night watch!

[vclavin]

Does anyone else here feed heifers/cows so they don't calve in the middle of the night?
Grain around 8-8:30 pm
Valerie

 

[TexasBred]

Does anyone else here feed heifers/cows so they don't calve in the middle of the night?
Grain around 8-8:30 pm
Valerie

Val I actually want mine to calve at night. Too dang many buzzards. Guess I ought to knock on wood but haven't had a calving problem with a cow in a long long time and then it was a danged holstein.

 

[snickers]

we don't feed heifers/cows grain when they are that close to calving, and why wouldn't you want to calve at nite?

 

[dun]

One year we brought them all up around 6 pm and gave them about 2 mouth fulls of grain each. All the calves were born early in the morning that year. This year we didn;t do it and all but one calf was born early in the morning, the one was barn around noon.

 

[bandit80]

Doesn't seem to matter what I do, most of my calves are born between 3-7am. During spring calving, I will check a time or two at night if the weather is bad, which happens every year, and it just seems I have alot a couple hours before daylight.

Fall calvers I check twice a day in the heat of things, and only 1 time did I find a new one in the evening. They are nearly done now, so I just check in the morning.

 

[plumber_greg]

What's the difference if they calve in the dark or not? If you calve in the winter, you still better get up at nite to check, no matter when you think you made them calve. gs

 

[CKC1586]

Actually I do feed late in the day in the hopes they will calve during daylight hours. Seems to work okay but will always be an oddball situation. Daytime hours is much easier to reach a vet if needed, even better if it is during office hours so you don't have to pay that extra emergency fee if you do have to call the vet and nice to have it daylight to see what the heck is going on as well. Can watch from a distance.

 

[novaman]

What's the difference if they calve in the dark or not? If you calve in the winter, you still better get up at nite to check, no matter when you think you made them calve. gs

It's cold at night. It's harder to see at night. If you have problems you can give up several hours of valuable sleep when messing with cows/heifers. Daytime calving is my preference. Yes I still check at night but it is nice to do a sweep and find nothing and get back to the house.

 

[vclavin]

Does anyone else here feed heifers/cows so they don't calve in the middle of the night?
Grain around 8-8:30 pm
Valerie

I didn't say "NOT" at night , just not in the "MIDDLE" of the night. You know - 2Am, 3AM . I'd rather check a heifer at 6AM. Get more sleep that way - lol
Valerie

 

[vclavin]

What's the difference if they calve in the dark or not? If you calve in the winter, you still better get up at nite to check, no matter when you think you made them calve. gs

Haven't in years!!!
Valerie

 

[Oldtimer]

Does anyone else here feed heifers/cows so they don't calve in the middle of the night?
Grain around 8-8:30 pm
Valerie

The majority of mine only see grain for about the 2-3 weeks it takes to get them weaned- and then probably will never see it again ;-)

And that is only about a 1/2 a coffee can amount bucketed to them- so they learn what it is (in case I decide to MGA and AI them) and quiet down and get used to having someone walking around thru them....

 

[3waycross]

Yes, and I believe it works "MOST" of the time. No guarantees though.