New year, new thread. Good luck all with calving 2023
I had one like that that calved a live calf a full week later
Ended up doing a section at 12 o clock, big charolais bull calf alive, didn't want to risk leaving her any longer. Definitely 100% wasn't a twist, I came across 3 of them last year alone and would come across one most years between mine or a neighbours, it's easy tell once you stick a hand in. Her cervix just wasn't opening for some reason. She definitely started to act a bit sicker about a half hour after giving her the oxytocin but never went about trying to do much either. Weird one though, always something new with them.
Oxytocin and calcium can trigger contractions Doesn’t always work tho
I had one like that a couple of months ago. Making no progress all day. Gave her calcium and she opened a bit. I knew calf was dead from first handle. Gave her time and she opened then I slowly jacked the calf about 16 hours after first noticed her sick
i would have thought a twisted uterus too. Will the oxytocin induce her? It drives me mad seeing heavy in-calf cows pucking each other around the feeder.
No I've handled plenty with twists and she definitely doesn't have one. There's no hope of pulling him the way she is at the moment anyway, I wouldn't even attempt it. You wouldn't have a calf or a cow.
,Slip on a binder twine on the crubs when you handle her nest ,tricky the way you just slip them on when tight ,make a similar type knor as calving jack rope .put a strong pull on these maybe even just one at the time and then just slip calving jack rope on when you get a bit more room .Dont panic and you will get there ,pull one leg first and push back when calving rope is on and then 2nd leg .Hope you comprehend what I am on about
Could be a twist or something, had one similar a few months ago. Vet untwisted her and said to leave her to open up for an hour. I jacked the calf out then, was ok
Have a cow here now put out the waterbag this morning. Hadn't really sprung down fully to calve and her bones hadn't dropped either. Not acting sick to calf. Handled her in the middle of the day, and her cervix was just about open enough to get my hand through. Got a shot of oxytocin from the vet to see if it would help things along a bit aswell and she seems to be a bit more restless and sick in herself after getting it. Wonder how long I can leave her before the calf is at risk. I think myself she'll open but could be another 4 or 5 hours. Must have got a puck around the feeder or something, would have thought there was the most of a week left in her.
Agree with you about the cows been vocal. The majority of ours will stand at the feed barrier moaning at you looking for better silage. The closer they are to purebred the more difficult I find to keep condition off them in Winter. In autumn/winter they come in pig fat and if they get a sniff of good silage they tend to stay too fat for calving.
Aye we have only one and she is very quiet second calver. She had an all red heifer calf this year and there’s a wee bit of black round the mouth you;’d know she wasnt all lim. I was disappointed not getting a wee bit of roan. For bawling I never knew anything like the blue cattle they never quit. I’d put up with it just about ok but my father would sell one over bawling without a second thought. At first I was mad at him, now it amuses me!
SH are lovely cattle to work with, good milkers, beef handy enough, quite to work with and then there is a factory bonus on them too, I actually find them better than AAx as they carry heavier weights. The one thing I notice about the cows I have is I think they are more spoilt than other cows, they tend to bawl more than other cows, put they are usually placid at calving which is a good advantage.
Think I might get out of the sucklers myself this year, down to the last 3 cows to calve now. I think the farm is just too disjointed for AI and good bulls are getting expensive. The 2 young lads (14) want to be involved in everything now and I think I'd feel better with them around lighter stock.
The few sucklers are here for me as aside to whatever else goes on. We feed/finish cow & heifers and I was tired of not having any permanent stock about the place. This is only the bulls full second crop of calves so its early days yet. I sold some weanling heifers last year privately and got really good money for roan ones. Bulls are more difficult to sell judging by what I see in the marts but we were always going to keep them to finish anyway. The one thing about shorthorns is that they are very easy to manage/maintain and most importantly for me they are very docile and I like the look of them. We also buy and rear calves and sell off milk or as weanlings. And deal in hay and straw.
That’s not good news. I’ll have to keep an eye on it. Could change!
Forecast not looking good for second half of next week at the moment.
What about the SH do you like? They’re lovely cattle but do they leave more behind them?
No a bull calf to Loyal actually which was nice. Calved herself. Loyal doesn’t seem to carry too long either I suppose. She had 2 SA heifers previously. I was getting hints of a Saler off him again. Reddish in colour. have another couple who were AI’d around the same time and nothing happening with them yet. Could be down to the cow too.
Yes they are all by the SH bull, the cows are SHx, HEx and LMx.
Yep. Had an AI zag to first timer last year at 277 or 278. Mind you she's done similar to my own limousine stock bull this year, Calved around 7 weeks earlier than she calved last year.
Absolutely. Heifer calf I presume?
It’s definitely possible alrite.
Is it possible to have a Lm bull calve at 278 days? Or was there a mix up a long the way? No twin.
I’ll second that they are lovely calves. Are they all SH? You have plenty of feeding there anyhow. I paid another €2k this morning for bales but there has been great drying so I hope we can get stock back out maybe Tuesday.
Lovely stock
We haven't let the cows with young calves out yet due to the incessant heavy rain that we've got in the last week or so. The shed they are in we set up for cow&calves and they would normally have direct access to two fields depending on which way we swing the gates. The back pen behind the large timber frame is where the feed barrier and water trough are located. We find it works well and helps to keep the bedding dry. There are nine cows and ten calves (set of twins - blue roan heifer and red bull in the front of the picture) in it at the moment.
The first of the heifers calved yesterday morning (a BBx that I bought in and reared as a calf) we gave her a bit of help with the jack but it wasn't a hard pull. I was slightly worried because this year the calves from the stock bull are coming a lot bigger outta the same cows than last year.
Here it's the opposite. Most calves on the bigger side. An average is reaching 50kg, some around 60 or heavier. It doesn't seem to change soon, as some cows are already past their due dates and still seem to have some time left.
Left them out. Benefit of good high hedges. Beef cattle are still in the shed
Have a few out with their calves. Calves can come in and lie in straw shed and there's meal there too. Cows getting a bale of silage and calves are happy out. Had a lad here the other day and he couldn't get over how simple aset up it is. Have a loose chain on double gates from field that calves walk in and out through.
I've my few that's calved (8 now) in a sacrificial paddock. I'd have heavy land. I'm giving hay out to them to keep them tipping over. Pure balls weather at the moment.
As said above too, seems to be easy calving this year too with nearly all calve 40-50kg range.
