jhm47
True BYH Addict
I live in South Dakota, and we have had an April 2 day blizzard, with up to 20" of snow, 40 - 60 mph winds, and in some places, ice on everything. The loss of calves, lambs and other livestock has been terrible. Personally, I've lost 4 calves since yesterday. We happen to live in an area where there has been little to no snow, but the cold NE wind has caused the cows to "bunch up" in areas out of the wind. These cows then call their calves, which tend to lie down near their mothers, and then are either trampled or laid on and killed. Also, when a cow has a newborn in this wind, the little one tends to want to lie down and let the cow lick it off. They don't get busy and find the teats like they normally do, and they often just give up. They appear to be normal, but after a couple days, they starve to death. Then, the cow (which has not been nursed) will often retain her placenta. This is caused by the calf not nursing (when calves nurse, the cow will produce a hormone called oxytocin, which causes the cow to let down her milk, and also causes the uterus to contract). Many complications from weather like this. I used to calve in late Feb or early Mar, but quit that because of the unpredictable weather here. Now, it's mid April, and this happens! Next year, I'm calving in August, but I'll bet the weather will screw me then too! Sorry about the rant!
so sorry.
