My first BAD DAY in this business

[C HOLLAND]

I found my Lim/Angus heifer (Old Yeller my wife named her) dead this morning when I went to check on the cows.
She would have been the first one to calf of my heifers this year and the only one that I did via AI. This is the heifer that gave my wife the name as water trough lady in our town. She got knocked into the water trough by her after we had her for around 4 months. She had turned out to be one of the best heifers we have. I was really looking forward to seeing that calf hit the ground since it was my first AI. She was not due until Oct 29th

I have beat myself up all morning for not having them at the field near the house, but I was planting it in rye. I had been back to see them Friday night with my wife and we both swear we counted for her. I cant help but to second guess myself.

This is not a good day.

A pic of her when we brought her home

a few weeks ago

 

[Frankie]

I'm sorry; that is a tough row to hoe. What do you think happened?

 

[C HOLLAND]

Not really sure, I think she may have died trying to calf from the signs.

I plan to remove the calf (curiosity I guess) before we burry her when the backhoe gets here.

 

[Frankie]

Do you think the calf was too big? She was a month early, it's hard to think the calf was already too big for her to handle. We don't start watching ours close until about two weeks before they're due. You can't be with them 24 hours a day; don't beat yourself up too much. It is discouraging, especially since it was an AI breeding.

I got concerned yesterday about a ten year old cow. She started showing some signs labor about 4 pm, but she came up to eat at six. Still didn't have feet out by 8. In the past, she's squirted a calf out in about 30 minutes. So we got her in the chute and made sure the calf was in the right position. An hour or so later she was licking it down.

 

[C HOLLAND]

Frankie, The bull we used on her was a low BW bull, but I just don't have a clue, she was bred on jan-20 and by the gestation calculator she would have been due Oct-29

 

[Alice]

How awful! I mean, that can be really depressing. I'm sorry.

I fully understand wanting to know what happened to cause this...at least to ease your mind, but, ya' know, sometimes stuff just happens. You know you take good care of your cattle...please don't beat yourself up.

Alice

 

[Gale Seddon]

Very sorry to hear your news...hard, especially with being your first AI. Any chance you could get a PM done so you can find out the cause...might ease your mind some if you have other cows due?

 

[mtncows]

We have all had days that were just like yours, if we care to be honest.It may have been something that happened you could not have prevented.Sounds like you care enough about your stock to have given her attention she needed.Four weeks away doesnt need checking that closely.May have been a poison weed or if you have plenty of green grass,a case of early grass tetany. If you made amistake(and I don't think you did) you learn something and then you go on.Please don't beat yourself up over something that wasn't your fault.

 

[redfornow]

As you can tell from the posts. We all have been there.
This is at times an ugly business.
In the real world losses happen around cash.
In the cattle business its both cash and personal. They are beef animals but in the end WE are supposed to pick when they die.

Sorry for your loss, I know for a small producer each calf is a big deal to the bottom line.
Keep your chin up and keep on keeping on.

MD

 

[dun]

Just anecdotal, but I AIed a heifer for a neighbor to bull whose calves had alwasy been around 45 lbs. A month early she went into labor in the middle of the night. When he went out in the morning there was a dead 100 lb heifer calf and one very stove up heifer trying to get up.
It happens, never pleasent and you'll kick yourself for a whilethinking "what if". Just don;t get paranoid and accept that it has already happened and there isn;t anything you can do about. But I still kick myself for not checking on a heifer last spring that I had to pull a dead calf out of because I was too stupid to realize what was going on early enough to save it.

dun

 

[God's Homestead]

I know its tough and a person always blames themselves...but like someone else said..sometimes nature just takes its course and there might not have been anything you could have done..even if you were there with her.

Best of luck with the rest of the babies.

 

[C HOLLAND]

Thanks everyone,,,,I guess you can tell I am an ole softy.

I know one thing for sure the other 4 heifers will be at the house next week and I will feel better knowing they are closer. I do know that this does happen and I probally counldn't have done a thing about it.

Thanks again everyone

 

[MrGale]

hind sight is always 20/20....no matter how good a rancher you are you are going to loose some....guess that it is part of the business, as awful as that might seem. If not too late, maybe a post mortum would at least give you an idea of what went wrong....could have been dead cherry tree branches or something way out from what you think it was. We have lost more than one, and don't waste a lot of time playing "what if i had...." like i did....does no good at all. sorry to hear about your plight, but i don't feel so all alone now, so maybe some good did come of it !
Robert Seddon
Olde Towne Farm

 

[Caustic Burno]

CH it's part of the business we are in, if you ain't got em you can't loose them. No matter how hard you try you will continue to loose them as long as you stay in the business

 

[C HOLLAND]

Caustic, you are so right, it's the risk we take and we all have to go through things like this and it never gets easy.

I know one thing for sure, I have read and listened and still learn everyday from this board and help from locals in the business.

I remember when I first posted the pics of my first 5 heifers last Nov and some of the comments about the Lim heifer and some said get rid of her for some reason or another and Mike C told me to just wait to see how she turned out. I did exactly that and she turned out to be one of my best.

Well Caustic, I will be dusting off the rifle tonight and have a coyote shoot (thats one critter I have no use for) since I can't put her in the ground until Monday morning. I was in the field for about an hour with a shovel but this dang clay will whip anyone. The ground sure must be harder now days, I can remember when I was a youngster helping my grandfather dig a hole for a septic tank. (maybe I got softer) or maybe the 54.99999 years is catching up on me.
:lol:

 

[Workinonit Farm]

CH, sorry for your loss. It's happened to most all of us a time or two. It seems that it's usually the good ones when it happens.

I hope the rest of your heifers calve witthout a hitch.

Katherine

 

[Alan]

Sorry to hear about your loss, let us know if you have any signs of what happened.

I have 5 first time heifers due to calve in March and April. Although I used a bull that I haven't ever had a calving problem with I'm still wondering what I was thinking, or more like why wasn't I thinking. March is a long way off and I'm already concerned.

Take care,
Alan

 

[msscamp]

I'm very sorry, C Holland, it always seems to happen to the favorites. There is no point in second guessing or kicking yourself, unfortunately it's a part of the cattle business. All you can do is try to figure out how you could have maybe handled the situation differently and go on. I wish you the best with the rest of your cows!

 

[dj]

C Holland sorry about the bad luck with your first.
Wait on the backhoe, work out your frustration on something easier than clay(like the yotes). I too wish you an easier time with the others.

 

[alabama]

Sorry for your loss. When those new calves show up next month it will get your heart back in it. Watching those young calves run, buck and jump in the early morning and evenings always does my heart good.