calving heifers

[LCP]

If you are calving out heifers, what percent do you expect will fall out of the program due to poor mothering abilities, including but not limited to, 1) rejecting her own calf outright; 2) claiming her calf, but not allowing it to suck and/or abusing it; 3) claiming the wrong calf.

This year I am up to about 5% (5 hd out of 94). Usually I have maybe 2-3. One is too many as far as I'm concerned. I feel like Jeckyl and Hyde some days...I love working with cattle and seeing a good mother tend to her newborn calf, but it's all I can do to keep from beating the cow to death when I see one beating her calf or not claiming it. Sleep deprivation undoubtedly contributes to my multiple personalities.

I am turning out a few Shoshone and Wye - bred bulls this year, hoping to clear up some of the mothering issues...and udder issues...and feet issues.

 

[DejaVu]

You have my sympathy, as I've been there. A few years ago I bought a group of heifers at a production sale. They were sire identified and had all the bells and whistles. 12 in the group. 1 of them calved on her own, cleaned it up and let it suck. That group calved in 2008. I have 1 left out of the 12. Then, I bought a bull out of a Nebraska sale and things got worse. I didn't think it was possible! He didn't settle many cows and the ones he bred, the calves were born alive but unable to move. They had the appearance of snorter dwarf's but thankfully, :shock: the Angus Association said they just had a bad heart.
This year I have calved out 35 Wye/Shoshone based heifers. Haven't pull a calf. Everything mothered up. They're are absolutely the best group of females I could want to be around. Disposition is wonderful. Been using Shoshone bulls for 3 years.
You won't be disappointed.

 

[Denny]

I had one walk off after pulling her calf. After getting her in and ropeing her to get the calf sucking she was fine. My problem lies in those 18 reasonable bred heifers I bought this past january.Either the calves are small and do well or they are HUGE and I need a crowbar to get them out.The large one's have'nt faired so well.Our calves have for the majority been quite large this year I imagine it's a weather or feed issue I don't know which.



This is what those shoshone cows look like at 13

 

[WB]

I can't say I have had many issues such as you describe that heifers refuse calves. Not accepatable under any circumstances do have problems once in a while with heifers letting other calves rob. You are bound to get a knot head once in a while I will grant that. My advice would be to buy bulls from suppliers that make their cows raise calves without a lot of pampering. Maternal instincts are just that and no use fighting nature.

I have mostly Sitz Alliance 6595 grandaughters in my 2 and 3 year old group and honestly they are the best young cows I have had. Been breeding them to GDAR Game Day 449 and a son of his and feel they will continue along those lines. Perfect no but mothering ablity is not an issue.

 

[katrina]

Pulled two out of sixty. We've had other mishaps this year that you wouldn't expect like calves getting stepped on. I think wind can really mess cow's mother ability up and make the calf dumb.

 

[randiliana]

I expect about 1% or less. We had 1 out of 33 this year that wouldn't take her calf, and it was a C-section. She was 1 of 4 Angus heifers we bought as weaned calves. All 4 calved within 24 hours of each other. Bred to the same bulls we used on the rest of the heifers. 1 had a C-section, 1 we pulled a big calf out of, 1 had a big calf (90+ lbs) on her own and the other was bred to one of the other bulls. The C-section never took her calf, one of the other 2 with big calves, had a mix up with her calf. One of those couple days where we had about 15-20 pair up in the corral because of the cold. When we went to kick them all out, she didn't want the left over calf. Everybody else was happy and she drew the short straw. She never did take him, and we sold it finally. But, I don't know if we can really call it mis-mothering as much as bad luck.

In the past, we've had the odd one that was a bad mother. Lots of times when we have to pull a calf out of a heifer it will take a few hours before they will really mother up, but we rarely have to step in on those, and I don't really count that as mismothering.

I can remember 1 that would try to kill her calf every time it moved (good mothering angus genetics there) a couple that were so wild they just took off as soon as you came near them, and never came back (I figure their attitude was going to cull them sooner or later anyways)

One that took off from her calf right after it was born, which we then tried to adopt onto another cow, and a week later when we mistakenly put the new pair in the same pen as her, she took her calf back....

 

[cure]

Not to be bragging but we really don't have much trouble with our heifers mothering where we run into trouble is when the calf is a couple days old and the heifer is trying to mother every calf in the lot. I will say this though I am a believer in having a sire that carries the maternal instinct as well as having calves that have the will to get up and fight for that first drink of milk. As far as disposition goes I would sooner have a cow that will put the fear a god into you when you tag the calf at birth than one that runs the other way and you don't know if she is going to come back.

 

[Denny]

As far as disposition goes I would sooner have a cow that will put the fear a god into you when you tag the calf at birth than one that runs the other way and you don't know if she is going to come back.

Amen to that.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

As far as disposition goes I would sooner have a cow that will put the fear a god into you when you tag the calf at birth than one that runs the other way and you don't know if she is going to come back.

Amen to that.

Just tagged the calf out of a SA granddaughter. :shock: It was around and around the quad before she figured i wasn't going to eat her calf. Then I got a metal clip tag in it's ear. The plastic can come later,

 

[gcreekrch]

As far as disposition goes I would sooner have a cow that will put the fear a god into you when you tag the calf at birth than one that runs the other way and you don't know if she is going to come back.

Amen to that.

Just tagged the calf out of a SA granddaughter. :shock: It was around and around the quad before she figured i wasn't going to eat her calf. Then I got a metal clip tag in it's ear. The plastic can come later,

I agree. Most of ours don't get real aressive at protection until they are 3 year olds and older.

Conundrums...... just brought a 5 year old cow in that had claimed anothers calf after hers was 5 days old. She has always been an exceptional momma before. We'll see if she takes back to her own before we decide what her fate is.

I would much rather calve heifers than old cows at times. As long as they are bred right, they can be much less problem. At least when they have a problem it can be blamed on inexperience.

If you really think about it they aren't much different than humans. :wink:

 

[Soapweed]

Having sold some young cows last fall, we calved out about 250 two-year-old heifers this spring. They were bull bred for an extended period of time, so we're not quite done yet. They have calved pretty easily, and we've not had to pull too many. One item I'd hate to not have use of is O-No-Mo. It is a magic potion to get a heifer claiming her calf, and it gets a cow licking her calf right away if the temperature is cold. With mix-ups that happen occasionally, getting the pairs separated, and sprinking a little O-No-Mo on the calf no one wants gets its real mother liking it after all. Another handy modern invention is an esophageal feeder. If a calf doesn't suck within a couple hours, we mix up some powdered colostrum and give the calf a drench. Usually when they get hungry the next time, they figure out how to suck.

 

[LCP]

Having sold some young cows last fall, we calved out about 250 two-year-old heifers this spring. They were bull bred for an extended period of time, so we're not quite done yet. They have calved pretty easily, and we've not had to pull too many. One item I'd hate to not have use of is O-No-Mo. It is a magic potion to get a heifer claiming her calf, and it gets a cow licking her calf right away if the temperature is cold. With mix-ups that happen occasionally, getting the pairs separated, and sprinking a little O-No-Mo on the calf no one wants gets its real mother liking it after all. Another handy modern invention is an esophageal feeder. If a calf doesn't suck within a couple hours, we mix up some powdered colostrum and give the calf a drench. Usually when they get hungry the next time, they figure out how to suck.

Funny you should mention O-No-Mo...I've got a heifer going to town tomorrow that was plumb happy with her calf for about a day and a half...until I turned another one out of the barn that must have had a little O-No-Mo scent left on its hide. Now she doesn't want her own calf despite my best efforts to convince her otherwise (yes, I used o-no-mo!). Can't win for losing sometimes.

 

[eatbeef]

Soapweed wrote:
Having sold some young cows last fall, we calved out about 250 two-year-old heifers this spring. They were bull bred for an extended period of time, so we're not quite done yet. They have calved pretty easily, and we've not had to pull too many. One item I'd hate to not have use of is O-No-Mo. It is a magic potion to get a heifer claiming her calf, and it gets a cow licking her calf right away if the temperature is cold. With mix-ups that happen occasionally, getting the pairs separated, and sprinking a little O-No-Mo on the calf no one wants gets its real mother liking it after all. Another handy modern invention is an esophageal feeder. If a calf doesn't suck within a couple hours, we mix up some powdered colostrum and give the calf a drench. Usually when they get hungry the next time, they figure out how to suck.


Funny you should mention O-No-Mo...I've got a heifer going to town tomorrow that was plumb happy with her calf for about a day and a half...until I turned another one out of the barn that must have had a little O-No-Mo scent left on its hide. Now she doesn't want her own calf despite my best efforts to convince her otherwise (yes, I used o-no-mo!). Can't win for losing sometimes.

O-No-More and a 1 cc of Rompum is usually a cure all. No mad cow, no mad rancher, and when the cow wakes up from a short nap, its usually like magic.
Some think that it is wrong to sedate a cow like this, but I have seen calves about get kicked to death or smothered by a cow not wanting to claim it or trying to draft on, and most of my cows dont like the barn anymore than I like cleaning it.

 

[LazyWP]

Soapweed wrote:
Having sold some young cows last fall, we calved out about 250 two-year-old heifers this spring. They were bull bred for an extended period of time, so we're not quite done yet. They have calved pretty easily, and we've not had to pull too many. One item I'd hate to not have use of is O-No-Mo. It is a magic potion to get a heifer claiming her calf, and it gets a cow licking her calf right away if the temperature is cold. With mix-ups that happen occasionally, getting the pairs separated, and sprinking a little O-No-Mo on the calf no one wants gets its real mother liking it after all. Another handy modern invention is an esophageal feeder. If a calf doesn't suck within a couple hours, we mix up some powdered colostrum and give the calf a drench. Usually when they get hungry the next time, they figure out how to suck.


