Calving 2018 - Advise and Help thread

Hard Knocks

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

???? Explain.

It like the legs aren’t forward enough, the knees are nearly coming with the shoulder.
Can’t get the head back to get the legs out, so just have to go for it

Angus2018

I'm not sure I fully understand but if it's what I think it is then this is common when the cow hasn't dilated enough or the calf is to big. I often notice it with heifers. One good trick is to straighten the legs when the hoofs are just appearing, just pull them one at a time and you can feel them stretching out. This stops them being pushed back when the head is trying to get through and makes it easier for the cow for getting the head out.


7 days overdue with my heifer now. Udder is still a bit slack too. Hope a bull calf didn't serve her. If a Belgian Blue cross comes out I'll need answers ha

charolais0153

Angus2018 wrote: »

I'm not sure I fully understand but if it's what I think it is then this is common when the cow hasn't dilated enough or the calf is to big. I often notice it with heifers. One good trick is to straighten the legs when the hoofs are just appearing, just pull them one at a time and you can feel them stretching out. This stops them being pushed back when the head is trying to get through and makes it easier for the cow for getting the head out.


7 days overdue with my heifer now. Udder is still a bit slack too. Hope a bull calf didn't serve her. If a Belgian Blue cross comes out I'll need answers ha

Belgian blues generally have short gestations

Mooooo

4th last calved this morning, expecting an AA but big white legs appeared. Big fecker of a BB bull. Cow standing but a bit shaky and calf ok. Perhaps best not to give a bb to a cow that will be dry for 5 months....

squinn2912

How did she end up with a bb?

Hard Knocks

Angus2018 wrote: »

I'm not sure I fully understand but if it's what I think it is then this is common when the cow hasn't dilated enough or the calf is to big. I often notice it with heifers. One good trick is to straighten the legs when the hoofs are just appearing, just pull them one at a time and you can feel them stretching out. This stops them being pushed back when the head is trying to get through and makes it easier for the cow for getting the head out.


7 days overdue with my heifer now. Udder is still a bit slack too. Hope a bull calf didn't serve her. If a Belgian Blue cross comes out I'll need answers ha

That’s it, but I burst the water bag to push back the head & pull out the legs but head was too far forward& heifer kept pushing
Least everything was the right way

Mooooo

squinn2912 wrote: »

How did she end up with a bb?

Me, I had forgot I followed the bull with the a straw as he was off form for a week towards the end. Will give the cow a bottle of calcium under the skin. Id wonder what the calf will turnout like, cow is massive tall

tanko

Is it a DBZ calf?
Had a brain wave last summer and put him on a lim cow here. She calved a nice bull last week.

Mooooo

tanko wrote: »

Is it a DBZ calf?
Had a brain wave last summer and put him on a lim cow here. She calved a nice bull last week.

It is I think, must double check the tank, had gotten bb2083 delivered I think before as well as they had no DBZ at the time.

Angus2018

Heifer overdue 10 days now from her heat date. The bull was taken away 5 days after.

I doubt one of the bull calves got her but it's looking suspicious. there were two possible ones that were March born making them 5 months. Both from the same bull as her. She was separated from them about 2 weeks after her heat date.

Will wait and see.

Angus2018

And she calved! Big Angus bull calf, had a lot of trouble at the head but pulled it out with straps, no problems with hips and cow was on her feet straight away. Tough labour on the calf but no problems standing and suckling. Strange she went over her date with such a big calf.

34 cows all calved. 22 bulls and 15 heifers. No casualties this year and ended up with 2 sets of twins so got two extra calves. Put in a lot of work this calving season but it's paid off. Made sure I had dates for most cows so I got them on meal and silage a few days prior calving which helped a lot.

Looking over numbers I had:
17 calvings between 00:00 - 08:00
11 calvings during 08:00 - 19:00
6 calvings during 19:00 - 0:00

I noticed a lot of cows like to calve when I decide to head to bed haha. Calving cameras really came in handy for all the night time ones.

Lady Haywire

Still waiting on our last two, the culard & a lim. Cows are 289 & 291 days

squinn2912

Angus2018 wrote: »

And she calved! Big Angus bull calf, had a lot of trouble at the head but pulled it out with straps, no problems with hips and cow was on her feet straight away. Tough labour on the calf but no problems standing and suckling. Strange she went over her date with such a big calf.

34 cows all calved. 22 bulls and 15 heifers. No casualties this year and ended up with 2 sets of twins so got two extra calves. Put in a lot of work this calving season but it's paid off. Made sure I had dates for most cows so I got them on meal and silage a few days prior calving which helped a lot.

Looking over numbers I had:
17 calvings between 00:00 - 08:00
11 calvings during 08:00 - 19:00
6  calvings during 19:00 - 0:00

I noticed a lot of cows like to calve when I decide to head to bed haha. Calving cameras really came in handy for all the night time ones.

Meant to reply to this. That's an awful lot of night time calvings. I didn't make a list but we only had 3-4. I suppose you tend to forget it happened at night if you go down the next morning and the lady has the work done for you! We usually kept the feed away from them during the day and fed them mostly last thing at night. Would you try that out? Might be no truth in it but I always heard that doing that would put them off calving during the night. 
It's lovely now going out to change an electric fence and watching the calves sprinting about after all the hardship in the snow!

anthony500_1

Have small numbers here, 8 to be exact.all bar one calved, I'd say she threw the calf after she was scanned and is back in calf as I left the bull with them after they were scanned for an easy life and she is starting to bag up a wee bit now.

I fed 90% of feed around 8pm from 2 weeks pre calving scanning dates on advise received here. All calved as follows
3 calved between 11am and 6pm
2 calved between 8pm and 10pm
2 calved between 2am and 6am

All in all very happy with the way it went, working off farm using a camera it's a God send. Only had to go home for one cow that is to lazy to push the calf out, didn't even need to use the jack, just ropes, all in was an hour away from work. Working close to home helps too.

Took over a beef farm in 15, and converted to sucklers, this year I calved more then I did the two previous years, so I'm delighted, no losses, low vet bills just a calf that was poor at birth, and a cow that didn't clean right and got an infection. No sections.......

Thanks to all on here for great advice and a great thread.

Mac Taylor

Hi, this first calver calved on her own yesterday evening, slight pull.
Checked her this morning and she had the bed out, vet called and he put it back, everything was fine but checked her again and she has a small piece out again, had a neighbour look at and he said to leave her.
Im not sure......any advice. She is not forcing or anything.

greysides

Mac Taylor wrote: »

Hi, this first calver calved on her own yesterday evening, slight pull.
Checked her this morning and she had the bed out, vet called and he put it back, everything was fine but checked her again and she has a small piece out again, had a neighbour look at and he said to leave her.
Im not sure......any advice. She is not forcing or anything

It's not the calf-bed, the uterus, anyway. Looks like vaginal mucosa, possibly swollen. Could it be a bit of cleaning? Another possibility is a fat prolapse where a piece of the fat lining the canal escapes out through a tear in the vaginal mucosa.
If you crush her up you should be able to identify what it is.

Mac Taylor

greysides wrote: »

It's not the calf-bed, the uterus, anyway. Looks like vaginal mucosa, possibly swollen. Could it be a bit of cleaning? Another possibility is a fat prolapse where a piece of the fat lining the canal escapes out through a tear in the vaginal mucosa.
If you crush her up you should be able to identify what it is.

Thanks greysides, it’s not cleaning as I checked with vet that she had cleaned, I had her up the crash and it has a fatty texture, would I need to get the vet again?

greysides

I'd leave it alone for now. See what your vet thinks later. In the past where I've encountered them some days after the calving I've twisted them until they came away as the twisting should control any possible bleeding.

Mac Taylor

Thanks greysides, appreciate the advice.

patsy_mccabe

Had a purebred lim cow calve there on Friday night. Checked her at about 8pm and noticed the pins down. Reckoned she'd calve during the night as she was still with the others grazing away. Checked again at 10 and she was standing over the calf licking him. A fine big bull. Came back at midnight and there he was up drinking her. This calving outside can be so easy when the cow is very quiet, fine weather and nothing goes wrong.

Lady Haywire

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Had a purebred lim cow calve there on Friday night. Checked her at about 8pm and noticed the pins down. Reckoned she'd calve during the night as she was still with the others grazing away. Checked again at 10 and she was standing over the calf licking him. A fine big bull. Came back at midnight and there he was up drinking her. This calving outside can be so easy when the cow is very quiet, fine weather and nothing goes wrong.

When it works it's great, nothing like proper earth for them to get up on, proper grip to it. I just have flashback to chasing a cow 2 years ago that kept breaking down into the lower fields and two big feet hanging out of her. Cried tears of frustration that day after pulling a big dead ch out of her. :mad:
New rule with me is let them at it if they've quiet enough to follow a bucket and have an easy calving bull. Have 1 with a ch bull on left to calve & one accidental pregnancy so only the middle one with EBY on will be let calve out.

whelan2

Would normally calve any April calvers outside. Wasn't possible this year. Most of the autumn calvers calve outside

Mooooo

Lady Haywire wrote: »

When it works it's great, nothing like proper earth for them to get up on, proper grip to it. I just have flashback to chasing a cow 2 years ago that kept breaking down into the lower fields and two big feet hanging out of her. Cried tears of frustration that day after pulling a big dead ch out of her. :mad:
New rule with me is let them at it if they've quiet enough to follow a bucket and have an easy calving bull. Have 1 with a ch bull on left to calve & one accidental pregnancy so only the middle one with EBY on will be let calve out.

Can be a disaster with nervous ones alright. If you have a suitable field to set up a pen for them tho may help? Gonna do that in a small field by the house here for the late ones next year

Lady Haywire

Mooooo wrote: »

Can be a disaster with nervous ones alright. If you have a suitable field to set up a pen for them tho may help? Gonna do that in a small field by the house here for the late ones next year

We'd normally try to keep them around the shed in a field with the mass rock but that year they broke down to the lower fields and we let them be. The main issue we'd only have a few late ones and they'd constantly break back to the rest as that field borders normal grazing area.
Managed to keep the three this year on a bare patch with a steep hill, been there since they got out of the shed. Twigged onto the fact that cows never shouted for a move in the first fields they were let out onto so any ground we want to be well eaten or keep cattle on the longest get cattle on them first.

High bike

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Had a purebred lim cow calve there on Friday night. Checked her at about 8pm and noticed the pins down. Reckoned she'd calve during the night as she was still with the others grazing away. Checked again at 10 and she was standing over the calf licking him. A fine big bull. Came back at midnight and there he was up drinking her. This calving outside can be so easy when the cow is very quiet, fine weather and nothing goes wrong.

The opposite here Patsy last 4 here calved outside in April and all 4 got scour,no scour inside in Feb March.Same thing 2 yrs ago lost a calf to crypto that calved outside in April.I think it’s how the weather is so changeable

Who2

High bike wrote: »

The opposite here Patsy last 4 here calved outside in April and all 4 got scour,no scour inside in Feb March.Same thing 2 yrs ago lost a calf to crypto that calved outside in April.I think it’s how the weather is so changeable

It’s unlikely calving outside was the cause of crypto.

patsy_mccabe

Who2 wrote: »

It’s unlikely calving outside was the cause of crypto.

Would have thought far less likely to get that outside, unless the calf didn't get enough beastings.

whelan2

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Would have thought far less likely to get that outside, unless the calf didn't get enough beastings.

I dont give calves born outside halocur, lost a few last back end with crypto at the end of calving , weather was crap. Lesson learnt

Who2

Had crypto here a few years back and I was the cause of it. Poor calf hygiene, cows need to be kept half clean at least. Ensuring heisting was given was a major one too. Keeping calf dealers out of the shed is another one and trying to keep a reasonably closed herd. Putting them out was the only way I could keep it under control for calving. Rotovec corona helps too, while crypto isn’t on it, it helps immunity and stops some of the ones that can cause crypto. 99% of my autumn calvers will calve outside with no issue.

Mooooo

Could have been on the cow if cow was feeding inside or at a roundfeeder? Calf may have picked it up looking for milk then.