newbie questions

[jon]

Hello All:
First off,I am a newbie to calving heifers and cows.
I have 5 heifers that are going to calve sometime in the next 30-60 days or so.
The are xbred heifers.
I have them on good clover,rye,and bermuda pasture. I also have mineral and salt out.
Is there anything else I should have out for them?
Also,a couple heifers are starting to get a bag but one heifer whos bag filled first now has her tits full. I assume this is a sign she might calve sooner than 30-60 days?The vet said she was around 7 months April 21st.
Any advice is apreciated.

Jon

 

[Beefy]

heifers are always interesting to watch develop and guess when they'll calve. it will be a great learning experience for you.

in addition to all you have out for them you also need to have water out for them. (hey- you said you were a newbie!). the salt in my opinion is not needed but the minerals are.

check on them regularly and be ready to assist if needed. good luck.

(also if you dont have some sort of catchpen you might as well go ahead and build one now.)

 

[Caustic Burno]

heifers are always interesting to watch develop and guess when they'll calve. it will be a great learning experience for you.

in addition to all you have out for them you also need to have water out for them. (hey- you said you were a newbie!). the salt in my opinion is not needed but the minerals are.

check on them regularly and be ready to assist if needed. good luck.

(also if you dont have some sort of catchpen you might as well go ahead and build one now.)

A good set of chains for all those heifers wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

[hillsdown]

I was also going to add having Beefy and Caustic near by to give you a hand when those legs first appear might be nice to have also .

But seriously get everything lined up your calf puller, the neighbors ready to help if you need, extra colostrum just in case,frozen or powdered <heifers are sometimes the dumbest animals>your iodine to treat the navals as soon as they are born and if they are bred to calving ease bulls watch and enjoy.But don't mother hen them as they are usually shy when they are ready to calve.If you have everything ready to go and then some, those calves will probably catch you by surprise all cleaned and their tummies full.

Good Luck and hope all goes well.

 

[Stepper]

I am a newbie myself. I just finished up my first calfing season about 6 weeks ago. I bought 9 mixed breed heifers when they were about 6 or 7 months old and raised them, and when they were big enough i put a bull on them. I selected my own bull a registered black angus bull.

I had alot of guys that i knew who raised cattle tell me that i would be digging wholes and burrying everyone of my heifers. But i proved them wrong. All nine heifers now all have a healthy calf at their side. Out of the nine calfs i pulled two. I think i could have got buy with out pulling one of them.

But my first heifer to calf did have trouble. And i had never pulled a calf before or ever help pull one. I had seen it done a couple of times. But when it came time to assist the heifer. I was nervous as nervous could be. I had called my vet that night at about 9:30 p.m. and told him what was going on and he said i should give her a little more time but if i needed him just to call him back. But when i called him back there was no getting a hold of him. The heifers water bag started showing at about 4:30 p.m. that evening. thirty minutes after i got to work. My wife had no idea as what to do. But she was able to call me at work and let me know how she was progressing. So when the heifers water broke and the feet were showing at about 8:30 p.m. that evening. I took off work to go see what i could do. And like i said when i got there i had called the vet but when i thought i was going to need him he would not answer his phone. So i learned how to pull a calf wether i wanted to or not. And after pulling the calf it took 3 or 4 hours for the swelling to go down in its tounge before it could nurse. So after talking with the vet and other people they say i done the right thing by pulling it.

But after going through that it helped my confidence alot. And even though i only had to calf out 9 heifers. It was a good learning experience. And i know alot more of what to expect and what to look for now. And i am sure you will feel the same way by the time you calf all of your heifers out also.

The only advice i can offer you is to check them as often as possible ( 3 or 4 times a day and late at night if possible) and be prepared. Have a good calf puller ready just in case you need it. Better to have it and not use it than to not have it and need it. And just dont get rattled, use a little common sense. Read as much as you can about how and what to do when the time comes. And you should do ok. Everyone had to start from the beginning at some point in time.

Good luck.

 

[Anguscollegekid]

Maybe it's not an issue where you're at, but we give ours 2 shots of ScourGuard to coming 2 year olds, one in the fall at preg-check time and one 30-45 days before calving. Take with you vet about vaccinations.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Good job Stepper.
I would add to the advice on cleansiness. if you have to check, pull, anything...clean ground to protect the uterus and navel of the calf. Clean puller and chains after every use to prevent the same.
And when you are examining a cow take precautions like a doctor. Wash up with hibitane, wash the cow's back end with iodine scrub, gloves both shoulder length and the short wrist length latex gloves.
The idea is to prevent bacteria from entering the uterus and preventing infection. An infection could cause her not to breed back in time or at all.
We also like the triangles when we are pulling by hand with the chains.
Last peice of advice from me would be Keep safe. Get a maternity pen. For years we used pannels that we had to set up each time we had a problem. Or we tied the cow to a bale ring or a tree. Trust me difficult to say the least. After 10 years of fighting with the cow we bought a materinty pen on the advice of our vet (Vet did an on farm C-section with the cow tied to a pannel and the pannel tied to a post and a hydro pole . She said thanks for the experience but get a pen). Oh my, best investment on our farm. IMO. The first time we used it we said "why didn't we do this sooner" We didn't buy an expensive brand name one. It was from a farmer who had a side welding business. cheaper and just as good
Good luck and enjoy those new babies

 

[Bez&gt;]

Put your vet on speed dial.

