This is a busy time of the year with our cattle. The heifers started calving in December, and now it’s the cows turn. We like the heifers to calve at a different time than the cows because the heifers are more apt to need some help and have to be watched closer. It is important that the men be out walking through the cows often, finding the ones that are close to calving and moving them into the shed that is prepared – the cow labor room.
With the nice days we have had, it hasn’t been a big concern to have a cow calve out in the front pasture, but the guys like to move the mom and newborn into the shed as soon as possible so they can keep an eye on both of them. In the evening they move all of the cows into the corral area, and then they go out about every two to four hours and walk through them, using the flash light.
Sometimes they have to pull a calf if the cow is having a hard time delivering. This usually takes two people working together. The calves are watched to make sure they start sucking right away. We want them to get that colostrum that mama’s have available before the milk comes in.
And occasionally a cow doesn’t accept her new calf, so the mom and her calve have to be locked up in a separate, small enclosed area to force bonding. This doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen. When that does happens, that cow is marked (in the little red book) as one that will be culled out after weaning time. No sense in keeping a cow that is a bad mother! And cows can’t be taught to be good mothers, it’s just something that most of them are, but a few are not.
Boyd carries his little red book with him whenever he goes out and it sits on the kitchen cupboard when he’s in the house. He is forever checking it. He knows more about his cow’s genealogy than his own. He can tell how old a cow is, what color of a calf she has every year, birth weight of the calf, and whether she had problems with the birth. His red book is extremely valuable for that is his record keeping program. He also has a binder with a page for each cow, and many mornings will find him at the kitchen cupboard relaying information from the red book into the binder. I may give him a bad time about being computer illiterate, but he has certainly come up with a method that works for him in keeping cattle records.
Quite a few years ago I had surgery during calving time. I developed a complication from the surgery and had to stay in the hospital a few extra days. Boyd, who never likes to go into the hospital in the first place, did come to see me. One time he was there and a nurse was in the room with me. He could only stay for a few minutes he said, as he had a doctor’s appointment. “I have to have my “colostrum” checked,” he said, then turned and walked out the door. The nurse glanced at me with a questioning look on her face. After I finished laughing, I told her that we lived on a farm/ranch, and our cattle were calving. Boyd always becomes quite absorbed with the cattle, so it wasn’t a surprise that he got the words “Colostrum” and “Cholesterol” mixed up. Then she joined me as I laughed again. I don’t know if she shared that story with the other nurses, being a nurse myself I would bet that she did. And I’ve certainly shared it with friends.Boyd later told me that when he told the doctor he was there to get his colostrum checked, the doctor told him he had been around the cows too much.
I really enjoy calving time, although it is a busy time, those new-born calves are so fun to see and watch! And it’s rewarding to see the protective mothers with their newborns.
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