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Calving Tip

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randiliana

randiliana

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Here's a tip to consider.

We had a heifer calve the other night. Ended up having to pull the calf, and she really wasn't that interested in him. Happens often enough when you have to assist a heifer. Usually, we just leave them alone for a few hours (2-4) and when we come back she will have settled down and decided to love the calf. In this case, the heifer just laid down on the other side of the stall, and never looked at the calf. So, since it was 3 am, I just went into the house, made up a bottle of colostrum for the calf and fed the calf. Didn't really feel like messing with the cow at 3 am. Well, as soon as that calf drank that bottle down, he wanted to get up and started moving around. And that is when the little light bulb clicked on in the heifer's head, as soon as I got out of the way she was mothering him up. From what I could tell, the calf didn't really do much moving because the heifer wasn't licking( no stimulation) him, and the heifer didn't mother him because he didn't show a lot of life (more or less just laid still), sort of a catch 22 situation.

So my tip, in this situation, is
1. get the calf breathing (if necessary) and stimulate the calf a bit so he doesn't just lay there like a lump
2. give the pair a little time ALONE (at least 2 hours), don't check in on them every few minutes or you just stress the heifer even more. The more you interfere in this situation, the longer it is going to take for her to accept the calf.
3. before you bottle the calf, get him moving, if you can get him to stand up even better.
 
My neighbor whose in the midst of calving a big bunch of cows right now told me that exact same thing. He keeps some powdered colostrum and gives the calf a cup or so just to prime the pump a bit in this cold weather. He's got a bunch of cows calving from another breed that he took on-I don't think he'll be selling his black cows anytime soon lol. It's colder than a witches tit out there again today.
 
Northern Rancher said:
My neighbor whose in the midst of calving a big bunch of cows right now told me that exact same thing. He keeps some powdered colostrum and gives the calf a cup or so just to prime the pump a bit in this cold weather. He's got a bunch of cows calving from another breed that he took on-I don't think he'll be selling his black cows anytime soon lol. It's colder than a witches tit out there again today.
Click to expand...

I'm much too cheap and lazy to milk the cow or use the more expensive colostrum mix. If I have a chilled one, they usually just get a couple gulps of regular milk replacer to get them going. I've yet to see catastrophic health effects from this method :roll: :) .

Speaking of which, how diligent are other people about getting colostrum into a calf? These calves are quite vigorous, so it's not usually an issue here, but I know some people grab the tuber if one hadn't nursed within a few hours of birth. I don't like making a project for no good reason, and that seems unnecessary to me. Besides, I don't believe absorption is as good when they're tubed vs suckling.
 
We used to keep a jug or two of colostrum in the freezer from a local dairy. Always had the fear that we would introduce some new disease or disaster bug into the calves. We now keep a couple of pouches of the new freeze dried stuff from Saskatoon on hand, and never seem to use it, unless we get hit by a real late season storm. In that rare case, it does a really good job of getting a calf ramming around without the health risk of frozen colostrum.
The sun does a good job drying and warming in our late calving season.
We have found for the most part, leaving things alone a bit is a good strategy. Binoculars work wonders for making sure things are OK without disturbing a new mom.
 
Veterinarian data and studies show that the long term effects of a calf missing out on colostrum just hours after birth have a long term effect on lifetime health. I can't site all of the data, but I buy into it. A dead one is worth nothing and a sick one will not weigh with the healthy ones. Additional data shows that feedlot health and carcass quality are also compromised down the road if things don't start right. Since we care about that a great deal, we see benefits in worrying about it.

I think that the colostrum from the cow is pretty darn tuff to replace with a substitute. If you've got a handy head-catch then it's not all that much trouble to milk a bottle full of colostrum from that cow. Don't get me wrong, we use milk replacer as necessary but don't like to miss the colostrum up front. I feel much better knowing that the little rascals have had that all-important first drink and the cow and calf can work things out on their own a little later. Just my view on the topic. By all means, make up your own mind. :D
 
I have some colustrum from the cow in the freezer most of the time, and powdered stuff in the cubbard. I usually will let one go several hours, but I will use it if I feel necessary. A hard pull or cow that is down, or a calf that seems weak or chilled. But, no, I don't make a job if one isn't there. If I have to milk a cow, I will save some and feed some to keep it on hand. I have one big teated cow that I had to milk last year, and looks like it will be the same this year. I know, she needs to go...............but her calf is always close to 700..............so...........you know?
 
Being on a good mineral program really enhances colostrum quailty.
That's one great reason to keep cows on mineral all winter long.
And it makes the calves VIG-OR-US. :wink:

If we had a calf that didn't suck for some reason, the first thing
we did was to give it some canned milk .Even that got the
calf up and going. If we needed to after that, we did get the
cow in and milk her, but that was very seldom. We didn't have enough
problems to buy milk replacer so I just made sure we had a few
cans of canned milk on hand. What we didn't use sure makes
good potato soup. :wink: :D :D

You folks that are using frozen colostrum, remember you can't thaw
it in the microwave or you will lose the quality.

Have any of you used Etherated Camphorated Oil? That stuff can't
be beat for getting a calf going.We saved alot of calves
with it when we were in W. Montana and weren't on a mineral
program. The last bottle we got came out
of Canada as it had been banned in the USA. We really guarded that
bottle--and we still have some of it left. It actually could bring a
lamb with a cold mouth back and that's quite a testimonal. Usually
when that happens the lamb is a goner. I wonder if Whitewing
can still get this product in Venezuala?

We had a horse fall in the Powder River with Mr. FH and he got
water in his lungs. He was wheezing something awful. We were a long
ways from a vet, but I called and he was on a call the opposite
direction. He asked what we had to treat him with and I told him
Etherated Camphorated Oil (it is a stimulant and an expectorant)
and he advised us to give him that for 5 days. Usually a cc will
bring a calf around, but he had us give that horse 10 cc for those
days. It cleared him up and he never had respiratory problems
after that. Pretty amazing stuff! Too bad we can't get it any more.
 
We have Camphorated Oil, but I don't know what the "etherated" means. We have never injected it, but use as a rub on, and has saved lots of frozen ears, or cleared up a cold, or relieved soreness.
 
Seems lilke the last powdered milk replacer we had around said not to give it to calves under 2 or 3 days old.

We got a few heavy milking cows that always need attention and kinda build a 'stash' of extra natural milk

Or sometimes condensed milk, diluted by half.

Cholostrum the sooner the better--all sorts of goodies and ability to absorb them is supposed to decrease fairly quickly.
 
Passive absorption of IgG slows down greatly after about 6 hrs. Of course, nursing the cow is the best option for everyone involved. But if the calf hasn't nursed in the first few hours, it needs some form of cholostrum fast. After 24 hrs, very little absorption of anitbodies occurs.
 
Colostrum is a big deal around here. I don't like to let a calf go for more than 4 hours. If they haven't been up and gotten a suck by then we give it to them. I much prefer to bottle feed than to tube, and the tube is used as a last resort around here. Might take longer to bottle a newborn, but I feel it is better for them. Usually I'll give them about 500 ml that is about the size of a small pop bottle. It is usually enough to get them kick started into getting up and finding mom. The only time I feed more than that is on an abandoned calf.

Depending on the circumstances I will either get the calf on the cow, milk her or feed frozen or packaged colostrum. Normally we have frozen in herd colostrum around, I pick a couple older cows and milk some out of them after their own calf has sucked. At 3 am that frozen or packaged stuff is sooooo nice to have, much better than fighting with a cow at that hour.

It just happened that this year we didn't have any frozen stuff in the freezer, so I had to use the packaged stuff. But I got one of the girls milked out yesterday, so have some in the freezer now.
 
whitecow said:
Passive absorption of IgG slows down greatly after about 6 hrs. Of course, nursing the cow is the best option for everyone involved. But if the calf hasn't nursed in the first few hours, it needs some form of cholostrum fast. After 24 hrs, very little absorption of anitbodies occurs.
Click to expand...

Yes, and I read a study where not only does the calf's ability to absorb slow down, but the quality of the cow's colostrum declined rapidly as well. I will try to find it again and post it.
 
Shortgrass, I think, (but I could be wrong) that the etherated part
means it is suspended somehow so that it can be used as an injection.
You must pull the plunger back after inserting the needle to make sure
you aren't in the bloodstream.

When you give an injection of that stuff, it's no time and you can
smell it coming out their nostrils. It doesn't take much time to go
through their system. Sure brings 'em to life.
 

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