TIPS AROUND CALVING TIME!

ddogsbollix

So the main calving season is nearly here. so i was just wondering what are peoples advise with difficult calvings, afterbirth retained, calf that wont suck etc....or even old wifes tales

pakalasa

Weak calves that won't suck - ly them across a small bale of straw. Really saves your back while your trying to get them to suck.

Retained after birth, weak calves - feed pre-calving minerals from 6 weeks before calving.

Plenty of sleep for the next few days....:D

vanderbadger

keeps a few sachets of volustrum about, if a calf is slow to get up and suck give them a bottle of it (1L), generally gives them a bit of a lift and they often work away themselves after.

john mayo 10

make sure you know where everything is. ie jack,ropes etc. its impossible to find anything when your rushing and when a cow is not able to calf time is limited

alderdeer

pakalasa wrote: »

Plenty of sleep for the next few days....:D

Might be hard this year, calving due to start about da 20th and my wife is due our third baby on the 25th. all im thinking is school run aaaggghhh.

blue5000

Have a couple of bottles of calcium and a flutter valve in case of milk fever. Keep all the calving related stuff in one place so everyone knows where it is. I use a fish box!

bbam

Sachets of electrolyte are great in a bind. Calves dehydrate very quickly.

If you don't have hot water 24/7 then an old kettle to hand is handy for hot water in a hurry.

whelan1

alderdeer wrote: »

Might be hard this year, calving due to start about da 20th and my wife is due our third baby on the 25th. all im thinking is school run aaaggghhh.

good planning, i was out to a cow with a prolapsed womb 5 days after i had a c-section... good luck!

Kovu

Our jack had been near rusty from non use (using me and my dad instead) so I oiled it up properly this year & have a 'calving box' left for him next to the feed, which is under the jack hanging off the iron on the roof.
Calving box contains; spare calving ropes, cotton gloves to get a grip on feet, rope for the cows head, colostrum in powder form, calmer for the cow (yes, normally show use but it can work in these cases too) A list of what cows are in calf to, plus their calving difficulty av. Life Aid, stomach tube & instructions, jug to milk cow in the crush. And vets numbers. Plus the usual sanitiser etc.

Yea.....I miss being able to help:o

ddogsbollix

down where i come from we were always told to give cows ivy if the afterbirth is retaining... seems to work they usually clean the next day

bogman_bass

have a bottle of lubricant handy. An ounce of lube is worth a ton of pulling

Kovu

ddogsbollix wrote: »

down where i come from we were always told to give cows ivy if the afterbirth is retaining... seems to work they usually clean the next day

Never heard that but will keep it in mind. Ivy is full of nutrients (hence why cattle look for it & eat it) any sick animal we had, I near babysat them with ivy...also used it at shows to calm cattle.

Bizzum

bogman_bass wrote: »

have a bottle of lubricant handy. An ounce of lube is worth a ton of pulling

Beat me to it!

Throw away those flinsy white calving ropes and buy a couple of sets of the heavy red/blue ones.

A box of arm lenght plastic gloves is handy too.

Iodine for navels

aidanki

Karen112 wrote: »

Our jack had been near rusty from non use (using me and my dad instead) so I oiled it up properly this year & have a 'calving box' left for him next to the feed, which is under the jack hanging off the iron on the roof.
Calving box contains; spare calving ropes, cotton gloves to get a grip on feet, rope for the cows head, colostrum in powder form, calmer for the cow (yes, normally show use but it can work in these cases too) A list of what cows are in calf to, plus their calving difficulty av. Life Aid, stomach tube & instructions, jug to milk cow in the crush. And vets numbers. Plus the usual sanitiser etc.

Yea.....I miss being able to help:o

cotton gloves, got any links to what exactly you are referring to, sounds like an idea

Kovu

aidanki wrote: »

cotton gloves, got any links to what exactly you are referring to, sounds like an idea

Something like these http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00heGtMwSykpbs/Dermatological-Cotton-Gloves.jpg

My aunt gets them, she's a midwife:rolleyes:

whelan1

flush the flutter valve out with boiling water before and after use , saves alot of time

Attie

Karen112 wrote: »

Something like these http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00heGtMwSykpbs/Dermatological-Cotton-Gloves.jpg

My aunt gets them, she's a midwife:rolleyes:

Karen
:eek::eek::D

Kovu

Attie wrote: »

Karen
:eek::eek::D

Haha, she doesn't use those ones! They are in hospital supplies somewhere though.

bbam

How about collecting and freezing some beastings ??
I presume it's something all dairy famers do ??

Might get you out of a bind down the road

Bizzum

bbam wrote: »

How about collecting and freezing some beastings ??
I presume it's something all dairy famers do ??

Might get you out of a bind down the road

Spot on.
If you use Rotavec Corona, keep your own (cows!) beastings. Won't do any harm for biosecurity (:cool:) reasons either!

Toplink

Iodine for the cables navel.

ootbitb

feed cows at night only, they will be so busy eating they won't have time to calve til morning.

Kovu

ootbitb wrote: »

feed cows at night only, they will be so busy eating they won't have time to calve til morning.

Oldest myth I've ever heard. Trials proved it was untrue.

Bizzum

Karen112 wrote: »

Trials proved it was untrue.

I'm not so sure.
In fact I know I seen research backing it up but with the caveat that you have to be night feeding the cows in question for some time before results were observable.

