Wehner Homestead 2018 Calving: Done

[Wehner Homestead]

I did get some pics this morning...

This pic shows Scarlett’s crazy huge udder! Poor girl! It takes several people to milk her so we will commence on her at 5. (I’m probably stuck watching instead of helping due to my back.) Maizy is laying to the side. **No bale ring on that bale on purpose. DH wanted a place for calves to lay if they didn’t stay in the barn.

Two expectant mamas. Maddie-L, Dolly-R

I finally got an okay pic of Otis, our purebred Simmental herdbull. He’s not very photogenic. He typically reminds me of Eeyore because if his eye markings and because he’s not aggressive. This pic doesn’t do him justice...

 

[greybeard]

Pretty big bull, assuming that's a 4x5 or 5x6 bale of hay. Long, tall and thick.

Why does it take several ppl to milk Scarlett?
Put her in the chute and start milking.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Pretty big bull, assuming that's a 4x5 or 5x6 bale of hay. Long, tall and thick.

Why does it take several ppl to milk Scarlett?
Put her in the chute and start milking.

She doesn’t like being milked so she has to be “carried” in the chute. She also has to have a flank strap. She has never warmed up to it like most dairy cows.

 

[greybeard]

But, I assume she readily allows her newborn calves to 'take to the teat' without any problems?

 

[Wehner Homestead]

She will let the calves nurse without any issue. She’s the picture of a perfect mother cow: protective, awesome milk producer, cleans them up fast...

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Maizy delivered a BULL calf with help this morning. He tried to come out with his head between his hooves and his elbows under him. Calves are meant to “dive” with their legs straight out even more than goats due to their size. Distocia causes extensive problems in Cattle and is even more difficult to manage than in goats.

Fortunately, Maizy is tame! DH was able to attach chains above the dewclaws on both feet and pulled with all his weight (approx 220#) with each contraction. DH’s Dad was on the way to help but DH didn’t want to wait since he didn’t know how long he’d be and the calf was moving it’s tongue so definitely still alive.

I typically help him pull but since I have this darn back injury, I tried to be good. (I really needed my hands tied behind my back as I kept trying to figure out how to help!) It’s a good thing I was out there though as I pulled everything off his face and cleaned out his mouth as DH pulled him the rest of the way out.

I started drying him immediately after checking gender! DH got his chains off and then moved him in front of Maizy so she could help clean him. DH guesses him to weigh about 50-60# based on throwing sacks of feed. She never flinched about us being in their space at all. (Most cows require being haltered and tied or put in the chute but if they go down in the chute, you can have BIG problems!)

Maizy is an awesome first time Mama! She cleaned him while I continued to dry him with towels. We don’t normally help past clearing face but with the freezing temps, we don’t want to take a chance with frostbite or pneumonia. We also got iodine on his navel.

He has now nursed! DH hooked up a heat lamp outside the pen that shines right where he has a clean, dry bed of straw. He and Maizy are penned in our barn aisle until further notice. (We like to monitor closely for first-timers to insure nursing, milk production, mothering, and attachment plus we don’t want him to get hurt on the ice we have here now so we will have wait until he is more sure-footed.)

Maizy is half DH’s and half DS’ due to her being tame and DS insisting she’s his! Lol Needless to say, DS was thrilled about having a boy and has been jumping up and down on my furniture celebrating since we told him. DH also snuck DS out (DD2 can’t go out in cold and doesn’t handle being left out well.) DS got to see and pet his new calf. I think it’s safe to say that DS is on cloud 9! (We are just thankful that the delivery turned out fine considering the potential for disaster!)

Now for pics! (See, I’m not even going to make you ask for them! Lol) I’m sure I’ll get more as the day goes on too. DH left for work at about 11:30 and will just work a half day.

I wasn’t out there for the nursing so no pics. Sorry. Maybe later.

 

[Southern by choice]

 

[BoboFarm]

 

[greybeard]

both feet and pulled with all his weight (approx 220#) with each contraction. DH’s Dad was on the way to help but DH didn’t want to wait since he didn’t know how long he’d be and the calf was moving it’s tongue so definitely still alive.

I typically help him pull but since I have this darn back injury, I tried to be good. (I really needed my hands tied behind my back as I kept trying to figure out how to help!) It’s a good thing I was out there though as I pulled everything off his face and cleaned out his mouth as DH pulled him the rest of the way out.

