ICE Got Another One!!

[Rowdy Ranch]

Sorry,NR-well just like the rest of us-keep the faith and hang in there. Yep,easier said then done lots of time-like my yesterday. WEll, just a calf tho,2 wk old was fine in a.m. then by mid afternoon acting like gut ache,so treated him,well then I was going around pastrue fence and got back at dark and calf 99 % dead.What the ****. :? Anyway I was 7 mi. from home, where it rained at least 1/2 in.and in the pasture it sprinkled on me and was windy and that was it. Hope you day goes way better :!:

 

[Soapweed]

Sorry about the loss, NR. It sure seems to go with the ranching business. Just a couple days ago, I found a nice black baldy ten-year-old cow over on her back. She leaves to mourn, a month-old son, who we are now attempting to graft onto a three-year-old cow whose calf died from scours.

Back in 1997, we had a blizzard on April 7th. We got through that storm without any loss, but then it got cold again and all our lakes and water holes froze over. They had all been open. On April 9th, we got another nine inches of snow, which lay smoothly on top of the thin ice that covered the ponds. A gentle northeast breeze pushed all of our yearling heifers to the southwest corner of a pasture, and thirteen head wandered out into the snow covered ice, broke through, and didn't have enough sense to return to shore. All thirteen stood there and eventually drowned in less than two feet of water. We were very fortunate that the other 275 head didn't meet the same fate, as the pond was certainly large enough to hold them all. Very soon thereafter, we fenced completely around that body of water.

Anyway, sorry about your loss. It always hurts.

 

[George]

I'm so sorry for you. Here most people lay their lines 32" deep but because I'm paranoid I put mine in 4 to 5 foot deep. I can't imagine water lines at 10 to 12 foot - - - I suppose most trenchers would not work and an excavator would be quite a bit slower - - - time is money!

 

[sw]

Sorry NR, bobbing for cows is one of the worst things. Before we came here we were on a place northwest of Kalispell. The bottoms that we had to winter on were soft and were kept soft by warm springs so we fought that nightmare all winter long unless it was -20 or colder. Worst we had was 19 head fall through. We put waterers out from wells on solid ground and those cows would still want to water in the ponds. Was glad to get out of that country.
Soapweed, that storm was what convinced us to go to fall calving. We were right in the middle of the old cows, 20 to 30 calves a day and that hit. We don't have much for calving barns, usually don't need much. It lasted for about 2 days where you couldn't see much but white. The cows all huddled together and kept on calving. Most of them would not claim their calf, if we weren't there when it hit the ground it was a guess who it belonged to. When the storm finally moved on to you guys, we had drifts high enough and hard enough that the kids were tunneling and building forts they could stand up in. We found more calves when the drifts started melting.

 

[Northern Rancher]

It's funny how your losses come in bunches-you can go a few years with nothing to speak of then a year like this. I'm getting to think if I find more new calves than dead cows it's a good day. Normally by midJanuary when these went through your adding to your ice auger or there's two feet of snow to lick-ohh well guess we'll soldier on.

 

[Shelly]

Geez, it seems like everyone is having their fair share of bad luck! Two mornings ago I went out to check the cows and calves and found a dead calf. It was just fine the day before! It was about three weeks old. Only thing I can figure that happened is it got stepped on when his momma and two others were all in heat at the same time. Must've went in for a suck at the wrong time.

NR, sorry about your cows. Very tough break.

 

[Jake]

it was a little before a year ago when my registered cow was slipped on the ice and screwed up her back leg.... gave her fits and caused a crappy calf this summer but she's finally getting better and popped a beauty a week ago. Paid too much for her not to get a couple calves at least out of her.

 

[kolanuraven]

It's said that bad luck comes in 3's......