Best Gift I Ever Got....

[TimH]

We just had a cow have a stillborn calf. No big deal. We have a couple bottle-fed twins just waiting in the wings for a new Momma.
I've had good luck grafting calves if I just skin the tail and a bit of extra hide off the dead calf and tie it on the graft-calf.(the butt is the first place the cow sniffs).
Anyway,I thought I'd better sharpen my knife(Schrade Oldtimer) for this tail-skinning job.
I got a "Lansky" knife sharpening kit,for Christmas a few years ago. Five minutes and my knife is sharp enough to shave a European Lesbian's legs!!!

Ladies........ Get your Man a "Lansky" sharpener.....It is the best gift ever.... :wink:

 

[Frankk]

I've been taking enough skin to make a blanket on the graft calf's back. I may be putting more work into this than I need too. You say the tail and a small patch works well I'll try that next time. Thanks Frank

 

[Soapweed]

I've been taking enough skin to make a blanket on the graft calf's back. I may be putting more work into this than I need too. You say the tail and a small patch works well I'll try that next time. Thanks Frank

There is a time to be conservative and a time to be liberal. Skinning out a dead calf is a time to be liberal. If you try to make a graft work with too little hide, the cow will become suspicious and it won't work. Take plenty of hide, and make sure it stays on the calf for a day or two. The reason one of our last graft deals failed, is because the hide wasn't put on right and it came off during the first night. What could have been easy, turned into a three-week ordeal, and this is the hobbled cow that was the demise of my shoulder becoming dislocated.

 

[Sandhusker]

I've been taking enough skin to make a blanket on the graft calf's back. I may be putting more work into this than I need too. You say the tail and a small patch works well I'll try that next time. Thanks Frank

There is a time to be conservative and a time to be liberal. Skinning out a dead calf is a time to be liberal. If you try to make a graft work with too little hide, the cow will become suspicious and it won't work. Take plenty of hide, and make sure it stays on the calf for a day or two. The reason one of our last graft deals failed, is because the hide wasn't put on right and it came off during the first night. What could have been easy, turned into a three-week ordeal, and this is the hobbled cow that was the demise of my shoulder becoming dislocated.

And get somebody else to cut the hide off the grafted calf if it's been warm....

 

[Mrs.Greg]

Cute picture Sandhusker,is your son the ladies man??

 

[Soapweed]

I've been taking enough skin to make a blanket on the graft calf's back. I may be putting more work into this than I need too. You say the tail and a small patch works well I'll try that next time. Thanks Frank

There is a time to be conservative and a time to be liberal. Skinning out a dead calf is a time to be liberal. If you try to make a graft work with too little hide, the cow will become suspicious and it won't work. Take plenty of hide, and make sure it stays on the calf for a day or two. The reason one of our last graft deals failed, is because the hide wasn't put on right and it came off during the first night. What could have been easy, turned into a three-week ordeal, and this is the hobbled cow that was the demise of my shoulder becoming dislocated.

And get somebody else to cut the hide off the grafted calf if it's been warm....

Stinky dinky parlez-vous. :wink: Oh, what's a few maggots? :? :wink:

 

[Kato]

We drape the cleanings over the adoptee's back. ( I know, it's gross :? )By the time the cow cleans it off, the calf is hers. 8) Did an adoption in less than two minutes this spring this way. It was funny to watch that cow, it was almost like she was proud of how her calf could walk so good at such a young age.

 

[Denny]

I hang the dead calf by the back feet and skin it like a coyote then I pull the hide on the new calf like a t-shirt I leave the leg hide complete down to the knee's and tie up all the loose ends with twine.10 minutes extra skinning saves days grafting..

 

[Silver]

I skin them well down the sides too, and down the legs just a little on the outside. That allows me to cut a slit in each skinned out leg that I can slide the live calfs legs through, and I don't need to use any baler twine. I agree that the tail is the most important part, but like Soap I figure if a bit is good then alot is better.

 

[WB]

I havn't ever skinnned a calf and still do about 7-10 grats a year. Our cows just seem to want a calf don't care whos it is. My last graft last week took 24 hours on a cow that had a cleft pallet calf that I had to destroy. I put her in a small pen with a calf that was two weeks old and squirted a little mollasses on the back of the calf and a little on the cows nose and it was a done deal. This was on a cow that has very good maternal instincts and always knows were her calf is 24-7.

 

[Mike]

I have never skinned a calf for grafting either. I just rub the placenta on the new calf, or squirt some milk over it's back and pen them close for a day or two. Has worked every time so far.

I'm sure glad your new sharpener works, I still use the old whetstones.

 

[Northern Rancher]

For a guy who hunts as much as I do-I'm terrible at sharpening knives-I have a little drag sharpener I carry in my back pack but I need to get one of those sharpeners-I've heard nothing but good about them. X-mas is a long ways off but Mother's Day is just around the corner. I heard Schrade went out of business-that's too bad-I really liked their little 'sharp finger' skinning knives. Last fall I skinned a big buck for my neighbor with the knife on her leatherman-I originally started out to tag it for her but that little blade was working so good I just finished skinning it.
'

 

[CR]

I have skinned out my share of calves, but Vick's salve works if you will put it on the cows noise and on the calf and leave them together for a day or two.

 

[ranchwife]

GRRREAT!!! Cowboyup just read your "suggestion" about mother's day, NR, and now he's getting ideas about what to "get for ya, honey!!" :lol: :lol:
Guess I'd better get looking around and see if I can find him/me one of those Lansky's!! :roll: :wink:

 

[TimH]

GRRREAT!!! Cowboyup just read your "suggestion" about mother's day, NR, and now he's getting ideas about what to "get for ya, honey!!" :lol: :lol:
Guess I'd better get looking around and see if I can find him/me one of those Lansky's!! :roll: :wink:

Actually, that sharpener was only the "second best" gift I ever got.................... :wink:

 

[Northern Rancher]

OMG Tim did she get you a Leupold scope too lol.

 

[ranchwife]

GRRREAT!!! Cowboyup just read your "suggestion" about mother's day, NR, and now he's getting ideas about what to "get for ya, honey!!" :lol: :lol:
Guess I'd better get looking around and see if I can find him/me one of those Lansky's!! :roll: :wink:

Actually, that sharpener was only the "second best" gift I ever got.................... :wink:

uhhhhhh.....no...never mind!! :shock: :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: