Jason said:
Sounds like a plan for cattle with no hair :wink:
Actually when the lil guys get dry they take a lot of cold.
The black calves this time of year just absorb the suns heat and turn into radiators. Get close and you can just feel the heat coming off them.
Sorry for trying to offer some advice to someone who obviously has wayyy more years of experience than I do!
Yes, as my old Dad used to tell me, when a calf gets his belly full of milk he can take a lot of weather, but sometimes when it's wet and cold, a STOCKMAN likes to help the mamma out. Don't suppose you ever put a cow in a shed to calf or a calf in somewhere to warm it up or dry off? :?
As for feeling the heat coming off from one, I have found calves laying on an ice bank who I thought were dead, but after getting some real warm fluid down their bellies and having them laying on the heater vent in the bathroom, covered with blankets and quilts, they sure enough came back to life.
And last january I had three, 15 year old longhorn cows calve, when it was below zero. They were good mamma's so the calves were fine. Didn't even lose any ear. But I sure didn't plan them to calve then, it was a bull getting out at the wrong time. And the calves weren't black either, but they sure did grow big as their mamma's got skinny this summer and fall.
Sorry if my "handy hint" didn't do you any good there Jason! :wink: