so I "led" it to the teat. Voila, Mom & baby - purrrfect match. Turned outside 1.5 days later. Calf running everywhere driving heifer NUTS!
This time things worked out great. Cow even cleaned twice completely. Lucky us. Now, hopefully, cow recoups & breeds back quickly. Luckily, she is early in our 60-day calving season (just 9 days into calving).
 
Congrats on having it work out so well in the end. Sounds like a wonderful heifer to take that calf right away. You got lucky on that unluckey event.
 
Good job Jeannie!! Man, those were some big babies!! Yes, I would say you are fortunate to have things turn out like they did. :clap:
 
yeah sometimes a heifers lack of experience can be good. they let anything nurse or won't let anything nurse good luck
 
see having twins worked out for you esp since you had a heifer to loose her calf.an you put the twin on her.
 
It sounds to me like you did all right and everything worked out in the end. Good Job!
 
Yes, "SOMETIMES" twins work out to your advantage. I have had several heifer pairs of twins the last few years, that the dam raised both & made real good money on 1 out of each pair & the other one is in the herd, producing calves the same age as their contemporaries.
BUT! - so much can and does go wrong. We all know the drill - early abortions, early calving catching you unprepared, tangled up messes that can take forever to get out only to have both dead, cow doesn't clean, infection, late breeding, BCS, etc, etc.
I STILL HATE TWINS. Occasionally, you can benefit with them, but I would just as soon never have any. Of course, that's not going to happen with Simmental - fertle myrtles!
 
And to make it even better they're mixed sex! Boy, how lucky can you get?
 
Well, here we go again.
4AM a 2nd calf heifer is uncomforable. On her side, kicking her leg occasionally, flinging her tail out, but, not pushing.
Of course, lucky me, I'm watching her from bed :banana: Everyone can poo-poo having cameras, but I NEVER would have seen her acting like this, if I had bundled up & gone out to the barn. She would have stood there like nothing was wrong.
5:15 still no pushing, something's not right so I went out & put her in chute, hubby checked. Now he is 6'3" with long slender arms. This is a small 2nd calf heifer, he was in her up to his shoulders & pushing for all he was worth. Hmmm, I'm thinking I must have been dreaming. Finally, he has me get the bucket with disinfectant & goes in the vulva. AhHa, there's the tail. No feet, just tail. Before I could get the chains & handles out & ready, he had the two legs popped out, ready to pull. Yippee, solid red HEIFER!!
Is this how the rest of the calving season is going to be??? Hopefully NOT!!
We have another 9 due or past due and I'm bringing up another 10 head today.
Sleep?? yeah, occasionally.
 
No. Too tired & too busy to take pics. Shouldn't be on here wasting time. Should be SLEEPING or something! Got 19 "on deck" ready to calve. Calving in the winter, in pens, is labor intensive but so much healthier for the babies. That is IF I GET MOM in the barn prior to calving! Sometimes they are awefully sneaky.
 

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