Some days are Diamonds, Today was a Stone

[Workinonit Farm]

Ron, that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that you lost them both. I certainly hope that when they start calving again, later on, all will go smoothly.

I too prefer to pull in the open (if I have to pull) and not in a chute for similar reasons.

 

[Putangitangi]

Ron, that's tough. Sorry you lost her.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

I am so sorry for your loss. What a heartbreak.

 

[inyati13]

Thanks. I am in the effort of wrapping this up and putting it behind me. I am beyond the phase of lamenting the loss. I had a major role in this, I am exploring what actions were wrong and what actions might have served the circumstances better. Thus, a lesson learned. As humans, achieving closure often comes at the point of assessing blame. Blaming someone including ourself, the tools, the cow, the sire, etc. But in the most simplest denomination, it was mostly due to a dam big calf with sharp angular hips, long and heavy.

 

[highgrit]

She was probably over conditioned some, and fed the best grass and feed. And all that adds up to bigger calves, stuff happens and it's beyond our control sometimes.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I lost my heifer, Miley. Bought her last fall from Rocking P open. Bred her in November to In Force. Suppose to be a calving Ease Bull.

As Forest Gump would say, "And that's all I have to say about that." Not that there is anything to be learned. Just a dam big calf for a heifer. Maybe her fault, maybe the bulls, or maybe the wood elves. Died of a uterine hemorrhage. I appreciate my vet. Came out late on a Saturday. Tried to put a hemostat on it. Just too late.

I am looking forward to the calves I got coming this fall.

Sorry to hear this terrible news Ron. I was up in Warsaw all weekend and didn't slow down long enough to check in here.

 

[Jessica06]

Calving heifers is such a headache. We have three right now that we are checking on. We give them three hours. If they haven't had it by then, we run them into the chute and pull it. We did that with three heifers this year. Three live calves because of it. We gave them longer last year and lost just about every one. Experience is the best teacher. Sure hope all the rest of yours come easy!

 

[regolith]

I truly hate to hear that sort of news. Anyone who has lost animals, especially during birthing, can relate to the misfortune.
I've pulled them both ways and agree you are better off out in the open with more room to help.
I have nine heifers to calf and I find myself worrying about them like children. Good luck as you go foward.

fitz

For a hard pull, most of mine go in the chute. I lost a heifer calf two or three weeks ago pulling in the open... just couldn't get it out fast enough (coming backwards, and a little large relative to the dam) and my only real option for adding traction would have been to bring the ATV beside her and hook up to that.
I wasn't prepared to do that.
It gets real awkward when they go down in the chute, but you have to be prepared for that to happen because sooner or later it will. A side gate that swings open to let her out, tractor access, a head gate that won't choke her if she falls on it... that all helps.
fwiw Ron, I've seen four dead calves out of about a hundred cows, a heifer calved shortly after three am last night and I thought the way she was carrying on she was going to kill her calf, just seen her again and she did. Two calves that were coming backwards and the twin I didn't pull were born dead. You could say there's human error involved in them all, or you could say it 'just happens'. I call this a good result since there's a lot of potential for it to have been worse.

 

[inyati13]

I truly hate to hear that sort of news. Anyone who has lost animals, especially during birthing, can relate to the misfortune.
I've pulled them both ways and agree you are better off out in the open with more room to help.
I have nine heifers to calf and I find myself worrying about them like children. Good luck as you go foward.

fitz

For a hard pull, most of mine go in the chute. I lost a heifer calf two or three weeks ago pulling in the open... just couldn't get it out fast enough (coming backwards, and a little large relative to the dam) and my only real option for adding traction would have been to bring the ATV beside her and hook up to that.
I wasn't prepared to do that.
It gets real awkward when they go down in the chute, but you have to be prepared for that to happen because sooner or later it will. A side gate that swings open to let her out, tractor access, a head gate that won't choke her if she falls on it... that all helps.
fwiw Ron, I've seen four dead calves out of about a hundred cows, a heifer calved shortly after three am last night and I thought the way she was carrying on she was going to kill her calf, just seen her again and she did. Two calves that were coming backwards and the twin I didn't pull were born dead. You could say there's human error involved in them all, or you could say it 'just happens'. I call this a good result since there's a lot of potential for it to have been worse.

Thanks. Good post. I can use that.

 

[A.Lane]

My grandpa always said, Do the best you can with what you know at the time, and if you did wash you're hands and move on.

I know it's hard to do. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Williamsv]

That is a good way to look at it and about the only thing that we can do.

 

[Chuckie]

Ron,
I am so sorry about Miley. I know how special they all are to you.

 

[inyati13]

Ron,
I am so sorry about Miley. I know how special they all are to you.

Thanks, Chuckie. This is a tough business. I fully appreciate the advice I have gotten on CT and from personal friends in the cattle business who warn me about personlizing my cattle. Mike Gifford stopped by last evening. He hauls my cattle to market. He was in a hurry but took the time to cross my gate and walk to where I was separating cattle (I had the gate locked). He told me I need to step back. He said you could come out here one morning and find a dozen dead under a tree from lightining. Mike has done nothing but cattle for his entire life except for a stretch when he was drafted during the Viet Nam era. He and I are the same age. He reminded me of the day he picked up my first small bunch of steers. I had tamed them to the point they were like pets. I was sad to see them leave. He saw that and warned me, it is not a good thing to make pets of them. He said we all have over the years and it always ends in a heartbreak or disappointment.