Calving 2019 - Advice and Help thread

Lady Haywire

charolais0153 wrote: »

Doon nust the job. Top 2% for muscle and skeletal,you'd see it in his calves too!

If you can get them out......:pac:

Base price

whelan2 wrote: »

Had a heifer calving this morning, just head coming, put her in crush and she kept coming back on top of me, wouldn't put her head out the gate. Got oh out of bed... I got the 2 legs up and calf was very tight. Massive Hereford bull. Have 7 Hereford calves now and no Hereford bull..

Confusion with AI codes?

whelan2

Base price wrote: »

Confusion with AI codes?

No a one ball bullock

KatyMac

Just in from heifer calving unexpectedly in field! Supposed to be due to AI angus mid-April but was missing when the rest came for nuts so out oh and I went for a little walk! I could see her head thrown back over her shoulder so feared the worse. Massive white calf half out, not really stuck because when I put a small bit of a pull out it came. Heifer sat up and looked at me so we beat a hasty retreat. She must have been trying for a good while as it took a couple of attempts to get up but all seems good now.
Calf is lively and most definitely not an Angus, never missed her or had a visit from neighbour's bull 9 months ago that we knew of, but no harm, all is well and it has even stopped raining. They are in a nice sheltered/rushy spot in the field. Will go out in an hour or so and see how things are.

Mr..

Hi all, feeding oats and soya to cows near calving, what's everyone's experience wit it?

alps

whelan2 wrote: »

Had a heifer calving this morning, just head coming, put her in crush and she kept coming back on top of me, wouldn't put her head out the gate. Got oh out of bed... I got the 2 legs up and calf was very tight. Massive Hereford bull. Have 7 Hereford calves now and no Hereford bull..

You score that as a 4 on the calving survey....

When we have to get up to a cow calving we score it a 3...

When i have to get up as well to give the wife a hand, we score it a 4...

Base price

Mr.. wrote: »

Hi all, feeding oats and soya to cows near calving, what's everyone's experience wit it?

When you say near calving - how close to calving, what is their body score, what age/breeds and what are they in calve too, have you used the bull/ai before.

In the past I would have fed oats to in calf cows/heifers if their body score was low. I never added soya meal.

Mr..

roughly a month away, all ai, 2 first calvers and rest mature cows

Base price

Mr.. wrote: »

roughly a month away, all ai, 2 first calvers and rest mature cows

Did someone recommend adding soya meal. TBH I wouldn't as it will transfer to the calf.

Who2

Soya is a serious feed pre calving. Good quality colostrum and it keeps the cow right without loading onto the calf. I feed it here a good bit.

Lady Haywire

Calving 2019 off to a surprising start :pac:

Dozer1

Snap,
4th cow calved yesterday, watched her pop out these 2 while I was at work from the camera both up and drank themselves, typical the red is a bull and the grey is a heifer

Lady Haywire

Double snap! Red is a bull & white is a heifer with ours too.
Typical.....5 star replacement off Bivouac. :mad::rolleyes:

whelan2

Has anyone used the saler bull pzb? Had a monster of a bull calf last week off an aax heifer we bought in. Heifer was put down and calf was dead.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Double snap! Red is a bull & white is a heifer with ours too.
Typical.....5 star replacement off Bivouac. :mad::rolleyes:

Twins as well here today, both bulls.


Both doing well and back up to 100% now:)

Lady Haywire

Had to get the vet here this morning as cow was sick yesterday evening yet no water bag. I could feel the bag inside but didn't want to burst it to see what the story was as it was 3am :pac:
First calf was totally breech, arse coming & four legs points to the cows nose. Straightened up & popped out in seconds then! Followed by the two water bags

greysides

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Had to get the vet here this morning as cow was sick yesterday evening yet no water bag. I could feel the bag inside but didn't want to burst it to see what the story was as it was 3am :pac:
First calf was totally breech, arse coming & four legs points to the cows nose. Straightened up & popped out in seconds then! Followed by the two water bags

Was it alive?

john mayo 10

Had a hereford/saler cow calf here last night. Bought her last backend in calf to a hereford bull. She spent an hour walking around the pen with 2 feet sticking out. Pulled the calf and jesus a child woud have pulled it. And i dont mean it was a small calf. Just dog lazy. She never even lifted her head out of the bucket of nuts when we pulled. Id say she would calf an elephants calf. Must be the saler in her. A ch bull will be given to her this year all been well

Lady Haywire

greysides wrote: »

Was it alive?

