When's calving starting 2021

funkey_monkey

squinn2912 wrote: »

Wee sim heifer out of a first calver. Tight pull but nice lively calf and I’m happy with the markings

Whats the H-iron running across the pen at the top of the block work for?

tellmeabit

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Whats the H-iron running across the pen at the top of the block work for?

I wanted to ask that too.
Tempted to cover I bay of shed here.

patsy_mccabe

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Whats the H-iron running across the pen at the top of the block work for?

Dunedin

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Do ye all watch to make sure they drink? I asked someone about this recently and he said he just leaves them at it. He reckoned if they can't drink on their own, what good are they. I watch them like a hawk for the first few hours.

Everything here is calved indoors under camera. Would watch very closely and if they haven’t sucked within 2 hours, then I intervene and by that I mean I first try to get calf sucking direct and won’t persevere too long before tubing. The length of time I spend depends how late it is or if I have to go to work if it’s morning

squinn2912

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Whats the H-iron running across the pen at the top of the block work for?

Haha yous boys miss very little! What do you think of the calf I near broke me back to pull haha
The calving pen was a milking parlour. Lost my grandmother, uncle at 42 and then that Christmas the cows to brucellosis. 01 was a rank year... little did we know in the depths of that that we’d have an orange march the next September in Dublin!

tellmeabit

She's a grand big girl isn't she. Do you track how many days they carry?

squinn2912

tellmeabit wrote: »

She's a grand big girl isn't she. Do you track how many days they carry?

I don’t no. These heifers were running with the wee bull I think he went into them June 2 last year. I thought she should calve that calf a bit easier but it was a hard pull

tellmeabit

Is she a big calf?

squinn2912

tellmeabit wrote: »

Is she a big calf?

A fair size was very long. Heifer was just a bit tight. Ah happy enough at this stage

Mooooo

Another night time calving, 80% of the feckers are nocturnal this year. Anyway 18 left, nearly there....

Grueller

Mooooo wrote: »

Another night time calving, 80% of the feckers are nocturnal this year. Anyway 18 left, nearly there....

Second last one calved here this morning at 1 a.m. Last one is not due now until the May Bank Holiday weekend. Thinking of selling her now and buying an early calved young cow and taking the hit.

dodo mommy

Good result yesterday I only used 1 si straw last year and had twin heifers happy days.

Mooooo

Grueller wrote: »

Second last one calved here this morning at 1 a.m. Last one is not due now until the May Bank Holiday weekend. Thinking of selling her now and buying an early calved young cow and taking the hit.

Right call I say. Late calving cows still making good money and the extra months milk would cover some of the difference

Limestone Cowboy

Pulled a calf with a friend out of a springer last night, tight enough pull and she went down when he came to the hips and was caught for a minute while we were trying to get her over on her side. Calf appeared to be stone dead when we got him out. No breathing, eye sank, no movement. He started giving him mouth to mouth and after a good minute he took a breath, neither of us could believe it. Was still very weak but he's sitting up properly this morning and a lot livelier looking in general. Think we will be calling him lazarus for the year

Lime Tree Farm

Lime Tree Farm wrote: »

Put a jacket over the calf, as it's coat felt cold and it had moved away from the lamp. Not too long after than it perked up, got up and staggered towards where the cow was. Joined them up - still wouldn't drink. Left them together until 7pm, it took two of us the keep the calf in position, but it sucked. I think it has turned a corner, bit stronger this evening and stubborn. Someone should design a contraption that would keep calves pushed up to the udder.

Attachment not found.

Thanks to all of you for the advice

The heifer calf was pumping out streams of black liquid faeces Sunday afternoon. Gave her a synulox tablet, moved her to a different shed with a calf jacket on. Don’t know if it was the medication, the honey (10ml), or quarter syringe of calf aid that caused the dark scour, never seen that colour before with a day old calf, hopefully not something sinister. She continues to drink milk on her own. And is bopping around the shed this morning, with jacket still on.

squinn2912

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

Pulled a calf with a friend out of a springer last night, tight enough pull and she went down when he came to the hips and was caught for a minute while we were trying to get her over on her side. Calf appeared to be stone dead when we got him out. No breathing, eye sank, no movement. He started giving him mouth to mouth and after a good minute he took a breath, neither of us could believe it. Was still very weak but he's sitting up properly this morning and a lot livelier looking in general. Think we will be calling him lazarus for the year