The next obvious question is: Have I the inclination to go digging for said paper..............Lets just see;)

ZETOR_IS_BETTER

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/faq8181

Heres a study where 57% of cows calved during the day when they were fed from 9am
While 79% of cows calved during daylight when fed from 10pm

pakalasa

Have a read through this;
Click on the "table Of Contents" down on the bottom LHS to get into the other pages.

http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/ilm/proinfo/calving/notes/home.htm

alderdeer

.[/QUOTE]
good planning, i was out to a cow with a prolapsed womb 5 days after i had a c-section... good luck![/Quote]

fair play to ya whelan yer some woman. ya make any of my worries seem very insignifacent, i have to say though this is a great thread theres some gteat tips going around

whelan1

ZETOR_IS_BETTER wrote: »

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/faq8181

Heres a study where 57% of cows calved during the day when they were fed from 9am
While 79% of cows calved during daylight when fed from 10pm

sure when the apple is ripe it will fall:rolleyes: used to bloody hate anyone saying that to me:mad:

ootbitb

Also from the above study..

A study done in Iowa with 1331 cows from 15 farms showed that 85% of the calves were born between 6:00 am and 6:00 p.m. when fed once daily at dusk.

Incontrovertible I think.

warfie35

ddogsbollix wrote: »

down where i come from we were always told to give cows ivy if the afterbirth is retaining... seems to work they usually clean the next day

A dozen rotten eggs down the throat works for retained afterbirth

yessam

don't forget to make sure calving cameras are working. ours needed a bit of maintenance this year. did anyone mention lots of clean straw

bbam

warfie35 wrote: »

A dozen rotten eggs down the throat works for retained afterbirth

Jebu5 I wouldn't reckon you'd retain much after that :eek:

feckin day gone again!!

d poor cow....some fumes in d parlour!!!

mikeoh

A lad told me give Vitesel 3mls to newborn calves to replace selenium has anyone heard of this

yessam

make sure cows are vaccinated to help prevent scour

Craggy Island

bogman_bass wrote: »

have a bottle of lubricant handy. An ounce of lube is worth a ton of pulling

This sounds like something from AH.:D:o

1chippy

ddogsbollix wrote: »

down where i come from we were always told to give cows ivy if the afterbirth is retaining... seems to work they usually clean the next day

had a cow calved twins yesterday. still one cleaning hanging from her so decided to give her ivy today after reading your post, any tricks for to get them to eat it.

Min

Train in-calf heifers into the milking parlour before they calve. Saves time and stress on all.

ddogsbollix

well they seem to love it so i dont have a problem with them not eating it usually just pick it and throw it to them. did she clean for ya??

1chippy

cleaned alright, tried a bit of everything, mixed a bit of seaweed meal with minerals all through beef ration mixed with dairy nuts. ivy is still sitting in the trough. The calves seem exceptionally lively so happy out.

Bodacious

1chippy wrote: »

cleaned alright, tried a bit of everything, mixed a bit of seaweed meal with minerals all through beef ration mixed with dairy nuts. ivy is still sitting in the trough. The calves seem exceptionally lively so happy out.

yours must be well up on minerals/vitamin balance... any cattle in my area will hoover and nearly climb walls for ivy, its actually a pain when driving the on the road, few older quiet cows will stop dead and even come back if they see others getting a bite of ivy:)

Bodacious

i see a young lad has made up a hoist/ratchet to pull calf up out of the womb during a C section.. fair play, good idea if doing a good few sections like pure BB breeders etc, easier on man and beast!

whelan1

vet was telling me a few weeks back she was doing a section for a farmer , she turned round and told him to pull the calf out and the farmer was out cold on the ground:)

blue5000

whelan1 wrote: »

vet was telling me a few weeks back she was doing a section for a farmer , she turned round and told him to pull the calf out and the farmer was out cold on the ground:)

That's worse than having the vet nick your hand with a scalpel during a CS.:o

keep going

use wood chip for bedding calves instead of straw no cleaning out,keep heifers separate to bull calves and they can stay on it till they go out 6 weeks

warfie35

warfie35 wrote: »

A dozen rotten eggs down the throat works for retained afterbirth or 2cc estrumate

Bizzum

warfie35 wrote: »

warfie35 wrote: »

A dozen rotten eggs down the throat works for retained afterbirth or 2cc estrumate

Estrumate down the throat too?:D

pakalasa

Very good article in this weeks Journal J3 on calving.
Some good tips like, how to use a head rope, to keep the ropes in a weak iodine solution to stop drying out, how to cup the palm of you hand in under the calfs hoof to protect the uterus when pulling it forward if it's back....

Bigbird1

Anyone got any tips on pulling calves using a calving jack, i mean when do ye know when to "GO" and when would ya think its time for the vet.. i have a fair bit of experience but when using these BB and powerful Charolais bulls its hard to know how wide they may be after the head comes.

deerejohn

Bizzum wrote: »

I'm not so sure.
In fact I know I seen research backing it up but with the caveat that you have to be night feeding the cows in question for some time before results were observable.

The next obvious question is: Have I the inclination to go digging for said paper..............Lets just see;)

Fed dry cows at 6pm during 1 winter maybe 2003/2004. 118 had calved up til feb 20th when i stopped.................. Only 2 calved in the middle of the night, many were just calved when we went to milk at 6am, even if they had a problem we would probaly have still been in time, a small few calved at 9/10 pm at night with the bulk in the mornings.

However it does not work if feeding a high straw diet as we do, as the restricted time available for feeding depresses intake to much. Possible for sucklers it should work very well, maybe for lowish production dairy cows as well.

spt88

hi, this sort of relates to this thread.. im looking for a bit of help from ye i ave a calf here that was born nine days early, he's perfect in every way except maybe hair a bit short, my problem is he just wont suck. he has got 2mm of vitesel on tuesday morning (just after he was born) and still nothin. im keepimg him alive by stomach tubing him. any ideas?