Heifers and newbies are a poor mix - no offense please.

You will have a problem sometime in the future - everyone does. Especially with heifers.

Good luck - do not panic and DO NOT jump to the chains - lots of info on calving here - do a search and spend the next week reading all of it.

Bez>

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

heifers are always interesting to watch develop and guess when they'll calve. it will be a great learning experience for you.

in addition to all you have out for them you also need to have water out for them. (hey- you said you were a newbie!). the salt in my opinion is not needed but the minerals are.

check on them regularly and be ready to assist if needed. good luck.

(also if you dont have some sort of catchpen you might as well go ahead and build one now.)

A good set of chains for all those heifers wouldn't be a bad idea either.

LOL Caustic! Let's hope the service bulls were low birth weight calving bulls... ;-)

 

[Stepper]

rockridgecattle,

Thanks for the complement. I think i was just plain lucky on these 9 heifers to have not had no more problems than i did.

But i did try to keep them growing ( bone, skeletal anatomy, exspecially pelvic region.) to a mature enough level before putting them with a bull. I had them up above 800 lbs before putting them with a low birth weight bull. I think that helped me more than anything. And also from the time i put them with the bull until they calfed out i did not supplement them with any type of feed other than hay, grass, and free choice mineral. I did not want they calf getting to big while it was growing inside the heifer.

I said in my earlier reply i had only seen 2 calfs pulled before. But i was mistaken there. I remember once when i was a kid about 7 or 8 years old watching a couple of farmers pulling a calf that had been dead inside the cow for a while. They had cut the calfs head off for some reason while tring to get it out. But then they had hooked chains to its front feet and went to pulling it by hand and the calf pulled into at its mid section. I guess because it was partically decayed. Then they pulled its back section out. That was a smelly sight. I hope i never have to do something like that.

Then one of the other two that i saw pulled the cow wound up with a pinched nerve that left it crippled in its back end. A vet had pulled it.

So all and all i feel very lucky to have had no more trouble than i did. But i read everything i could get my hands on about the subject and ask every question i could think of. I even though i did not mention it. I washed up and disenfected myself and equipment just like you recommended in your reply. So i was as prepared as i could possibly could.

One thing i did not count on happening was not being able to get a hold of someone with experience to help me when i needed them. I had a couple of experienced cattlemen who told me i could count on them if i needed help. Along with a solem promise from my vet that he was just a phone call away. But when the time came i could not get ahold of none of them. Except for one and he said he was having to feed his cattle and could not come help me. I now hold a little bit of hard feelings toward him now over that deal. Because his son was in a car accident about a year before this and i fed his cattle for him for about a week so that he could be at the hospital with his son. And he apprechated that at the time. But he could not take a couple of hours out from feeding his cattle to give me a hand when i needed it.

So i guess another thing i learned is that you can not really rely on anyone but yourself for sure.

 

[jon]

Thanks for all the replies.
Will keep you all posted on how it turns out.

Jon

 

[rockridgecattle]

Stepper, dont harbour ill feelings. You did well and that is what counts. Someday the neighbor will repay inkind but this time might have been a bad day fo him. We have no idea what goes on the other side of the fence so to speak. He could have bee having bad troubles you never know.
Life is too short for that.
Don't forget these neighbors gave you the advice you needed when the time came. As for the vet he has to service how many in your area...could have gotten an emergency. We aren't always as lucly as you were this year.

Jon, yeah keep us posted and write if you've got an issue we all an help on...good luck with your calving season. Remember heifers are full of surprises We've had our share this year and we've been doing this for over a decade.
One tip, if you can scratch your heifer around the tail bone on either side is a mucscle. If she is ready it will be loose and sunken and if not tight as a fiddle string almost feels like a hard rock. but she can loosen up pretty quickly. So watch out. Also we've noticed the vulva will swell and kinda take on the appearance of a "pouch"...again not 100% fool proof.
'Luck
Tammy

 

[jcarkie]

with heifers it is always a wait and see. i had 16 this year and the last one is calving today. always be ready for anything, i bought 12 bred to a low birth weight angus bull(i am beginning to hate that term) he had never used on heifers before(not proven). most of them were small and born fast. BUT! 2 of them, well always be ready, one i pulled (on a hill in the woods)and one the leg was back and i had my first farm call in eleven years. find a good vet who will responed when called. no matter how much experience (25 years) you have sometimes you need someone to help.
4 i bred to my low birthweight proven braford bull i am going to use him on my heifers.