That’s some victory!! I’ve never done mouth to mouth before myself nor seen it done apart from on this farming life and I think that was for the cameras

Anto_Meath

squinn2912 wrote: »

That’s some victory!! I’ve never done mouth to mouth before myself nor seen it done apart from on this farming life and I think that was for the cameras

Had a heifer calving just over a week ago, big head and big feet, I thought he was kind of wedged in the heifer. The new lad that is with the vets landed out and we took the calf with the jack, it was a fair pull and got stuck at the hips for a few minutes. He managed to kind of cork screw the calf out, when landed the calf was very lifeless and the vet proceed to give the calf mouth to mouth, first time I ever seen it & fair play it work. He said once you don't hear the death baul then you should always be able to revive them when you get them out. I must admit I was very impressed with this new vet, (we are lucky as there is now 7 vets in the practice and they are all very good). He is the first foreign vet in there, eastern European chap and lovely lad, very good at explaining stuff to you and very level headed.

Sami23

Have a calf here just born on Easter Sunday and today there is presence of blood in her dung. The dung itself is normal enough looking yellow solid type of stuff.
Calf is in great form jumping around the pen.
The cow was vaccinated with Rotavec Corona 5 weeks ago last Saturday.
What would be causing the blood in the dung and what if anything should I do about it ?
Tia

tanko

I wouldn't be worried about it, dont know what causes it but can happen with new calves.

tellmeabit

Mooooo wrote: »

Another night time calving, 80% of the feckers are nocturnal this year. Anyway 18 left, nearly there....

This year, I fed the bunch coming bear calving for 2 weeks prior close to midnight. As much as they wanted, pushed in a bit in morning and nothing around midday till midnight again. All calved (9)from early moringin so far. One was calved by 7 am, nothing after midnight. I know numbers are small but the late feeding is said to help.

ABitofsense

Suprise cow today with a grand knell bull. All herself. A month "early", she was one of my repeat cows so wasn't due til next month. She held the 1st time. Down to last 2 which are definitely next month.

squinn2912

tellmeabit wrote: »

This year, I fed the bunch coming bear calving for 2 weeks prior close to midnight. As much as they wanted, pushed in a bit in morning and nothing around midday till midnight again. All calved (9)from early moringin so far. One was calved by 7 am, nothing after midnight. I know numbers are small but the late feeding is said to help.

Ah yea I’d be a believer in the evening feed. Doing it at midnight is pretty late on you though but if it means you get your sleep. Waiting on 2 wee heifers but I think they’ll go to morning. Here’s hoping.

squinn2912

ABitofsense wrote: »

Suprise cow today with a grand knell bull. All herself. A month "early", she was one of my repeat cows so wasn't due til next month. She held the 1st time. Down to last 2 which are definitely next month.

That was a great wee bonus!! What is the calf like? I’ve been pretty pleased with the knell calves we got from the autumn heifers. Great, solid chunks.

minerleague

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

Pulled a calf with a friend out of a springer last night, tight enough pull and she went down when he came to the hips and was caught for a minute while we were trying to get her over on her side. Calf appeared to be stone dead when we got him out. No breathing, eye sank, no movement. He started giving him mouth to mouth and after a good minute he took a breath, neither of us could believe it. Was still very weak but he's sitting up properly this morning and a lot livelier looking in general. Think we will be calling him lazarus for the year

Good result. Anyone find it hard to keep the cradle of the jack on a cow thats down ? was with a neighbour this morning ( first calver , calf half way out and stuck ) and the jack kept slipping. got him out but i had to hold cradle up while he jacked.

Who2

Just had my first Firefox calf of a lm heifer here today, cracking calf and seriously well marked and no balls.

Limestone Cowboy

minerleague wrote: »

Good result. Anyone find it hard to keep the cradle of the jack on a cow thats down ? was with a neighbour this morning ( first calver , calf half way out and stuck ) and the jack kept slipping. got him out but i had to hold cradle up while he jacked.

I bought a vink jack a few years back and the cradle is shaped slightly different on it. It won't slip down the cows legs if she is out on her side while you are pulling. Expensive though. The old Jack was a disaster for it, you'd want a second person trying to keep the jack up high enough.

squinn2912

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

I bought a vink jack a few years back and the cradle is shaped slightly different on it. It won't slip down the cows legs if she is out on her side while you are pulling. Expensive though. The old Jack was a disaster for it, you'd want a second person trying to keep the jack up high enough.

https://josephwallsonline.com/product/calving-aid-1800mm-vink-dairy/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpPPJ_Ozq7wIVEL_tCh3APg3aEAQYASABEgLusfD_BwE

This is the one we have. I’ve used it on my own but normally my da holds it up and I pull. The one the vet has is more cylindrical and has more power but this is a great one too

Sami23

Anyone planning to let out any freshly calved cows and calves this week with the cold weather and wintery showers forecast for next while.

squinn2912

Sami23 wrote: »

Anyone planning to let out any freshly calved cows and calves this week with the cold weather and wintery showers forecast for next while.

