Calving 2018 - Advise and Help thread

High bike

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Did last years ZAG bulls stay a bit on the small side?

yeah they weren’t very tall but good muscle Patsy,this years calves have more height but they’r out of different cows

antrimite

Lady Haywire wrote: »

antrimite wrote: »

7 left to calve here, hopefully the weekend will get most of them done.
We have had 3 cows not drop the milk this year and require a jab of Oxytocin, anyone else have this issue and any ideas why this might be happening? Mineral or vitamin specific?

Would you have a bully cow dealing out wallops to cows and getting them to break into calving?

Theres a couple of cows who would be bullies! this is their last year so hopefully no more hassle

Mf310

I bought 10 calves born at the start of february big strong lads but just realised they arent dehorned would it be too late now to dehorn using gas

Parishlad

Mf310 wrote: »

I bought 10 calves born at the start of february big strong lads but just realised they arent dehorned would it be too late now to dehorn using gas

Depends on the size of the butts/horns really. They might still be okay but I'd be giviing them a shot of anaesthetic if you do them.

Lady Haywire

Jeez you'd need eyes everywhere at times. After that cow calved this morning I wasn't too worried about the other heifer as she was only due Thursday. Have been handling her every day getting her quiet so been checking her at the same time obviously. Noted her slightly broke at 1pm when feeding them all but not much of a bag up. So went off for a root canal at 2pm & back at 4.30 or so, went down to the cows at 5 and there she was licking a nice sized bull fresh out of the oven.
Handling came into play as she allowed me to pull him into the lying area and he was up and latched on like a tick in half an hour.

Angus2018

Would be finished 2 weeks ago but have a heifer who didn't hold the first time and is just dragging out the end of the season now. Noticed activity last year that had put her down to Tuesday just gone but she looks to be a week or more away which doesn't seem possible. How late can a heifer go over her due date?

The man in red and black

Mf310 wrote: »

I bought 10 calves born at the start of february big strong lads but just realised they arent dehorned would it be too late now to dehorn using gas

There are different sizes of burners for horns. I used to use this one in Canada

http://www.pbsanimalhealth.com/details/Electric-Dehorner-X50/375-10740.html

You could do animals up to about 3-4 months maybe 5 at a push with that. It just burned a good copper ring around the base and horn dies and falls of. Definitely use local anaesthetic and a long acting pain killer like Meloxicam when dehorning. Not sure if you could ask around and see if any neighbours have that bigger sized one. If they are Friesians I doubt you would manage the horns at 3 months with a regular disbudding iron.

patsy_mccabe

The man in red and black wrote: »

There are different sizes of burners for horns. I used to use this one in Canada

http://www.pbsanimalhealth.com/details/Electric-Dehorner-X50/375-10740.html
....

That won't work in Europe. Different voltage. I was in the US as a student. Brought an electric clock home with me. It ran fast for a while and then blew up. :rolleyes:

White Clover

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

That won't work in Europe. Different voltage. I was in the US as a student. Brought an electric clock home with me. It ran fast for a while and then blew up. :rolleyes:

They run at 50 hertz here as opposed to 60 hertz in USA.

The man in red and black

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

That won't work in Europe. Different voltage. I was in the US as a student. Brought an electric clock home with me. It ran fast for a while and then blew up. :rolleyes:

So they would be dehorned faster initially?? :P

There must be something similar available in Europe though? Only used that link to find a good photo of the style of dehorner.

Who2

I’ve an electric fence the old man brought back from the states years back . I just changed the plug to a yellow 110 v one and plugged it into a transformer. Works away grand but I’d like a little more bite to it to be honest.

squinn2912

Last two stragglers calves yesterday and today a bull and a heifer. 33/35 live calves including 2 sidedoor jobs isn’t bad going. Must check again but I think we’re between 20-25 bull calves too

anthony500_1

squinn2912 wrote:

Last two stragglers calves yesterday and today a bull and a heifer. 33/35 live calves including 2 sidedoor jobs isn’t bad going. Must check again but I think we’re between 20-25 bull calves too

High number of bulls vrs heifers wouldn't do to be looking for a blast of replacements. But a great success to get 33/35 alive.

squinn2912

anthony500_1 wrote: »

squinn2912 wrote:

Last two stragglers calves yesterday and today a bull and a heifer. 33/35 live calves including 2 sidedoor jobs isn’t bad going. Must check again but I think we’re between 20-25 bull calves too

High number of bulls vrs heifers wouldn't do to be looking for a blast of replacements. But a great success to get 33/35 alive.

