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Pulling calfs
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<blockquote data-quote="Anonymous" data-source="post: 24452"><p>Hope I can help. First you have to make sure you have the cow caught. Nothing like getting her close and then have her jump the panels and take off on you. Then you get to have all kinds of fun getting her back in where she knows she don't want to go. The key is to keeping her from getting too excited because then she'll forget all about having a calf. Next you have to check the calf and find out why it's not coming out. Maybe the cow's not dialated in which case you turn her loose in the pen and give her some more time. I figure as long as the water doesn't break she's doing all right (within reason of course), and if the water does break I'll give the cow about an hour. One of my best and easiest tricks is to get her up and walk her around the calving yard. I like to think it stretches the muscles a little and the movement gets the calf in the position he should be. Seems like it helps and many cows that maybe worked all morning will calve right away after I do that. Anyway, back to step two. You stick your hand inside and if the cow is dialated you should be feeling the front feet and the nose. Watch the teeth, they're sharp. If that is fine then move further in and see if the rest of the front is all right and whatever else you can feel, try not to tear the bag unless the water's already broke because then it doesn't matter. There's the odd chance that the calf is deformed and can't fit out the hole. Many times it's just the head that is turned to the side or maybe one of the legs is back. Get them straightened out if you can, if not it's a trip to the vet. Sometimes what you are feeling is the backlegs of the calf, that's a trip to the vet unless your an expert at the normal pull. If all is fine then go ahead and pull. We use a special made calf-puller that's paid for itself countless times over. We've found that on the very hard pulls there's a good chance the cow won't clean. A bit of advice I've not had a chance to use yet is to take some calf-scour tablets and put inside the cow to fight infection. If she cleans they'll come right out, if she doesn't then your a step ahead of the infection and probably on your way to the vet anyway. Once the calf comes out I take it around to the front of the cow and let her smell it and lick it, sometimes the cow is hurting so bad if you turn her loose she'll not pick up the calf for quite awhile and then you've got another chore ahead of you. Once she picks up the calf you're basically home free. Sometimes you'll get the knot-head cow that won't let the calf suck or the knot-head calf that can't figure out how to suck. As for that, good luck.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Anonymous, post: 24452"] Hope I can help. First you have to make sure you have the cow caught. Nothing like getting her close and then have her jump the panels and take off on you. Then you get to have all kinds of fun getting her back in where she knows she don't want to go. The key is to keeping her from getting too excited because then she'll forget all about having a calf. Next you have to check the calf and find out why it's not coming out. Maybe the cow's not dialated in which case you turn her loose in the pen and give her some more time. I figure as long as the water doesn't break she's doing all right (within reason of course), and if the water does break I'll give the cow about an hour. One of my best and easiest tricks is to get her up and walk her around the calving yard. I like to think it stretches the muscles a little and the movement gets the calf in the position he should be. Seems like it helps and many cows that maybe worked all morning will calve right away after I do that. Anyway, back to step two. You stick your hand inside and if the cow is dialated you should be feeling the front feet and the nose. Watch the teeth, they're sharp. If that is fine then move further in and see if the rest of the front is all right and whatever else you can feel, try not to tear the bag unless the water's already broke because then it doesn't matter. There's the odd chance that the calf is deformed and can't fit out the hole. Many times it's just the head that is turned to the side or maybe one of the legs is back. Get them straightened out if you can, if not it's a trip to the vet. Sometimes what you are feeling is the backlegs of the calf, that's a trip to the vet unless your an expert at the normal pull. If all is fine then go ahead and pull. We use a special made calf-puller that's paid for itself countless times over. We've found that on the very hard pulls there's a good chance the cow won't clean. A bit of advice I've not had a chance to use yet is to take some calf-scour tablets and put inside the cow to fight infection. If she cleans they'll come right out, if she doesn't then your a step ahead of the infection and probably on your way to the vet anyway. Once the calf comes out I take it around to the front of the cow and let her smell it and lick it, sometimes the cow is hurting so bad if you turn her loose she'll not pick up the calf for quite awhile and then you've got another chore ahead of you. Once she picks up the calf you're basically home free. Sometimes you'll get the knot-head cow that won't let the calf suck or the knot-head calf that can't figure out how to suck. As for that, good luck. [/QUOTE]
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