Hasbeen
Well-known member
A newbie with eight heifers, all bred to calve between 2/1 and 2/15.
First heifer decides to calve six weeks early. Had to pull the calf. Pretty little heifer calf but stillborn. I had experienced help so I just watched the pull. 0 for 1. I'm going to give her another chance, she bred back two days ago.
Second heifer tries to calve right on her due date. Obviously in labor, never did push. After a couple of hours I put her in the headgate and gloved up for the first time. Reached in up to my shoulder but all I could find was a tail. Couldn't reach anything to grab hold of or turn. Knew I was in trouble so I called my vet. He had a broken finger and couldn't help. Called vet in neighboring county but he was gone to work the auction that day. Finally remembered a local fellow who worked with cattle and was about 6'5" with long arms. I drove to his place and agreed to give it a try. Took him about 1/2 hour to finally get hold of leg and pulled it out. Dead calf, of course, but live cow. 0 for 2 and now I'm really questioning everything, my bull, my self, my grass. Stayed in the field till 1:00 AM checking the remaining girls by flashlight.
Came back at daylight the next morning and had one up and walking about. Huge relief. 1 for 3. Nice little bull calf.
Another late night, back at daylight. (I took my vacation days to be there.) Midmorning notice one goes off by herself. I waited to give her time to settle in then sneaked up and watched through binoculars. Up and down, push then stop for about an hour. By now I'm pretty gunshy so I go get someone to help and I get ready to glove up. She is laying down and has the hooves showing when I get back so I stay back and wait. She does it easily on her own and I'm now 2 for 4 and feeling much better. I spend the rest of the day watching and wondering just when is right time to assist.
Two days later when I show up at daylight, my boss cow has a nice little heifer already up and nursing. 3 for 5. I'm finally better than 50-50.
Vacation days are over. I drive up to check them at daylight then go on to work. Drive back at lunch and notice a heifer eating at the hayring with hooves sticking out. I jump into the truck and drive out to the main road where my cell phone works and call in to tell them I'll be late getting back to work. Get back to the field and decide since she's putting more effort into eating than calving I may have a problem. I get the rest of the herd out of the way and go back to get her and she is laying down and working. Took about a half hour but she did it on her own. 4 for 6.
I still have two to go. One looks to me to be a few days away, the other has never bagged up and looks just like she did last summer. I think she is open and is only growing wheels. I never liked her anyway.
I realize this is a long post but thought the other newbies might benefit from it.
First heifer decides to calve six weeks early. Had to pull the calf. Pretty little heifer calf but stillborn. I had experienced help so I just watched the pull. 0 for 1. I'm going to give her another chance, she bred back two days ago.
Second heifer tries to calve right on her due date. Obviously in labor, never did push. After a couple of hours I put her in the headgate and gloved up for the first time. Reached in up to my shoulder but all I could find was a tail. Couldn't reach anything to grab hold of or turn. Knew I was in trouble so I called my vet. He had a broken finger and couldn't help. Called vet in neighboring county but he was gone to work the auction that day. Finally remembered a local fellow who worked with cattle and was about 6'5" with long arms. I drove to his place and agreed to give it a try. Took him about 1/2 hour to finally get hold of leg and pulled it out. Dead calf, of course, but live cow. 0 for 2 and now I'm really questioning everything, my bull, my self, my grass. Stayed in the field till 1:00 AM checking the remaining girls by flashlight.
Came back at daylight the next morning and had one up and walking about. Huge relief. 1 for 3. Nice little bull calf.
Another late night, back at daylight. (I took my vacation days to be there.) Midmorning notice one goes off by herself. I waited to give her time to settle in then sneaked up and watched through binoculars. Up and down, push then stop for about an hour. By now I'm pretty gunshy so I go get someone to help and I get ready to glove up. She is laying down and has the hooves showing when I get back so I stay back and wait. She does it easily on her own and I'm now 2 for 4 and feeling much better. I spend the rest of the day watching and wondering just when is right time to assist.
Two days later when I show up at daylight, my boss cow has a nice little heifer already up and nursing. 3 for 5. I'm finally better than 50-50.
Vacation days are over. I drive up to check them at daylight then go on to work. Drive back at lunch and notice a heifer eating at the hayring with hooves sticking out. I jump into the truck and drive out to the main road where my cell phone works and call in to tell them I'll be late getting back to work. Get back to the field and decide since she's putting more effort into eating than calving I may have a problem. I get the rest of the herd out of the way and go back to get her and she is laying down and working. Took about a half hour but she did it on her own. 4 for 6.
I still have two to go. One looks to me to be a few days away, the other has never bagged up and looks just like she did last summer. I think she is open and is only growing wheels. I never liked her anyway.
I realize this is a long post but thought the other newbies might benefit from it.
Other years I don't remember that fondly though. The year we bought some bred heifers that were supposedly bred Angus but if so it was the biggest, hardest calving Angus ever born. We pulled nearly half of them, had a couple heifers who wouldn't take the calves, had a paralyzed one, and a prolapse. It was the ugliest experience.
