miracle calf

[Nesikep]

Nesikep-- you must have tasted good!! LOL She looks like she has a bit of limo in her?
Jeanne - Simme Valley-- when it comes to feeding cattle -the feed specialist at the co-op recommends high protein to grow them and then switch to a higher starch to fatten...

Yes, she's half Limo, then Gelbvieh, Shorthorn, Saler and Hereford way back.. She's raising that calf well, wish she'd hold a little more condition though
Her mother loves chewing on my arm.. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree they say.. you can see her as a calf here too
[youtube]https://youtu.be/0T8VkKyKLi8[/youtube]

 

[lithuanian farmer]

Glad to see everything turned out well.
Many years ago, had one heifer which had a very hard time delivering her first calf, even with assistance. She never took a glance to the calf. She did a fine job with the next calf, been a good mom. And even would "insist" she needs some help if you are near when she's calving. She would lie down next to you asking for a help, even if it's a small calf and she can do it easily herself.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Nesikep-- you must have tasted good!! LOL She looks like she has a bit of limo in her?
Jeanne - Simme Valley-- when it comes to feeding cattle -the feed specialist at the co-op recommends high protein to grow them and then switch to a higher starch to fatten...

Correct- a sucking age calf needs high protein which they are getting from Mom's milk. When they are weaned at 6-8 months of age, they should get around 14-15% protein through maybe 800-900#. (TexasBred is our expert now that I don't have hubby around.) After that, 12-14% is a good growing ration.
You need STARCH/ carbs to FATTEN for finish. You never want to fatten a heifer.
Your feed specialist is absolutely correct. But, you are not finishing/fattening your weaned heifers prior to breeding.
I am guessing?? your breed should weigh at least 800-850# at breeding time and be about 1100# at calving.
What does she weigh now?

 

[Chris H]

Definitely a miracle calf! Usually a head back indicates the calf is already dead. They need to help get their heads up in place, too. Pushing the calf back gave it enough room to get its head up. I figure any pull where the heifer gets on her feet is not too bad. I'd keep her.

 

[Silver]

Sometimes their heads are straight down between their front legs, and it can be pretty confusing at first. That head can be down there a long ways, and hard to reach.

 

[Nite Hawk]

We checked for head down between the legs, wasn't there, and the heifer had "sucked" the calf back in several times, once the feet actually disappeared, still no head.
Last fall she weighed in before breeding If I remember right about 850 # or 880# thereabouts,
she hasn't been on a scale since..
No she hasn't been on a "fattening" diet, if you can "fatten" a piedmontese very much. They can put on a bit, but basically they are a lean muscled breed. When you look at them what you usually see is muscling under the skin over the ribs.
And agreed you may want to "condition" a heifer, but not "fatten" if you know what I mean. I have seen 4-H heifer sooo incredibly fat they have huge ROLLS of fat around the tail head. Sometimes I just shake my head when the judges place these OBESE heifer first or at the top of the class. There has been the odd judge that has "docked" OBESE heifers in 4-H shows, but it is not common.
Not good for breeding or calving, or for the udder. You want milk tissue in there, not fat.
Nesikep that is definitely a "licky" cow.. Better than a "kicky" cow! LOL
I would still watch those teeth, they have some razor sharp teeth in there even if they are not being mean. Had one cow that one of the family was feeding, and I warned them to watch the teeth. I knew from experience they have some sharp ones further back in there. The cow was NOT being mean, don't think she had a mean bone in her body, was just trying to bite down on the "goodie" and it was a nasty bite...
Its nice to see a calm gentle friendly animal and it seems that calmness is being passed to her calf as well.
It sure is easier to work on an animal if she is calm and not fighting you..

 

[Nesikep]

There's a reason I only let her take my arm in sideways.. she can't get it back far enough to the big teeth! Yes, definitely better licky than kicky!.. I have milked her a few times, and she's raising her orphan brother this year and doing a pretty good job of it too... Didn't even have to fight her to get her to adopt him which is nice!.. The only downside is her own heifer calf (I'm short on heifers this year) isn't going to be up to weight.. Oh well.

 

[Nite Hawk]

Well calf is doing good, momma was doing good, but now I think she has a slight case of metritis so guess will have to put her on some anti-biotics.. Seems very very slight..
been so long since I have had that problem I am trying to remember what I used.. I do have some penicillin in there...

 

[Nesikep]

as long as she's got good appetite I've been told to hold off.. I usually use LA200 and can also do a uterine lavage.


I wanna see some pictures

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

If she is having some thick milky discharge, and she is otherwise acting healthy, I would just give her a lutalyse shot at 10-14 days post calving. That will help her clean out.

 

[Nite Hawk]

She had a little bit of slightly think pink discharge, and was holding her tail to the slightly to the side for a couple days, and one day I saw a tiny tiny bit of whitish discharge, there was NO large volume of frothy white muck or anything like that
but I want her to be in good shape to re-breed when that times rolls around, and not have any issues with "why wont she catch" or anything like that.
Short lasting Liquamycin is almost impossible to find in the interior, "everyone" uses the long lasting stuff and I absolutely hate the long lasting stuff because you have to pump them full of a such a high volume, and I have had cattle break out with a "hive" type reaction.--cant think of the proper term for it.-- They have "welts" all over around the injection site.
Had that happen several times.
I used to use Trivetrin and had a lot of real good results with it, but they can have a pain reaction ( more common in smaller animals, ) and you think you just killed the critter. After they get the needle, some animals ( not all) will fall down and jerk a bit and blat a bit and then get up and walk away just fine. Scared the tar out of me the first few times it happened. Doesn't seem to bother cattle as much mostly sheep and goats.. It is like penicillin without the Procaine in it, it stings a bit.
Not familiar with lutalyse , is that similar to estramate??

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Lutalyse is a prostaglandin - so yes same as estrumate. I would not treat her with any antibiotic if she is not SICK.

 

[Nesikep]

a little discharge isn't a problem.. If in doubt take her temp.

Estrumate is synthetic lutalyse and more concentrated.

 

[Nite Hawk]

I talked to the vet and they said to cycle her, which sounds better than antibiotics..
..

 

[Nesikep]

yup, and just keep an eye on her temp/appetite.. doesn't sound like there's a whole lot to worry about at this point though