Funny you should mention O-No-Mo...I've got a heifer going to town tomorrow that was plumb happy with her calf for about a day and a half...until I turned another one out of the barn that must have had a little O-No-Mo scent left on its hide. Now she doesn't want her own calf despite my best efforts to convince her otherwise (yes, I used o-no-mo!). Can't win for losing sometimes.

O-No-More and a 1 cc of Rompum is usually a cure all. No mad cow, no mad rancher, and when the cow wakes up from a short nap, its usually like magic.
Some think that it is wrong to sedate a cow like this, but I have seen calves about get kicked to death or smothered by a cow not wanting to claim it or trying to draft on, and most of my cows dont like the barn anymore than I like cleaning it.

I have a neighbor that uses Ace instead of Rompum. He says if they are really ticked off, no amount of Ace can mellow them. I think he probably goes through 500ml of the stuff each year. :evil:

 

[Soapweed]

Soapweed wrote:
Having sold some young cows last fall, we calved out about 250 two-year-old heifers this spring. They were bull bred for an extended period of time, so we're not quite done yet. They have calved pretty easily, and we've not had to pull too many. One item I'd hate to not have use of is O-No-Mo. It is a magic potion to get a heifer claiming her calf, and it gets a cow licking her calf right away if the temperature is cold. With mix-ups that happen occasionally, getting the pairs separated, and sprinking a little O-No-Mo on the calf no one wants gets its real mother liking it after all. Another handy modern invention is an esophageal feeder. If a calf doesn't suck within a couple hours, we mix up some powdered colostrum and give the calf a drench. Usually when they get hungry the next time, they figure out how to suck.


Funny you should mention O-No-Mo...I've got a heifer going to town tomorrow that was plumb happy with her calf for about a day and a half...until I turned another one out of the barn that must have had a little O-No-Mo scent left on its hide. Now she doesn't want her own calf despite my best efforts to convince her otherwise (yes, I used o-no-mo!). Can't win for losing sometimes.

O-No-More and a 1 cc of Rompum is usually a cure all. No mad cow, no mad rancher, and when the cow wakes up from a short nap, its usually like magic.
Some think that it is wrong to sedate a cow like this, but I have seen calves about get kicked to death or smothered by a cow not wanting to claim it or trying to draft on, and most of my cows dont like the barn anymore than I like cleaning it.

I have a neighbor that uses Ace instead of Rompum. He says if they are really ticked off, no amount of Ace can mellow them. I think he probably goes through 500ml of the stuff each year. :evil:

We have never used either Ace or Rompum, and don't really see the need to start doing it in the future. If a heifer or cow is nasty enough to need sedatives, we just sell the cow.

 

[gcreekrch]

O-No-More and a 1 cc of Rompum is usually a cure all. No mad cow, no mad rancher, and when the cow wakes up from a short nap, its usually like magic.
Some think that it is wrong to sedate a cow like this, but I have seen calves about get kicked to death or smothered by a cow not wanting to claim it or trying to draft on, and most of my cows dont like the barn anymore than I like cleaning it.

I have a neighbor that uses Ace instead of Rompum. He says if they are really ticked off, no amount of Ace can mellow them. I think he probably goes through 500ml of the stuff each year. :evil:

We have never used either Ace or Rompum, and don't really see the need to start doing it in the future. If a heifer or cow is nasty enough to need sedatives, we just sell the cow.

to my memery, I've tranqued 4 or 5 in the last 10 years. If I was going through that much product I would change my handling tecniques, calving dates or the herd.

 

[Big Swede]

I'm with you on that one gcreek. I've found that the less I'm around and the more room the cows have to roam and get by themselves to calve, the less trouble there is all the way around. Calving cows on grass is very stress free.

 

[LazyWP]

I'm with you on that one gcreek. I've found that the less I'm around and the more room the cows have to roam and get by themselves to calve, the less trouble there is all the way around. Calving cows on grass is very stress free.

So just how stress free has it been this year? Not everyone has the options of moving calving dates, culling as need be, nor even have the facilities that they need. This friend of mine that I was referring to, works for a big operation. Calves about 150 first calf heifers, plus another 600 older cows. He isn't like Soap, or Big Swede, who have help available, if and when he needs it. He has himself, period! If we get a bad enough storm, where school is canceled, he has his 14 year old son to help.
I would venture to guess, that his calving success is very close to the average, in this area.

 

[Big Swede]

My cows just started 4 days ago so I would say the stress meter is still on zero. If we would get another snowstorm then it would definately go up. My first 50 heifers calved in good weather and the next 70 came in a storm. Reminded me why I don't like to calve in the winter. :shock: :lol:

 

[Big Swede]

In regards to your friend LazyWP, if he works for someone else there's not much he can do besides do his best or find a better herd to manage.