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hows everybodys calving goin since the the rain and snow

tlakota

Well-known member
Oh this is a stressful and heartbreaking time for me. I have been having great luck with calving until about last wed. once the wet cold weather started. I was at a 100% calf crop on the first 60 head but have lost 4 now. I wanted to get all the calves in the barn tonight but theres been a few sick calves in there so i decided i better just leave them out. Theres a calf hut for the calves to go in where they are at rite now so hopefully they figure it out. Those calves that are week or less old are sure heartbreaking for me. Have any of you had any losses (i hope not) and how are the calves handling it? Im just out of high school so it makes it tough for me but i know this is how the cow business can go. I pray for everybody going through this blizzard right now.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Mr. FH says the calves are stressed from the weather, but no
sickness and no losses.

Do you know how important a mineral program is to your
cattle? Now is one of the times when having a superior immune
system pays dividends.
 

tlakota

Well-known member
i just dug a new calf out of the blizzard brought him in the garage and got him dried off....i thought there was no chance for him but i went out into the garage and he was standing up so i figured id see if hed take a bottle...sure enough drank the bottle very quick....amazing how 20 degrees and being dried off can make!

I agree with you FH. Ive got a good mineral program on the cows rite now. first calf got scours and since then there has been 10 or so i noticed....im gonna have to treat them tommorrow first thing in the morning...if they are a couple days old do you recomend just giving a shot of nuflor and electrolytes or will just the nuflor do its job by its self
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Hang in there, kid. This too shall pass. No matter how hard you try, you can't save them all. Don't worry about the dead ones. Just try as hard as you can to save the live ones. I just pulled up the radar for your area, and it looks like a bad blizzard. I have been through a lot of them through the years, but it is always the current one and the next one that keeps you on your toes. When this one passes, remember any things that have gone wrong in this one and try to make improvements so the next one makes less of an impact on your operation.

One tip would be not to allow sick calves in your good barn. Have a smaller shed reserved for sick animals, and keep your bigger barn as pristine as possible so that it could be used in a bad storm for protection. We have newborns go through our barns, but try to keep older calves out. If there is any sickness, try to keep that cleaned out and re-limed for disinfectant purposes.

If your calves are dehydrated, give them electrolytes along with the Nuflor. Banamine works well with Nuflor, also. Good luck, and don't let a few dead calves get you down. Enthusiasm and persistence are the two attributes that pay off the best in the long run. There is always a silver lining behind every cloud, and the sun will be shining again before you know it.
 

mn

Well-known member
We've had the same weather here also. We lost 2 due to the wet and mud over the weekend. Now it's snowing out. We had over 2.5" of rain since last Wednesday. Have a good day!!!!!!!!
 

tlakota

Well-known member
thanks for the words soap! It truly helps because i dont get much support around here or help and it really is tuff....i just got in from the sleepless night and everything looked fine from what i could see....my calf hut in my calving pasture payed for itself 10 times tonight probably....i just unrolled straw on the south east side of it so all the calves and cows could stay out of the wind....looks like the cows protected them pretty good...i just unrolled some fresh straw so hopefully that will help...good luck to all of you and i pray for everybody going through this....east of here had it worse off it looks like
 

Denny

Well-known member
We've had over 40 calves since last wendsday all out in the rain.We've had 5 inches of rain in that time.Now it is snowing suppose to end up with 4 to 8 inches.The calves are takeing it well but they are on a good mineral program and that makes all the differance.I have had my share of wrecks and they all trace back to nutrition.

When I first started reading this forum (FASTER HORSES) was very adament about a good mineral program, and to tell the truth I thought she was full of beans.Well after talking with her I started useing the mineral.We had alot of trouble in the spring of 2005 with cows that retained their afterbirth,footrot and pinkeye were summer problems and of course scours.We had been giving a scour boss 9 shot to our cows for 3 years before that we had lost 25 out of a 100 calves one spring.

Well last year Jan 1st I started my cows on Vigortone Mineral 3V4S-CTC 1st thing the cows got a nice shiney coat even in the winter.Calveing came and the cows cleaned very quickly after birth.The calves were stronger and got right up and nursed.We ended our calveing season last year with 1 dead cow 2 dead calves both birth troubles and a set of twins from a 140 cows.Then summer came I had a new bottle of LA-200 for treating footrot and pinkeye.The bottle never got opened all summer we had 1 cow get pinkeye in her eye but it cleared up on its own in a week.This winter I chose not to vaccinate for scours and thus far it has been just fine.I also quit useing fly tags.

The cost of mineral last year was $22 per cow take away $4.50 for the scour shot and the fly tags that leaves $17.50 per cow not counting the labor savings from not vaccinateing for scours or putting in fly tags.Now come this spring we have alot more cows calveing dates moving up a heat cylce or two that will mean even more pounds to sell this fall the biggest savings comes in the form of labor there is'nt much involved no treating sick calves,no days spent doctoring on pasture,cows that retain afterbirth end up with an infection and then they may not breed back all of our major problems here have pretty much dissappeared.Get your cows on a good mineral program it will pay more than it cost.

Keep your chin up as a friend of mine say's we all take our turn with bad luck it's just your turn.I did'nt want my turn..Tommorrow will be a nicer day the sun will shine and the grass will grow.
 

tlakota

Well-known member
thanks denny
I have had problems with conception rates last couple years...that will help quite a bit with conception too?
 

Mrs.Greg

Well-known member
Keep your head up young man,we all could write books on the tough times we've been through in this industry.We are now entering our sixth month of snow,our cattle adjust to our weather.They have too.Your getting alot of great unsolicided advice,learn from it,oh and remember you'll get lots of support from the ranchers on here. We NEED more young people interested in the cattle industryI'm crossing fingers and toes the rest of your calving season goes perfect for you. :)
 

Tap

Well-known member
tlakota said:
Oh this is a stressful and heartbreaking time for me. I have been having great luck with calving until about last wed. once the wet cold weather started. I was at a 100% calf crop on the first 60 head but have lost 4 now. I wanted to get all the calves in the barn tonight but theres been a few sick calves in there so i decided i better just leave them out. Theres a calf hut for the calves to go in where they are at rite now so hopefully they figure it out. Those calves that are week or less old are sure heartbreaking for me. Have any of you had any losses (i hope not) and how are the calves handling it? Im just out of high school so it makes it tough for me but i know this is how the cow business can go. I pray for everybody going through this blizzard right now.

I feel for you tlakota. We left our two year old heifers out to calve on grass, partly to avoid scours. Even at that, I have been treating a few today. I think what probably happened was that a combination of last weeks storm, and us feeding the heifers a little to well, might be the cause. The calves more than likely were off milk for a time during the storm we had, and they tanked up on rich milk and it gave them an upset stomach. The calves were definately not ever in a confined area. I kept the calves born after the storm in a different pasture, and so far they are scour free, and even though they are younger calves, they look lots better than the older calves.

On the calves you are having trouble with, are they on just heifers, or cows of all ages? I think part of your problem is probably the confinement. Maybe there is nothing you can do about that now, but in the future you might want to try and change that. I know your part of SD is a lot wetter than ours (by miles), and this is probably a normally tough time to calve over there in a tight area.

Best of luck to you. You will get thru this.
 

John SD

Well-known member
tlakota, like everyone else I've been there. Nothing I can really add to what everyone else has already said. This too shall pass.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here as I don't start calving until the last week of April. So I've missed calving in this and previous storms this year.

I went to later calving because my health isn't what it used to be. I need things to be able to go on autopilot as much as possible if I had to take extended time away during calving.

When I was your age I lambed in Feb, so I could calve in March, so I could farm in April. I've cut out the sheep and farming and now all I have to do is calve in late April-May.

I have enough winter pasture that I haven't fed much hay this winter, only on the worst snowiest days. I have a fresh pasture waiting to calve in, and another fresh pasture waiting to put pairs in as the calves are born.

Most of my neighbors have been feeding hay and cake most of the winter and some have had to buy hay. As you know, after those calves are born it takes a lot of high quality groceries for those mama cows to milk and maintain their own condition to breed back. My cows can coast on dormant winter pasture with a little supplement and then hopefully green grass will start growing by the time the calves hit the ground.

The inadequate breedback rate of your cows likely is nutritionally related if you already have a good vaccination program. And like Denny and FH, I believe in a good mineral program.
 

tlakota

Well-known member
tap
I just got in from giving a couple shots...all my calves are out of old cows mostly...its makin me nervous for everything to calve still...i want to get them over to a different pasture really bad but cant since its soo wet...i wish it would either dry out or freeze so i could...ill get through this, its a tuff time but i dont give up...tap where you from? west river somewhere im guessing...but good luck to you and youll be in my thoughts
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
We had our first calf of the year yesterday... Wel, the first official calf of the year besides the ones that came way to early for their own good and we still don't know how that happened for sure.. Still 12 days away from official beginning of season. We switched minerals this past summer and oour conception rates were similiar to normal.. About 95% in a 45 day period.. Actually to be fair we usually got a bit more but had a longer calving season so I really can't complain.. I attribute some to my cows going onto grass in very good condition, some to the new mineral and some to the fac that my heifers had way to much time to get back into shape after calving with us pushing calving back another 15 days this year... I think we will stay with this time period, liking how it will corespond to rapid cylce of the cattle throught fresh calving grounds. With a little planning I can move the whole herd every 3 days, just need to put up a little bit of cross fence.. Just need tog et some reels and some posts.
 

Richard Doolittle

Well-known member
Hang in there tlakota! If you continue to have scour problems, you may want to talk to your vet and get a sample in to them to test and see what exactly you are dealing with.
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
We have scour problems a lot.. Cocci.. 3 strains if I remember correctly. It is a mother to deal with some years and others, it might as well not existt.. We have had a few recomendations on dealling with it, from rapid rotations, treating water, treated creep feed for the calves, a creep waterer for the calves and treating the cows before calving season with either Deccox or mixing monensin into the feed mixture.... We are trying yet another method this year and I hope it works because it is way expensive but it is also suppossed to help with e.coli.. We shall see...
 

Mrs.Greg

Well-known member
If your losing then to scours make sure you give them electrolytes,the sick calve will be depleting its body of minerals and its REAL important to get the electrolytes into them. :) We used to use Kaopectate also,haven't had scours for years.
 

feeder

Well-known member
Well everyone, as many of you know we are calving a whole whopping 39 cows! We lost 2 calves when it turned wet and muddy. We are learning and now we have the calves in better conditions so things are better. Still have to keep on top of any scours that erupt. I guess I don't have any words of wisdom but good luck with calving. I can hardly comprehend how much work it is for those that calve alot of cows. With only my small bunch, I feel like the story book rhyme of the lady in the shoe that had so many kids she didn't know what to do!
 

MN Farm Girl

Well-known member
We just started calving. Had the 2nd one yesterday night. The weather around here is 18 degrees, and the north wind is blowing at 22mph. We have little snow flurries. When we did chores last night we had to unfreeze the water hydrants. Took forever. It normally takes us about 45 minutes to an hour to do chores, last night it took until 8:40. We started at 6:30. We do chores later because we have the fat cattle on a schedule. Don't want to feed them early then real late.

Catch ya later,
MN Farm Girl
 

tlakota

Well-known member
well for everyone that has been reading this forum...i have some somewhat good news...after the blizzard has past i havent lost any calves. I thought i lost one because the momma was looking for her calf all over the the pasture...this has been for about 3 days...i have looked everyday, in the rushes in the fenceline hoping to find this calf....well just happens to be when i was driving by some cornstalk bales on my four wheeler today i noticed the calf was wedged up in there....i tried pulling him out but couldnt....so i had to unstack all the bales and i got him out...put some electrolytes in him and gave him a shot of A and D....i dont know if that was the rite thing to do but i figured i take a chance....im guessing in an hour ill be able to tell if hes going to make it...seems like whenever you drench them in that poor of a condition, it either kills them or helps them quick

i need some opionions on a one more thing
during the blizzard the other nite i found a new calf out in the snow and brought him in the garage...i got him warmed up for a day and gave him colostrum...took him out to the barn and got the momma in but she wont except him....have any suggestions?
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
tlakota said:
i need some opionions on a one more thing
during the blizzard the other nite i found a new calf out in the snow and brought him in the garage...i got him warmed up for a day and gave him colostrum...took him out to the barn and got the momma in but she wont except him....have any suggestions?

The best thing would be to get her in a headcatch and let the baby suck her out. Then put them together in a box stall. If you have some "calf coaxer" or "O-No-Mo" that is a good thing to sprinkle on the calf to get her to lick it and like it. If she is still kicking him off the next morning, put her in the headcatch again and let the calf suck. You might have to tie one hind leg back if she kicks at him, but don't pull it too tight because that only antagonizes the cow. Keep them cooped up together, but you will have to let the cow drink once a day, and keep hay in the box stall with her and the calf.

I've got one two-year-old heifer that was a pain under such conditions for a few days. I ended up hobbling her hind legs together on Sunday morning. Took them off today, and now she loves her calf.

Good luck.
 
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