Cucumber35
Well-known member
Have two slightly older cows that have been late calvers for the last year or two. Trying to rebuild the herd after some hard culling the last two years and they were good cows otherwise so I held on to them. Got rid of several earlier this summer and these two were on the short list but there wasn't room for all of them on the trailer and these were obviously bred so they made the cut. I generally do at least a quick herd check every evening but was busy with hay last weekend and skipped a day. Of course the next day the oldest had a calf at her side, I half jokingly told my GF for as big around as the cow was and as little as the calf was there should have been a twin. Well, found it in the weeds the next day when I saw the buzzards circling.
So, then there was only one left to calve. Could tell over the weekend she was close. Checked yesterday evening, just before dark. Found her alone in a weed patch with 2 feet showing. Kept my distance and let her be. Checked again in a half hour, no change. Got stuff together for a pull (haven't had one all year). Waited about another half hour for my GF to get home from work, told her if there wasn't any progress we were going to have to pull it. There wasn't so I started her up towards the corral and got close enough to tell the feet were pointed to the sky... got her in the chute without much fuss and ended up pulling a dead bull calf out backwards. Removed the calf and let the cow out into a small half acre lot with a run in shed. Called a friend with a dairy farm and he had an Ayrshire bull calf born yesterday morning. Went and got it last night and put it in with the cow. She wasn't very impressed with it this morning and kept pushing it away. Put her back in the headgate around noon and got the calf to nurse. This afternoon they were in the lot together and she was letting it nurse on her own. By this evening when I gave her some hay and a protein tub she was ready to run me down if I got near the calf.
Just thought I'd share, this is my first experience grafting a calf onto another cow. I hope it continues to be successful and there can be a silver lining to the whole situation. I think not allowing the cow to smell or see the dead calf was a big part of getting it to work. I probably would have never even thought of, much less tried something like that without what I've learned on here.
So, then there was only one left to calve. Could tell over the weekend she was close. Checked yesterday evening, just before dark. Found her alone in a weed patch with 2 feet showing. Kept my distance and let her be. Checked again in a half hour, no change. Got stuff together for a pull (haven't had one all year). Waited about another half hour for my GF to get home from work, told her if there wasn't any progress we were going to have to pull it. There wasn't so I started her up towards the corral and got close enough to tell the feet were pointed to the sky... got her in the chute without much fuss and ended up pulling a dead bull calf out backwards. Removed the calf and let the cow out into a small half acre lot with a run in shed. Called a friend with a dairy farm and he had an Ayrshire bull calf born yesterday morning. Went and got it last night and put it in with the cow. She wasn't very impressed with it this morning and kept pushing it away. Put her back in the headgate around noon and got the calf to nurse. This afternoon they were in the lot together and she was letting it nurse on her own. By this evening when I gave her some hay and a protein tub she was ready to run me down if I got near the calf.
Just thought I'd share, this is my first experience grafting a calf onto another cow. I hope it continues to be successful and there can be a silver lining to the whole situation. I think not allowing the cow to smell or see the dead calf was a big part of getting it to work. I probably would have never even thought of, much less tried something like that without what I've learned on here.