That was disappointing.......and a question?

[Wak]

I knew my smallest heifer ( about 1000 pounds) was getting pretty big and getting close. So I put her in the coral, and when I checked her at 5 am yesterday, she was starting contractions.
She was not making much progress, so I put a call into the vet, which had a few emergencies ahead of me.
A few hours she just laid down and stayed there for a few hours, not really laboring or working at it.

The vet came about noon, and oh no twins, the first was backwards and both were trying to come out at once. We were able to push the other back enough and pull the first one.....dead.....and then the second....dead. These were both fairly big calves and a bit disappointing.

The cow recovered as nothing happened and went to eating. The vet said she was stressed and with so much calf in her she was unable to eat like she should, and so much energy was going to calves.y

I am not sure if there was anything I could have done, maybe I should not have waited for the vet, but not sure I could have done it by myself.

I do have a question....or two.

The vet said she could have had one calf just fine, and this angus had room, and would recover. I need to get rid of a few, because there are just to many. Would you keep this first time heifer or would it be a concern to you? Keeping a new calf puts breeding a year further out, where as this one could calf in a year. These are all angus, bred to our registered Murray grey bull, and very well cared for, plenty of food, no mud, and live in park like conditions.
What would you do with this one?

Then there is the other first time heifer that is a big beautiful animal, that had the dink 33 pounder. Which another family is bottle feeding and growing and running around .....amazing?
This cow is very nice, big, and just had this dinky calf.
Would you be concerned about a repeat? Or she she be on the short list???.

We have a couple of older cows, 10 and 11 that have always had great calves, are in good shape, good mothers, good teeth.....but older.

I am not sure which way to go, keep the two first time heifers that had less than ideal first calves, or the old prove older cows??????

Any thoughts? Thank you,

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Sell the heifers, get another calf or 2 out of your veterans.

 

[dun]

I would dump the twinner in a heart beat. I hate twins, they are usually more trouble then they are worth. Learned that form my old mentor 50 years ago

 

[branguscowgirl]

If you are not prepared to get in there and help a heifer and to see what's going on when calving, that's alright. Sounds like you are new to this. But start with older, proven cows to be safer and to better your odds that nothing will happen.
Meanwhile, read up all you can on birthing. And maybe next time you can help before the vet can get there.

 

[Nesikep]

Sorry to hear about the loss... Here's my thoughts.

If you're looking at the bottom line, you're probably better off getting rid of her and buying a late bred or a pair and feeding them instead. Twins, while I don't look forward to them, aren't THAT bad.
I have a bunch of 1994 model cows and will keep (most of) them until they fail, One in particular makes top notch replacement heifers, and I want as many of them as I can get. Old cows are like old trucks that have been paid for.. except cows don't come with warranty. On trucks it makes sense to get a new one when the warranty expires, not so much for cows.

The cow that had the dink.. why isn't she raising it???
If you have to get rid of some animals.. I'd start with anything that's not raising a calf right now!

There is a chance you could have helped.. while there are some 'finer points' to helping cows calve, it's not rocket science, and when there's a problem and the vet can't come in time, I would recommend rolling up your sleeves and learning.. you gotta start somewhere. Making sure you have the right pairs of legs and the right head(s) and they're all facing the right way is the first thing to check

 

[Wak]

Thanks, I think I will breed the young heifers back and sell them later on, UNLIKE......about everyone I have bought animals from, except two people. I don't send my problems down the road to someone else, I don't say they are bred if they are not, and am honest as to any problems.

This is the only reason, I am think of breeding them back and just see if they calf better.....risky ? Sure, but I am so tired of dishonest folks that will lie to you for a buck. Yes! I have been burnt a few times.

I considered jumping in earlier, but the vet was going to be coming any minute....(didn't quite work out that way), and the cow was being pretty calm and not contracting that hard. The vet is great, and I didn't want to make things worse, and in the end .....it did take both of us, and not sure I could have done it by myself......there was no one else to even give moral support.

Maybe I screwed up, but the vet said it was about as bad as it gets, 2 big calves, small heifer, stressed, backwards, and she said the second one had been dead for awhile, it was obvious.

As for the question, why didn't the heifer take care of the dink? I am not sure, she would push it away, walk off down the field, and I even corralled them together. I have a thread on here with the story. Mostly she just wanted to stump a mud hole in me. Calf is doing great the cow is ought doing what cows do.....she just looks so good, and I am really curious as to what would happen with next years calf....maybe I just don't learn very fast. I am not in this to make a living but don't want to waste money to fast.

 

[Rafter S]

As for the question, why didn't the heifer take care of the dink? I am not sure, she would push it away, walk off down the field, and I even corralled them together. I have a thread on here with the story. Mostly she just wanted to stump a mud hole in me. Calf is doing great the cow is ought doing what cows do.....she just looks so good, and I am really curious as to what would happen with next years calf....maybe I just don't learn very fast. I am not in this to make a living but don't want to waste money to fast.

I don't know what to tell you. I had one this year that wouldn't take her calf either. She wasn't hostile toward it; just completely ignored it. I gave the calf to my son and daughter-in-law and the heifer will get a free ride to town this summer. She might do okay with the next one but I'm not going to wait to find out.