Just coinciding with me buying 5 sim heifers Off a dairy man as a wee experiment and of the heifer calves at least 3 are ai. We had a stop gap bull that was very flighty as well so we don’t want keeping on his daughters. Couldn’t have worked out better!

Angus2018

Last heifer here to calve is now 5 days late and it's been 3 weeks since the last calf. It's going to have a lot of catching up to do.

squinn2912

If it has a pulse you have options

Angus2018

Induce? Might do that, 7 of the 8 all had easy carvings so I don't think I'd run into problems during labour, her udder isn't good though which is putting me off.

White Clover

Angus2018 wrote: »

Last heifer here to calve is now 5 days late and it's been 3 weeks since the last calf. It's going to have a lot of catching up to do.

By the time them calves are yearlings, you won't notice the difference, in fact that calf may even be bigger than it's comrades. Don't panic, she'll get down to calving when she's ready.

tanko

She’ll be grand and calve when shes ready. I think inducing is a last resort, it can lead to problems like retained cleanings.

Angus2018

Noted, just getting restless since it's a Sunday. I'll report back when she gets down to it.

squinn2912

Sorry I think I was unclear earlier. I meant as long as she has a live calf you’re ok, he’ll catch up or catch up enough that you can do something with him. No way I’d entertain inducing myself

KatyMac

Have a heifer who is not supposed to be calving until end July. These past couple of days she has a string of mucus trailing out of her - do you think she's not in calf (never seen any signs of bulling) or is she likely to be loosing the calf? She's not sick in any way and is about the size, belly wise, that I'd expect her to be at this stage if actually carrying a calf. She is approx 25/26 months old.

Lady Haywire

If the mucus is clear/opaque and she's acting like normal I'd not be overly bothered at all, every cow is different. You're absolutely sure that she's due in July?

KatyMac

Lady H, I'm as sure as I can be - she was AI'd and due date is 18th July. If I go out and find a white calf as her feet I will be able to blame neighbour's bull as she is supposed to be carrying to Angus, but other than that who knows. Mucus is clear and she appears to be well so I'll just wait and see.

anthony500_1

KatyMac wrote:

Lady H, I'm as sure as I can be - she was AI'd and due date is 18th July. If I go out and find a white calf as her feet I will be able to blame neighbour's bull as she is supposed to be carrying to Angus, but other than that who knows. Mucus is clear and she appears to be well so I'll just wait and see.

Did you get her scanned to see she was in calf in early pregnancy, would it be twins and she starting to get ready to calf them??? Bit early but could be a possibility.

KatyMac

anthony500_1 wrote: »

Did you get her scanned to see she was in calf in early pregnancy, would it be twins and she starting to get ready to calf them??? Bit early but could be a possibility.

Don't scare me like that!!!!! I don't normally scan as usually have a good idea, only get vet to check the odd one if I'm selling as empty. As long as she remains fit and healthy I will leave alone and just hope that there is a calf to come in 9 (:eek:) weeks.

Hard Knocks

Help an older neighbour with calvings
Generally no problems but lately the feet are coming with the toes rather than the knees.
Is there a reason? Ie vitimans minerals etc?

patsy_mccabe

Hard Knocks wrote: »

Help an older neighbour with calvings
Generally no problems but lately the feet are coming with the toes rather than the knees.
Is there a reason? Ie vitimans minerals etc?

???? Explain.

High bike

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

???? Explain.

backwards maybe?

Lady Haywire

High bike wrote: »

backwards maybe?

I was thinking that, or upside down.