Mortality This Winter

[plumber_greg]

Tom, I got the third from the guy in the OP. He lost 29 out of 100. Did sound like I was callin' you out didn't it.
This winter is getting to me, I'm usually not that way.
When the winter hit we still had 2 months of outside work to do. Then I picked up the normal amount for spring, know how much there will be that I don't know about yet. Told a contractor it's like a dark cloud coming. Everybody is gonna' think they're first.
I apologize, you guys aren't prepared for something like that. It's been a long time since cows have had icecylces hanging on them around here. Kinda like preparing for a drought, is it gonna' happen or isn't it, h-ll can't do enough to prepare anyway.
One reason to calve like we do. No counting the fact that in the winter I can be around. Couldn't do it April.
Research has shown that the calves and cows do better when calving ENDS 30 days before grass turnout. Guess that means calves gain max, cows breed best, recover bsc. For us, in a 60 day calving season, grass turnout May1, means we should be done April 1.
To do that we need to start Feb. 1. One reason for winter calving. gs

 

[tom4018]

Tom, I got the third from the guy in the OP. He lost 29 out of 100. Did sound like I was callin' you out didn't it.
This winter is getting to me, I'm usually not that way.
When the winter hit we still had 2 months of outside work to do. Then I picked up the normal amount for spring, know how much there will be that I don't know about yet. Told a contractor it's like a dark cloud coming. Everybody is gonna' think they're first.
I apologize, you guys aren't prepared for something like that. It's been a long time since cows have had icecylces hanging on them around here. Kinda like preparing for a drought, is it gonna' happen or isn't it, h-ll can't do enough to prepare anyway.
One reason to calve like we do. No counting the fact that in the winter I can be around. Couldn't do it April.
Research has shown that the calves and cows do better when calving ENDS 30 days before grass turnout. Guess that means calves gain max, cows breed best, recover bsc. For us, in a 60 day calving season, grass turnout May1, means we should be done April 1.
To do that we need to start Feb. 1. One reason for winter calving. gs

Lots of people calving like we do and lots of people are rethinking it after this winter. Our county cattleman's sale was yesterday and heard lots of people talking about losing stuff. It really will hurt us profitability wise this year since we are a smaller operation but we just have to deal with it. I really feel bad when I lose anything, I always second guess myself thinking I could have done more. I beat myself up over it sometimes.

 

[Lazy M]

I'm in KY, too, and I'm right at 10% lost.. I've been depressed for the last month or so. Seems like everyday there for awhile I'd find a dead calf.. hopefully Spring is here to stay.
Tough winters are even tougher when its dark by the time you get off work to feed; and the only time you see the cows in daylight is on the weekends. Kind of makes you feel helpless whenever you start having calf-deaths. Probably preaching to the choir..

 

[kjonesel]

With cattle being the price they are no one wants to lose any. So far I've lost one out of the last 20 and I realize that this is an abnormally low loss with the winter we're having. It has taken extra effort on our part as I have constructed a calving shed and lot this past year. If I didn't subsidize the cattle operation with my full time job it would have never been built. Friday I was 45 miles away and fortunately my wife saw that we had two calve. I changed my schedule and came by to get one up to nurse because she couldn't get it to stand. What I have is working but we are blessed with a business that is ran from the farm, otherwise we could have lost a calf. In the years when cattle were lower it wouldn't have even come close to being feasible to invest in facilities that we would all like to have.

 

[bigbull338]

you can loose calves an cows at calving no matter how much or how little you check your cows.we check cows 2 or 3 times a day.an when our lows would get below 25 we would have cows to calve.an its hard to get clostrum in them fast if they dont get up fast an suck.we lost 2 like that an they was fed clostrum from the bottle.an it was just to cold for 1 calf.the otherhad a bad back leg.

 

[Stocker Steve]

We target calving to start on Mother' Day. :nod: It's wonderful.
I may move the heifers up to late April next year, but that is the limit.

 

[inyati13]

Went to Mt Sterling yesterday. Passed a drive way not far out of Carlisle, KY that went up a hill to a farm. Laying along the right side of the driveway was two big cows. Charolais. I assume to be picked up for proper disposal.

 

[Jake]

We have had the worst year calving we have ever had. Lost 12 calves so far to a multitude of reasons from cold to being laid on. Birth weights are up this year with the extra cold. Longest coldest dam winter we've had in my lifetime. We have had the arguments about moving calving back but then you just fight scours and rain. Old men of the operation are in love with fall calving but that is a $$ losing proposition and we don't have time to calve then.

 

[greybeard]

Makes me glad I live where I do, tho E Texas has it's problems too--mostly heat and drought, but had a colder than I remember winter too. Had 2 born on a 15 deg night, and 2 others born during an ice storm about a week ago, but it was just barely below freezing. I run bull all year, but thankfully most all calves have come late Dec-late March. A few lag behind. None lost yet this go round. Hope it stays that way.

I lost one Char 5 day old calf last year to (I think) coyotes or feral dogs. Wasn't much left of her when we found her and had seen her the day before running along with momma--doing fine. Lost another (beefmaster) pulled but stillborn about the same time from a young heifer--it never took a breath.

If it makes any difference, I have something to add.
I been reading you Northern folk's stories all winter, starting with the early blizzard in the Dakotas, and it's all been hard to even read. I feel for you, and don't think I could do anywhere what you do every year. I know the cattle can get mostly used to it, but I don't think I could. You guys and girls really gotta love what you do. :tiphat: :tiphat:

 

[inyati13]

Makes me glad I live where I do, tho E Texas has it's problems too--mostly heat and drought, but had a colder than I remember winter too. Had 2 born on a 15 deg night, and 2 others born during an ice storm about a week ago, but it was just barely below freezing. I run bull all year, but thankfully most all calves have come late Dec-late March. A few lag behind. None lost yet this go round. Hope it stays that way.

I lost one Char 5 day old calf last year to (I think) coyotes or feral dogs. Wasn't much left of her when we found her and had seen her the day before running along with momma--doing fine. Lost another (beefmaster) pulled but stillborn about the same time from a young heifer--it never took a breath.

If it makes any difference, I have something to add.
I been reading you Northern folk's stories all winter, starting with the early blizzard in the Dakotas, and it's all been hard to even read. I feel for you, and don't think I could do anywhere what you do every year. I know the cattle can get mostly used to it, but I don't think I could. You guys and girls really gotta love what you do. :tiphat: :tiphat:

That is an interesting perspective, GB. Since I have been on CT, I have empathized with folks in Texas and Oklahoma due to the droughts. I came to appreciate our temperate zone for raising livestock. This was a harsh winter. I think the issues we are seeing this year are due to getting too comfortable with a span of several years of mild winters. There has been a trend here toward the concept that cattle can "make it on their own". But I harken back to my childhood. Dad would keep the cows up in the barn during the bad weather. It was fun to go into the stable on a cold January day and enjoy all the warmth the cows had created. I love the smell of a warm barn. Cattle need good nourishment and they may need shelter at times. The oldtimers in this area would keep their oxen in "log pen barns". That is a barn that is built and supported by a core of logs cribbed together. They would take their corn shocks and lean them against the outside of the log crib. The oxen were as warm as toast inside. It was a daily chore to clean the oxen stable but that is what they had their boys for.

It was reported at the last Kentucky Cattle Asso. meeting that many producers are losing cattle and their calf crops. One of the reasons, is they have put cattle into compromising conditions, without proper nourishment and expect they "will take care of themselves". Well, that works in the trend of mild winters but this was not a mild winter. This could be a wateshed issue if the traditional winter guys like you and I grew up with continue!

 

[Stocker Steve]

we don't have time to calve then.

Calving on grass does not take much time. Drive out in a soft morning with a cup of coffee and then tag a couple. Open a gate to the next paddock, and then git back in time for some breakfast. Calving should be just like Christmas - - only it lasts longer.

 

[Jake]

we don't have time to calve then.

Calving on grass does not take much time. Drive out in a soft morning with a cup of coffee and then tag a couple. Open a gate to the next paddock, and then git back in time for some breakfast. Calving should be just like Christmas - - only it lasts longer.

Calves born in May and June in out area never seem to grow well. Their peak nutrient needs is right when the grass is drying up and losing nutritional value. If I am going to have to feed cows from fen until April we just as we'll be calving then. Not only to keep costs in check but that is when we have time. The rest of the year we are in the field cropping or haying.

 

[Lucky_P]

Lot of good info with regard to cold stress, low critical temperature, increased energy requirements, etc., in this article:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/liv ... 07-001.htm

Probably far too many folks do not, or have not, considered the increased energy demands that temperatures below the low critical temp - and features such as windchill or wet haircoat - play in cow condition - and, in our area, an increase in numbers of animals which have 'starved to death' with a belly full of hay.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Good article Lucky_P.