Yep, both alive, vet was able to tell me the first one was at least as he was straightening out the legs. Prob close enough thing though but as there was no water bag I was doubting myself. Didn't want to call the vet out to a cow that wasn't even calving :pac:

Say my name

john mayo 10 wrote: »

Had a hereford/saler cow calf here last night. Bought her last backend in calf to a hereford bull. She spent an hour walking around the pen with 2 feet sticking out. Pulled the calf and jesus a child woud have pulled it. And i dont mean it was a small calf. Just dog lazy. She never even lifted her head out of the bucket of nuts when we pulled. Id say she would calf an elephants calf. Must be the saler in her. A ch bull will be given to her this year all been well

Keep an eye on her for milk fever.

anthony500_1

Lady Haywire wrote:

Yep, both alive, vet was able to tell me the first one was at least as he was straightening out the legs. Prob close enough thing though but as there was no water bag I was doubting myself. Didn't want to call the vet out to a cow that wasn't even calving

I've been that clown. Had a cow here last year she was going around for hours with her tail up. No bag out, vet came, took him 2 min to tell me she was not calving yet, said keep a close eye on her won't be long he says and off out the gate with him. 2 full days she was going around the pen with the tail up before she calved. I'd prefer to look like the clown then have the loss of a dead calf or possibly the cow as well.

Lady Haywire

anthony500_1 wrote: »

I've been that clown. Had a cow here last year she was going around for hours with her tail up. No bag out, vet came, took him 2 min to tell me she was not calving yet, said keep a close eye on her won't be long he says and off out the gate with him. 2 full days she was going around the pen with the tail up before she calved. I'd prefer to look like the clown then have the loss of a dead calf or possibly the cow as well.

Aye i know! But I knew well this one was sick to calve, just couldn't figure out why she wasn't getting on with it :pac:
Both twins mooching about the pen there now & went to suck her so that's one non-issue at least, thought i'd have to teach them as I just dragged the wee bull over to suck before he stood while the cow was lying down passing the water bag(s).

L1985

anthony500_1 wrote: »

I've been that clown. Had a cow here last year she was going around for hours with her tail up. No bag out, vet came, took him 2 min to tell me she was not calving yet, said keep a close eye on her won't be long he says and off out the gate with him. 2 full days she was going around the pen with the tail up before she calved. I'd prefer to look like the clown then have the loss of a dead calf or possibly the cow as well.

Thank god I'm not ye only one to make that mistake! Vet was not impressed but I got taught how to handle a cow after that so it was worth it!

patsy_mccabe

Saw it with a neighbours cow. Trying to calve for hours but no water bag coming. Turned out it was a twisted uterus.

john mayo 10

Say my name wrote: »

Keep an eye on her for milk fever.

Why?

Mooooo

john mayo 10 wrote: »

Why?

Milk fever can be a cause of a cow not progressing with calving,

Never wrestle with pigs

john mayo 10 wrote: »

Why?

Ya a bottle of calcium might not be any harm. As said allreddy if a cow is arsing around and not actually trying to calve and you handle and everything is presented ok I will give a bottle of calcium as it's probably early milk fever.

whelan2

4th set of twins born during the night. All have been angus

greysides

Patsy found this and posted it elsewhere. I thought it was well worth reposting here.

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Came across this today. Good explanation on stomach tubing.

squinn2912

Reminder of the importance of using the jack right yesterday. I angled it too high on cow and had the calf to the hips. It was working against her after slipping up and closing her. I couldn’t release it it was too tight so I had an almighty pull that was harder on the calf than it needed to be. Monster lim heifer. Bit sluggish to get going but sucked herself today.
10 mins later feet peeping out of another one. Wouldn’t play ball at all and needed to take her to another yard and crush to calve her. Bit more careful with jack this time and got the calf out a bit handier on him. Up sucking yesterday evening. Moral of the story; don’t be stupid and watch what you’re at!