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Ky hills

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Clark County, KY
Last night, found a cow close to calving. Went to check on her this morning. She is admittedly one of the bottom end cows, but has always raised a calf, although never a very impressive one. Coyotes were howling a lot in the night, and we have the other cows fastened in the front field to fly tag and wean calves this week, so I was concerned about what we might find this morning. Drove around the perimeter almost all the way around. Then after a couple times of mistaking a log for her and what might have been a small bear in a thicket along a branch , we finally found her well hidden. With a new calf that jumped up and took off like a deer.706DD862-5F99-4A63-A711-0CEA005D3389.jpeg
 
Had one calve a couple of weeks ago . She was below the pond in some thick stuff . Got her up so I could see her . Definitely had calved but couldn't find her baby anywhere. Even looked on the other side of the fence , just in case she had hid it in the bushes across the barbed wire fence . Finally gave up looking and drove through the rest of the herd . At the opposite end of the pasture, 40 acres, was a new calf . No momma in sight . Went to the other pasture and checked the other herd . Came back still no momma. Next morning calf midway in pasture , no momma . 3rd day I caught old momma feeding the new born , hiding it and then going back to the pond . Two weeks before you could find her with the calf all day . I hate ones like her !
 
Good cow, you just have to trust their judgement. I've had 6 heifers in the paddock behind the house where I calve them so I can keep an eye on them. On Thursday morning one was missing so had to do a methodical search of the place as there was no indication of which fence she had gone over, my place has lots of scrub around the edges and granite outcrops so lots of hidey holes. I found her down along the creek line with things all sorted, a nice bull calf. She had to go over 2 fences to get there, admittedly not real flash fences but when they get a bee in their bonnet about where they gotta be nothing stops them. I think she is going to be a great maternal cow.

Ken
 
There are several hundred cows in this little neighborhood that got turned out as dry bred cows. It will be October or November when they will get seen again with a slick calf at their side. Those are the ones we worry about losing. With no brand on them they can accidentally end up in someone else's pen. There also will be a few where the cow evades capture and winters out. In those cases the calf will be a yearling before being caught.
 

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