Heifers are just lazy IMO and sometimes it's a good thing. Ya'll done good getting the elbows straightened out out and hooves out forward.
If nose is showing, 1st thing I do is clear nose & mouth and do the straw tickle to encourage a snort. Then I attach the chains, the loop above the fetlock and half hitch betwixt hoof and dewclaw..with the chain on top, not under the leg. Some do it with the chain under the leg but I learned over the top and have had good luck that way.
If I have to reposition anything or go in for any reason, it's lube city and I mean as much as I can slather in and on in a short amount of time no matter how slick and slippery momma is.

I built a long thin double sided box, like a long thin suitcase that the top opens all the way back.
In it, in compartments is a complete calf puller broken down into it's parts, the chains, chain handles, lube, gloves, iodine, disenfectant, and clean shop towels. And, a headband led light so I don't have to mess with trying to hold a flashlight. also in the box is...OB wire and handles. Never needed it (ob wire) for calving work but it's there.

I might put a cow in a headcatch but not in a closed sided chute especially if the chute sides are vee shaped. Saw another rancher run a heavy bred into a vee alley and she went down. Alley was all welded pipe and every time momma exhaled she slipped a little farther down in the vee and by the time they got the cutting toprch over there, her ribs were so compressed she couldn't inhale and died right there. (performed a csection but calf didn't make it either. My pen is all Prefiert chain together panels and I can take a section out in less than a minute but I still don't run heavies thru the 27" wide alleys unless I just have to for some reason.

Prefer to pull one in open ground, with a post or tree nearby to snub momma off with enough slack so she can lay down if she wants to, and all mine have if they have trouble. Mine are all used to me driving thru the herd in my truck or on a tractor, so I can usually drive right up to one and tie her off to my bumper if there isn't a tree or stout post nearby. I don't want one to jump up and take off in the middle of things. I had that happen several years ago on a Beefmaster heifer that was 2 hrs into calving with not much progress. Normal presentation with legs and nose out when I first saw her. By the time I got momma roped, I ended up pulling a dead calf when momma's moving off at a trot allowed the calf to regress back inside the vulva and it suffocated.

I prefer them to lay down right at the start but have had to lay one down. Not bad if you are just using a chain and handles but Things can get dicey if you're using a calf jack on a standing cow and she suddenly decides to lay down with you back on the business end of the jack. Easy to get hurt.

Good looking calf.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

We keep everything clean and at the ready. We can’t keep iodine and lube outside since it freezes here but we have a shelf in the closet for “animal necessities” that don’t lend well to frost. We do have a calf puller and I know what you mean about danger on the business end. I think we do chains on the top too. Papaw taught us as long as we were above the dewclaws, it was okay to get to work. Only his tongue was out so we didn’t stress about clearing his mouth until I could see his nose and I pushed the gunk back as DH pulled him out.

As far as a chute, we prefer one of the poles in the barn but have used a tree and the bumper of the truck. Our chute has a head catch and homemade welded steel tube sides. It’s actually too wide as 600# feeders can turn around in it. It was installed when we bought the place. I wish we could squeeze the whole side over (wider at the front and narrower at the back) but DH hasn’t had a chance to configure a modification since the back is hinged. We have a swing gate to crowd them in.

We had our fair share of Calving issues for years. DH had a 4-H heifer that was petite as a grown cow. She knew how to grow em big and had three 120# bulls that I recall. The last of those was out of a Calving ease bull. The first died and took four grown men to pull, the second had nerve damage and could bend his knee (he had head swelling, required physical therapy twice a day for ten days until he got up with frequent position changes but always on his sternum, was bottle fed his dam’s milk, she stood and let DH milk her, vet broke her pelvis getting him out, sent to butcher at 650# so he didn’t have to deal with rough ground in winter), the last one was just DH and I. We knew it was bad considering the history. We tried with everything we had but ended up having to use the tractor. The calf died overnight and we shipped her that fall. Too emotional and she LOVED being a Mama. Her first calf was maybe 40# heifer, then the first huge bull and she adopted a heifer that her mother got stuck by lightning and killed a couple days later, three calves before we had trouble again but stopped with that sire because we were getting horns, next two were back to back huge. It was horrible and she wasn’t the same mobility-wise after the last one. We had her first daughter still but she was even more petite and we sold our Angus bull. Didn’t want to take chances so cut our losses and moved on.

I just checked on the little bull and got another pic. He’s doing well! (DH moved the light...not sure if I like it or not yet.)