Thanks

 

[inyati13]

Thanks, Lucky. Good article.

 

[inyati13]

Log Pen Barns. I don't think I remember any in Wyoming or Montana. There were several where I was raised. The logs are laid up then the barn is built around the cribbing provided by the logs. Livestock could be stabled in the pen. Tobacco was housed from tier rails in the rest of the barn in this part of Kentucky. By Thanksgiving, the tobacco would be down and stripped. That was the time to bring in the corn shocks. The corn shocks would be stood up against the outside wall of the pen. It made a very protective interior for the family milk cow or draft stock which was often oxen in those days. I remember seeing an oxen yoke on the outside wall of one of these pens at the Cordary place only quarter of a mile from home. I wish I had it now. The feed for the oxen was right there handy with the ears of corn still attached and the fodder being feed as forage.

 

[cowgirl8]

We breed for March-May calving. But, sometimes the weather turns bad and the early calves struggle if born on one of those days. We had 2 newborns struggle, had to bring them in. One was comatose the other just couldnt get up after birth and got very cold. I managed to bring them back to life and they are back out with their mothers, well, except one is on a graft cow. His mother was a heifer and was not going to give any milk. A few days after we decided the calf was not going to do good on her, our daughter had a cow lose a calf due to a flexture birth. We saved the cow, but the calf was long gone. SO we grafted the heifers calf onto her and her giant udder. We had one calf hit by a falling tree, on the head. And although she's doing well, it messed with her sucking reflex and i'm still helping that calf. We had an older calf stuck on ice on her belly. Not sure if she was like that all night, but we warmed her up and put her back with her mother. She's doing fine. So, what i'm left with is the hurt face calf and a grafted calf.
Yesterday we had a calf born with no hair. I know, you wonder if it was a preemie..Nope not a preemie, fully developed, very spunky and no hair. Vet said she wont grow any so not sure what we will do with her. She's the craziest thing you'd ever see. Found a dog life vest for swimming and have that on her. Its cool out and well, she's cold. Yesterday we worried about her getting sunburned, today, freezing..lol
We had a lot of early calves and i'd say 75% of them were heifers. Not sure what the hecks going on there. I see a lot of you had some early calves too...
But, other than that we didnt lose any. Would have lost all of the ones we helped for sure if we hadnt found them. I do a lot of cow checking. Each round is over 10 miles and i do that 3 times a day on a 4 wheeler. I got a new 4 wheeler last August and i have 7500 miles on it already and its not the only thing i ride...lol....

 

[Dubcharo]

We had a calf with no hair several years ago, I thing it's call hypotrichosis. The female lived until slaughter at around 20 months. The butcher said she had the skin a bit thicker than the others.

 

[3waycross]

We breed for March-May calving. But, sometimes the weather turns bad and the early calves struggle if born on one of those days. We had 2 newborns struggle, had to bring them in. One was comatose the other just couldnt get up after birth and got very cold. I managed to bring them back to life and they are back out with their mothers, well, except one is on a graft cow. His mother was a heifer and was not going to give any milk. A few days after we decided the calf was not going to do good on her, our daughter had a cow lose a calf due to a flexture birth. We saved the cow, but the calf was long gone. SO we grafted the heifers calf onto her and her giant udder. We had one calf hit by a falling tree, on the head. And although she's doing well, it messed with her sucking reflex and i'm still helping that calf. We had an older calf stuck on ice on her belly. Not sure if she was like that all night, but we warmed her up and put her back with her mother. She's doing fine. So, what i'm left with is the hurt face calf and a grafted calf.
Yesterday we had a calf born with no hair. I know, you wonder if it was a preemie..Nope not a preemie, fully developed, very spunky and no hair. Vet said she wont grow any so not sure what we will do with her. She's the craziest thing you'd ever see. Found a dog life vest for swimming and have that on her. Its cool out and well, she's cold. Yesterday we worried about her getting sunburned, today, freezing..lol
We had a lot of early calves and i'd say 75% of them were heifers. Not sure what the hecks going on there. I see a lot of you had some early calves too...
But, other than that we didnt lose any. Would have lost all of the ones we helped for sure if we hadnt found them. I do a lot of cow checking. Each round is over 10 miles and i do that 3 times a day on a 4 wheeler. I got a new 4 wheeler last August and i have 7500 miles on it already and its not the only thing i ride...lol....

You live downwind from 3 Mile Island?

 

[cowgirl8]

No, but, we've also had a 2 headed calf...not sure what is upwind, but could be something...lol