First Time Calving

Ladeeen

Greetings all, first time poster long time lurker so bear with me

I have two SI x FR heifers calving down the 2nd week of June and 2nd week of July respectively. Both heifers were bulled to FL22 and will be about 27 months old when calving. As I only have had dry cattle for the last few years and have never calved a cow, I have two main questions?

1) What would be an adequate diet in the weeks calving? (Mineral supplements etc.)
2) What supplies would I need for care of the calf and mother after calving?

Any advice greatly appreciated

bbam

My general thinking would be not too let them get too fat, control their condition. Have them strong and healthy but not mud fat.

Precalver minerals 10 weeks before the first calf due.

Presuming your calving them inside, plenty of good quality straw bedding is a start.

Lots if not most use iodine on the navel, although we never did.

Handy to have some electrolyte near at hand, sick calves always seem to come on a Saturday evening!

pakalasa

Do you have someone who you can call on, if you need help calving them?
You can leave them in a barish field beforehand too. There is no need to keep them housed. Quiet heifers can turn nasty too, when there is a calf to be proteced.
Most of all - don't worry, it's usually the ones you least expect that give trouble.

Ladeeen

Thanks for the replies.Yes I should have neway. Just tryen to make sure i'm giving them the best chance to have an easy and stress free calving. I'll be leaving them out on a hilly area in the next few days as they've finished the last of the silage. Should i give them hay aswel as minerals over the next few weeks?

just do it

Ladeeen wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.Yes I should have neway. Just tryen to make sure i'm giving them the best chance to have an easy and stress free calving. I'll be leaving them out on a hilly area in the next few days as they've finished the last of the silage. Should i give them hay aswel as minerals over the next few weeks?

First and foremost you're given them the easiest calving bull. That is the most important point. Rather than daily minerals I recommend you give them allsure bolus 6 weeks pre-calving. With these in their bellies you needn't worry about the quality of forage they're getting. There is a good clip on youtube about them with a vet called Rogers. Body condition score at calving should be no more than 2.5. The only thing you need to do post calving is ensure the calves get colostrum as soon as possible but definitely within 24 hours of calving. This is usually not a problem though as the calves take care of this themselves.

You're preparing well in advance, I wish I was as well organised as you!

just do it

Ladeeen wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.Yes I should have neway. Just tryen to make sure i'm giving them the best chance to have an easy and stress free calving. I'll be leaving them out on a hilly area in the next few days as they've finished the last of the silage. Should i give them hay aswel as minerals over the next few weeks?

First and foremost you're given them the easiest calving bull. That is the most important point. Rather than daily minerals I recommend you give them allsure bolus 6 weeks pre-calving. With these in their bellies you needn't worry about the quality of forage they're getting. There is a good clip on youtube about them with a vet called Rogers. Body condition score at calving should be no more than 2.5. The only thing you need to do post calving is ensure the calves get colostrum as soon as possible but definitely within 24 hours of calving. This is usually not a problem though as the calves take care of this themselves.

You're preparing well in advance, I wish I was as well organised as you!

Ladeeen

Had'nt thought of boluses, might give a look into them. Although it might be more economical to use minerals when there's only two of them.

I suppose easy to prepare in advance when I've only the two, might b a different story next year :rolleyes: