Calving 2018 - Advise and Help thread

whelan2

15 left to calve here now.

Angus2018

13 left here, fingers crossed I'll be done on 4 weeks based on detection dates.

Had another monster Hereford bullock last night, arms are hanging off me today from lifting him up to stand. Zero problems calving though, just to much meat on him to stand. Only 2 more from that bull and those cows were on hay all winter so should be ok.

Who2

Three more here that I’m watching the last couple of days. I always find the last ones seem to drag on for ever.

john mayo 10

whelan2 wrote: »

Have a pb Angus calf born on st Patrick's day. He will suck the cows neck, leg everywhere except her teat. Have to run her down the crush each day for him to drink. Any hints what to do with him. Takes a good bit of time each day

Any improvement with the calf whelan2

whelan2

john mayo 10 wrote: »

Any improvement with the calf whelan2

Still putting her down the crush each day. He does drink her when we do that. Had to go to a funeral this morning so we just gave him a bottle to speed things up. My dad went over this evening and gave the cow meal in the shed and he went drinking her in the shed while she was eating....the power of prayer

patsy_mccabe

Went into yard this evening and cow near calving looking out over gate. Checked her. Yep, pins down. Let her out into paddock near shed. Could be a long night.

ELP

Last one here an old whitehead she is very heavy.
But I have noticed this couple of days her calf bed is visible when she is laying down. She was Ai'd so I have her down to calf on Monday or Tuesday. Is this a sign of trouble? Should I do anything?

Lady Haywire

ELP wrote: »

Last one here an old whitehead she is very heavy.
But I have noticed this couple of days her calf bed is visible when she is laying down. She was Ai'd so I have her down to calf on Monday or Tuesday. Is this a sign of trouble? Should I do anything?

We'd just call that showing her reed when lying down.
Just monitor it, the calf is putting pressure on her so should be back to normal after calving. If you're with her at calving, get her up on her feet after she calves so she doesn't put it out after the calf!

The man in red and black

ELP wrote: »

Last one here an old whitehead she is very heavy.
But I have noticed this couple of days her calf bed is visible when she is laying down. She was Ai'd so I have her down to calf on Monday or Tuesday. Is this a sign of trouble? Should I do anything?

Sounds like a vaginal prolapse or showing the reed, the bearing, the loo, depending on where you are from. I wouldn't keep her for next year. Vaginal prolapses tend to recur and can end up needing to be stitched back in place.

This is different from prolapsing the whole uterus or calf bed after calving. They occur for different reasons and are no more likely to repeat in the same cow than any other cow so no need to cull them.

patsy_mccabe

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Went into yard this evening and cow near calving looking out over gate. Checked her. Yep, pins down. Let her out into paddock near shed. Could be a long night.

Checked this girl at 4AM and no sign. Came back out at 7AM and she had calved. A small handy Lim heifer, dry and all. Went into yard to check something, came back out and she was drinking her. When the weather is dry, so much easier to calve them outside.
My last clow left is 'showing the reed' as ye call it too. Only second calver and don't want to get rid of her. Have a feeling she's carrying twins.

ELP

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Checked this girl at 4AM and no sign. Came back out at 7AM and she had calved. A small handy Lim heifer, dry and all. Went into yard to check something, came back out and she was drinking her. When the weather is dry, so much easier to calve them outside.
My last clow left is 'showing the reed' as ye call it too. Only second calver and don't want to get rid of her. Have a feeling she's carrying twins.

Was thinking that one of mine was carrying twins also. She does have too much milk and I always buy a second calf for her so maybe it's just wish full thinking.

squinn2912

Personally I hate twins. Almost always trouble. Safer with a good single.

Lady Haywire

Just had a section there, wasn't happy with the cow yesterday. Kept going to the back but wasn't broke or bagged up. Noticed her a small bit bagged this morning & slightly broke but nothing major, eating fine. Brought the folks out to dinner & came back to two feet out- hind feet, of course. So took her out & handled her, very tight, very very tight. Wasn't happy but tried myself & couldn't get further than hocks without serious strain so called the vet.
Out he came & same story, only getting to the hocks. When handling her he said her pelvis came to a sharp point which is where i could feel i was getting stuck. So not really the cows fault.
Anyway sectioned a grand size bull, both mum & him happy and she's on the cull list for the year.

blonde10

I don't know...im a bit reluctant to cull cows that had a section due to no fault of there own..i had a blue cross cow 2wks ago that I sectioned took a smashing blonde bull calf from and to be honest she always calves on her own and has great calves no bother..but for some reason this time it didn't go according to plan....i think it's to hard to replace them now days unless your breeding from within the herd..buying in calf heifers is buying a "pig in a bag in my opinion "
Just

Angus2018

Only had 2 sections in my time working the home farm, both calves were dead so never had to deal with culling them, depends on the cow I suppose.

Just calved a cow there, 10th or 11th calf I think and she's still terrible at it, goes round and round and never sits down to push. Got fed up waiting so I distracted her with meal and pulled the calf out with her standing up, she didn't even notice until she finished the meal and turned around. Lovely Hereford heifer that I'll put to the bull next year. I've had to use the jack the last 3 years so this was a welcome change.

Lady Haywire

This girl is a second calver- won't be 3yrs old for another month+. Think she was 21/22 months when she calved first.
Had to straighten the calf last year as it presented with a leg down & then took the calf with a bit of a pull. Tbh, this years calf is only average sized, def not worth the hassle of a section & if her pelvis isn't correctly sized/shaped, i see no point keeping on hardship. I debated culling her last year & only for she went incalf first time she might have gone (wasn't super milk-wise).

We breed all our own & have two coming in this year and two born this year already that we want to keep so all going well we'll have same cow numbers going forward.

farawaygrass

I’m so pissed at myself. Wife gone out so I’m minding the kids. Checked cows and one sick at half 8 but had the kids with me so dad said he throw an eye on her after a while. Anyhow between it all, my stupidity really, it was 11 when I went down and jacked a calf from her, dead. Should have handled her at half 8 or at least 9. Wouldn’t mind but she’s 5 years old, and was dry last year. Kept her as she is a beauty and so so quiet, a real pet. And it was a lovely heifer calf and all. You know I actually felt like I let the cow down, fcuk the money aspect of it, she should be happy out with her calf now

charolais0153

farawaygrass wrote: »

I’m so pissed at myself. Wife gone out so I’m minding the kids. Checked cows and one sick at half 8 but had the kids with me so dad said he throw an eye on her after a while. Anyhow between it all, my stupidity really, it was 11 when I went down and jacked a calf from her, dead. Should have handled her at half 8 or at least 9. Wouldn’t mind but she’s 5 years old, and was dry last year. Kept her as she is a beauty and so so quiet, a real pet. And it was a lovely heifer calf and all. You know I actually felt like I let the cow down, fcuk the money aspect of it, she should be happy out with her calf now

Dont think calf would die in 2 and a half hours

grassroot1

farawaygrass wrote: »

I’m so pissed at myself. Wife gone out so I’m minding the kids. Checked cows and one sick at half 8 but had the kids with me so dad said he throw an eye on her after a while. Anyhow between it all, my stupidity really, it was 11 when I went down and jacked a calf from her, dead. Should have handled her at half 8 or at least 9. Wouldn’t mind but she’s 5 years old, and was dry last year. Kept her as she is a beauty and so so quiet, a real pet. And it was a lovely heifer calf and all. You know I actually felt like I let the cow down, fcuk the money aspect of it, she should be happy out with her calf now

Why was she dry last year?

farawaygrass

I have a feeling the calf got under pressure from being so long in labour. She just was empty as scanning last year so dunno why. Sickened

grassroot1

I started to cull all cows that gave birth to dead calves a few years ago it has cut stillbirths significantly. I suspect that your calf was dead before calving I find with the sheep anyway if the lamb is not alive the labour progresses slower.
Don't beat yourself up about it **** happens

squinn2912

I agree with the above post. I wouldn’t cull a cow just for the cross section. Have a girl down there with a lovely big black bull calf that she calved herself and I think he’s the 5th since operating, including a set of twins she did a great job on, calving them 2 years ago unaided. If I was thinking of culling anyway the cross section might make up my mind though. The one the other night is going.

Lady Haywire

The vet advised against putting her incalf again because of her pelvis, said she'd never be able to calve herself because of whatever sharp point it came to. We could get one leg forward but then when we went to bring the second forward, the other would slip back as it was catching somewhere. Maybe greysides can be more exact with anatomy here but that's what the vet was saying to me as he handled her.

We've kept sectioned cows before with no issue, so her having one is not the main reason for culling. Calf is still down, sore back legs but has 3 litres of biestings got. Think i might cull the cow and bucket feed the calf if he's not sucking her in a few days, as said above she wasn't great for milk last year at all and only for we had two cows break she'd have gotten gate.

farawaygrass

grassroot1 wrote: »

I started to cull all cows that gave birth to dead calves a few years ago it has cut stillbirths significantly. I suspect that your calf was dead before calving I find with the sheep anyway if the lamb is not alive the labour progresses slower.
Don't beat yourself up about it **** happens

If I handled her earlier and calf was dead then I wouldn’t mind as much, just feel it’s neglect on my part. I was even thinking of keeping her again next year but decided now not too. I could literally jump up on her back in the middle of a field. Half thinking of buying a suck and try get her to take it but seems a lot of hassle. Can you skin a calf before the Knackery takes away the dead calf?

charolais0153

farawaygrass wrote: »

Can you skin a calf before the Knackery takes away the dead calf?

Ya why not.

greysides

The situation that the story reminds me of is where the bone roof of the canal was too low in an animal that had recovered from an injury.

greysides

farawaygrass wrote: »

. I was even thinking of keeping her again next year but decided now not too.

Give it a lash, you know you want to. It's not all about money.

Never wrestle with pigs

Lady Haywire wrote: »

The vet advised against putting her incalf again because of her pelvis, said she'd never be able to calve herself because of whatever sharp point it came to. We could get one leg forward but then when we went to bring the second forward, the other would slip back as it was catching somewhere. Maybe greysides can be more exact with anatomy here but that's what the vet was saying to me as he handled her.

We've kept sectioned cows before with no issue, so her having one is not the main reason for culling. Calf is still down, sore back legs but has 3 litres of biestings got. Think i might cull the cow and bucket feed the calf if he's not sucking her in a few days, as said above she wasn't great for milk last year at all and only for we had two cows break she'd have gotten gate.

Had one the exact same this year. Second calver. Had a slight pull last year with a very handy heifer. Didn't need to handle her last year as everything was presented correctly but just ropes on and a pull. This year presented the same as yours. Grand helthey bull but she'll not go incalf again. Don't need that hardship.

High bike

Have one with the tail in the air for the last couple of hrs, hope it's not going to be a long night

High bike

Happy days nice heifer calf up an all but the bitch of a cow 3rd Calver is kicking the sh1 t out of her when she goes to suck,the beasties is defrosting