No I think we’ll keep them in until it’s a bit more nature. Have 14 out and 3 in the shed

Irish Beef

Have a calf out since last Friday, he seems to be doing okay but there was some very cold nights over the last few days and his nose is quite red, also his mother's bag and teats are also red and chapped, he doesn't seem to be empting her out as well as he was but she probably has twice the milk now. Just wondering would this be common for such cold weather or could he be coming down with something?

SuperTortoise

Sami23 wrote: »

Anyone planning to let out any freshly calved cows and calves this week with the cold weather and wintery showers forecast for next while.

I'll be holding them in for another week, weekend promised very cold with showers of sleet. Was going to chance letting out those already calved last week, glad now i did'nt.

Who2

I’ve around half out and found one standing frothing and twitching last week. It was the first time I’d ever had tetany but thankfully got her in time and she seems to be coming right.

Lady Haywire

All out here (well, 4 cows & calves) with one in. She'd be out too but she leaps out through the barrier & beds herself so no issue with letting her do her thing.

Lots of shelter in the fields they're in though.

Base price

Who2 wrote: »

Just had my first Firefox calf of a lm heifer here today, cracking calf and seriously well marked and no balls.

Any pics.
I had a lovely marked Chapleton Kingsley (SH4473) calf born out of a red white head 2nd calver last week but it had dangly bits. I shouldn't complain as it she delivered a live healthy calf but....

tanko

Who2 wrote: »

I’ve around half out and found one standing frothing and twitching last week. It was the first time I’d ever had tetany but thankfully got her in time and she seems to be coming right.

You were lucky, rigor mortis is often the first symptom seen.
Are they getting silage or hay?

Sugarbowl

Any remedy to get a young calf bowel moving? I’ve a ch heifer less than a week old and he has a fullness in the stomach. Not passing dung after sucking and reduced appetite.

DukeCaboom

Sugarbowl wrote: »

Any remedy to get a young calf bowel moving? I’ve a ch heifer less than a week old and he has a fullness in the stomach. Not passing dung after sucking and reduced appetite.

Olive oil in a syringe back the throat.

whelan2

Has she passed any dung at all?

Who2

tanko wrote: »

You were lucky, rigor mortis is often the first symptom seen.
Are they getting silage or hay?

Hay in a ring feeder.

Sugarbowl

whelan2 wrote: »

Has she passed any dung at all?

Yeah she has. This has just come on the last day or 2. It has happened to me before too and eventually resolved itself out. Just wondering was there anything I could do to help her out.

Green&Red

Sugarbowl wrote: »

Yeah she has. This has just come on the last day or 2. It has happened to me before too and eventually resolved itself out. Just wondering was there anything I could do to help her out.

He’ll need bread soda too to deal with acid building up in the stomach

Sugarbowl

What quantities of olive oil and bread soda would ye recommend? Thanks for suggestions

Green&Red

Sugarbowl wrote: »

What quantities of olive oil and bread soda would ye recommend? Thanks for suggestions

Not a lot, couple of spoons. Make sure it’s bread and not baking soda

Irish Beef

Sugarbowl wrote: »

Any remedy to get a young calf bowel moving? I’ve a ch heifer less than a week old and he has a fullness in the stomach. Not passing dung after sucking and reduced appetite.

Have you tried giving him an enema, you can get them over counter in most chemists for a few euro and they work in a matter of minutes.

Lady Haywire

Had one do that - going around with tail up for a day in the pen, couldn't find any dung passed in the pen- so just gave it a drenching gun of liquid paraffin & that was that. Thought that would have been the usual remedy!

bogman_bass

Sugarbowl wrote: »

Yeah she has. This has just come on the last day or 2. It has happened to me before too and eventually resolved itself out. Just wondering was there anything I could do to help her out.

A shot of metacam to relax the bowel. And a good shot of liquid parafin. If that doesn’t work. Make a really strong solution of coffee. Let it cool and down the hatch.

funkey_monkey

Stabiliser heifer calf from Stan the Man. Up and skipping through pen.

Irish Beef

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Stabiliser heifer calf from Stan the Man. Up and skipping through pen.

How are you finding the stabilisers, they're a breed id be interested in. nice healthy calf isn't he.

funkey_monkey

Irish Beef wrote: »

How are you finding the stabilisers, they're a breed id be interested in. nice healthy calf isn't he.

They suit us. Normally (non-covid times) we both work so they are great in that regards. That calf is only a few hours old and is up skipping about the pen. The calves so far really hit the ground running. Since we got a bull we have no losses nor had to assist a calving - apart from a set of twins which we were aware of and kept a close eye on - but cow would have been fine on her own. However, I'm putting in a calving camera and I expect that it will result in us being present at most of them.

As a caveat most of our cows would have a few years on them - so should calf down relatively easily to most bulls across the spectrum. Although we have had heifers calf too unassisted. We haven't had any real issues with dopey calves doing anything but suck.

The mothers hold condition well and they are easily handled. However, we do be with the cows a lot so they are well used to us which makes handling easier. Calves are easily worked with too - sometimes have to push them out of the way when in pen.

There are a few which can be a bit sharp just after calving. However, that seems to go off after a few hours. Just seems to be a few lines in the breed with it. On The Farming Forum there is the same said.
They seem to be marmite, but the breed approach is something I like. They focus on feed efficiency, weights and milk. They measure this and are now progressing to genetic EBV's.
People compare them unfavourably to Lim & Ch. However, if someone is doing this then they don't know the difference between maternal and terminal breeds. As we are only a small herd any losses are magnified in percentage terms so for us it is more important to get a living calf than maybe a larger scale full-time farmer would can afford to lose a calf and/or spend time nursing them.
They don't sell as well in marts as Ch & Lim - but few other breeds do. For us we get less hassle at calving, no de-horning, easily handled stock compared with the lims we had. The lim bull was okay, but the offspring were mad and were not shaped any better than these Stabilisers we have.

Only got a few bullocks which we might finish. Castrated late and a couple had bad bouts of pneumonia, but averaging 1.3kg/day from birth at 330 days and not being forced - all from our own bull, but as said they are designed as a maternal breed.

Irish Beef

funkey_monkey wrote: »

They suit us. Normally (non-covid times) we both work so they are great in that regards. That calf is only a few hours old and is up skipping about the pen. The calves so far really hit the ground running. Since we got a bull we have no losses nor had to assist a calving - apart from a set of twins which we were aware of and kept a close eye on - but cow would have been fine on her own. However, I'm putting in a calving camera and I expect that it will result in us being present at most of them.

As a caveat most of our cows would have a few years on them - so should calf down relatively easily to most bulls across the spectrum. Although we have had heifers calf too unassisted. We haven't had any real issues with dopey calves doing anything but suck.

The mothers hold condition well and they are easily handled. However, we do be with the cows a lot so they are well used to us which makes handling easier. Calves are easily worked with too - sometimes have to push them out of the way when in pen.

There are a few which can be a bit sharp just after calving. However, that seems to go off after a few hours. Just seems to be a few lines in the breed with it. On The Farming Forum there is the same said.
They seem to be marmite, but the breed approach is something I like. They focus on feed efficiency, weights and milk. They measure this and are now progressing to genetic EBV's.
People compare them unfavourably to Lim & Ch. However, if someone is doing this then they don't know the difference between maternal and terminal breeds. As we are only a small herd any losses are magnified in percentage terms so for us it is more important to get a living calf than maybe a larger scale full-time farmer would can afford to lose a calf and/or spend time nursing them.
They don't sell as well in marts as Ch & Lim - but few other breeds do. For us we get less hassle at calving, no de-horning, easily handled stock compared with the lims we had. The lim bull was okay, but the offspring were mad and were not shaped any better than these Stabilisers we have.

Only got a few bullocks which we might finish. Castrated late and a couple had bad bouts of pneumonia, but averaging 1.3kg/day from birth at 330 days and not being forced - all from our own bull, but as said they are designed as a maternal breed.

Similar to yourself here in that we also run a small outfit and calving ease is high up priority list. I would be interested in maybe to see how a few stabilizer or saler cows go and still continue to use the Charolais bull as I sell most as weanlings and the Ch always seem to sell best, taught I could get best of both worlds. They're scares in my neck of the woods, mostly seem to be popular up north.