Calving Time

Splinting a calves hooves so it won't walk on it's ankles.

CALVING TIME

Published in Intermountain Farm and Ranch February 4, 2011

Calving time is a busy time on the ranch, a time of being alert to signs of eminent birth problems with cows and new-born calves. It’s also an exciting and rewarding time: watching the first-time mothers, the heifers. Seeing a new calf born is a miracle in itself as the mom gently licks her new baby and guides it to its first meal. Many times I have noticed a group of two or three older cows surrounding a heifer, giving her support through her labor. The older cows will be “lowing”, almost humming, as if they are saying, “You can do it, just hang in there.”

            Occasionally there will be a cow that doesn’t accept its newborn, and those two have to be worked with and watched carefully for a few days. They are isolated into a small pen so they can become acquainted. If the mother is aggressive and kicks as the baby tries to nurse, she will often have to be restrained so the baby can eat. After a few days of isolation and, if necessary, restraint, the mother will usually accept her calf.

            A few years ago we had some serious problems with our newborns. Within 3 or 4 days after birth they developed diarrhea (or scours as it’s called in animals). This can kill a newborn fairly quickly because they dehydrate so fast. A friend and neighbor, Keith Elkington, showed us how to do IVs so we set up an emergency room in our basement where we administered fluid through IVs. The ambulance was a wheelbarrow, pushed by the emergency technicians called ranchers. Our equipment was not the most modern, but it worked: an old floor lamp that we brought down from the attic – this was the IV pole; liter Coke bottles held the fluid; a clothes pin to clamp off the tubing when we needed to; no IV needles, just regular needles, so we had to be there to hold them in; old rugs on the floor to lay the calves on. Sometimes we had three calves to work on simultaneously. After a calf was up and moving around, it would be taken back out to its mother in the shed. When we would finish with one bunch, I would mop the floor with a Clorox or Lysol solution and wash the rugs in disinfectant solution preparing for the next bunch to be brought in. This went on for two or three weeks. I think we did IVs on close to 35 calves that year and only lost four or five.

            We have worked hard to prevent this happening again. Anti-scour vaccinations are available for the pregnant cows to give the newborn calves a boost against scours. Cleanliness is really important to maintain in calving area, and not always easy in muddy, sloppy weather. After we clean the sheds out in the fall, we spread lime on the floor before putting straw down as lime is an efficient and cheap disinfectant. Another thing that is important is constant checking on cows and calves. Recognizing scours early on before it can progress to dehydration is especially important. And this can only be done by walking through the animals often and observing them. A calf with its head hanging down and it’s back hunched up or one lying down with its tail straight out needs to be moved to the shed and closely watched.

            Yes, calving time is a time of heavy responsibility, but a special time also. As the weather warms up and the new calves start romping through the pasture, it’s like watching a group of kindergarten aged children out on the playground. They run and jump, seem to tease each other, almost seem to play tag with one another. How fun it is  observe these things in our own back yard! How blessed we are to be ranchers!