calving heifers

[gcreekrch]

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.

We're still on a feedground and will be for another 3 to 4 weeks yet but most of these cows seem to do things on their own. If we need to intervene we will but even our "active" cows can be handled relatively quiet.

Having said that I turned Aussie today. 5 year old cow calved at midnight last night. Calf was sucking when I was on my drive through the trees on my check. It was bawling for a mom this morning and through process of elimination while tagging I eventually deciphered who the mom was. When I delivered the calf to her she had a sniff and walked off. Every time the calf tried to suck she would move again. Not much @!$$#$ me off more than a lacadasical momma cow.
Decided to put her in a jail pen at the corrals so off we went. Everything went quiet until we were about 50 yards from the gate into the barnyard and she decided we weren't going that way. After a bit of a chase and she was wore down and on the fight I put the bike in her ribs and kept pushing until she went down. Took the short piece of poly rope I always carry for emergency pulls and tied her hind legs together tight. Went back for a tractor and rope halter and led her to the corrals. Baby was getting a good feed not long later.

I don't think we've messed with 10% yet this year including pulls on heifers and malpresentations but I know a few cows that will be calving somewhere else next spring. They are good cows for the "hands on" folks but we haven't got time for them.

 

[eatbeef]

I maybe go through 1 to 3 cc's of rompum a year. Everybody has there opinion, but not everybody has the same operation.

 

[greybeard]

A heifer has a much better chance of being a good mother if she can just put her head down and eat when the calf lays down.
Having to feed calving or newly calved heifers causes all kinds of trouble. Herd instinct is very strong in young animals.

 

[4Diamond]

Having to feed calving or newly calved heifers causes all kinds of trouble.

:???:

 

[Soapweed]

Having to feed calving or newly calved heifers causes all kinds of trouble.

:???:

I'd say that having heifers somewhat confined, feeding them good loose hay and cake, gives good opportunity for monitoring the calving. To me, this seems easier than having them in a pasture situation where they are hard to see. If a problem arises, it is easy to capture the heifer to take care of the complication. In a more fertile area where less acres were required per critter, the pasture situation for calving heifers might look more appealing.

 

[Silver]

Having to feed calving or newly calved heifers causes all kinds of trouble.

:???:

I'd say that having heifers somewhat confined, feeding them good loose hay and cake, gives good opportunity for monitoring the calving. To me, this seems easier than having them in a pasture situation where they are hard to see. If a problem arises, it is easy to capture the heifer to take care of the complication. In a more fertile area where less acres were required per critter, the pasture situation for calving heifers might look more appealing.

:agree:

 

[gcreekrch]

:???:

I'd say that having heifers somewhat confined, feeding them good loose hay and cake, gives good opportunity for monitoring the calving. To me, this seems easier than having them in a pasture situation where they are hard to see. If a problem arises, it is easy to capture the heifer to take care of the complication. In a more fertile area where less acres were required per critter, the pasture situation for calving heifers might look more appealing.

:agree:

I may not be right again but I took this to mean that heifers that are calving or just calved at feeding time tend to get distracted with the excitement of the days menu and not tend to business.

 

[Soapweed]

I'd say that having heifers somewhat confined, feeding them good loose hay and cake, gives good opportunity for monitoring the calving. To me, this seems easier than having them in a pasture situation where they are hard to see. If a problem arises, it is easy to capture the heifer to take care of the complication. In a more fertile area where less acres were required per critter, the pasture situation for calving heifers might look more appealing.

:agree:

I may not be right again but I took this to mean that heifers that are calving or just calved at feeding time tend to get distracted with the excitement of the days menu and not tend to business.

You are probably right, Gcreek, but on the other hand they have to eat sometime. :wink:

We normally corral the calving cows in one lot at night, and put calving heifers in a different lot for the night. The next morning we pair out anything left in the day lots that came the previous day, then feed, and then turn the heavies out to the feed. Any cows that calved during the night, or are calving at the time we turn out, are held back so they don't get mis-matched. The system seems to work fairly well, and has been our standard order of procedure for many years.

 

[Denny]

We had this situation a few days ago 2 heifers calved about 20ft apart up in the woods. I fed and they came to eat they did go back to their calves and after a bit of confusion I/ they got it figured out.