Wehner Homestead 2019 Calving

DH reported yesterday that Gatlin has started udder development. She could go in five days but isn’t “due” for 10 days. This will be her first calf so we are on extra alert.

A few pics for y’all from cow checks a few minutes ago...

A few different angles of Gatlin. She’s due 2/11. First Calving.


Georgia (Gatlin’s dam is due the same day.) This is the one that was HUGE in a prior pic.


Georgia has another daughter, Sydney, due later. The first pic is Georgia is the foreground and Sydney in the background enjoying the sun. The second pic is just Syd.

I’m way behind on this thread. It’ll take me several posts to catch up.

On 2/6, Georgia (due 2/11) was found to have a calf presenting incorrectly. She hadn’t been pushing long but the calf was not in the dive position and was coming head first with both front legs back.

I was on my way to work for a CPR recertification when I checked her so had to call in. DH was home and in bed with the stomach bug. I started moving Georgia to the barn as she was at the far end of the pasture. Called DH while we were walking and he said he’d find a way to get to the barn.

He came out white as a sheet and helped me get Georgia in the barn. She kept stopping to push with contractions but wasn’t making any progress.

Once in a barn stall, we put a halter on her and tied her to a post. DH got one leg up and out by pushing the calf back in some. We tried and tried to get the other leg up and he even pushed the calf back while I tried to get the leg up without success. We determined that the calf was no longer living and decided that the cow was wearing down and we needed to get the calf out. We double wrapped the chain on the leg we had out and used a calf puller (it didn’t budge when we pulled using just the chain.) The come-along action worked well with my inability to muscle my way around and DH’s weakness from being ill. We were able to get the calf out.

I did make attempts to revive the calf without success. I also did a quick sweep to insure that there wasn’t a second calf behind the first that had complicated the first getting into position.

Georgia was left with her dead calf for a bit to clean it and to pass her placenta. She did pass her placenta several hours later. It and the calf were removed at that time without distress from Georgia. She was kept in the barn pen for several days for monitoring as she bled decently also.

I called the vet on 2/7 to discuss Georgia because it was almost 24 hours later and she was still pushing pretty hard and quite frequently. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided that I’d palpate her again. I did this to insure that I hadn’t missed a second calf the prior day in my haste. I did not find another calf. It was decided that since a calf presenting head first is so hard to deliver, that the manipulation caused extreme bruising and inflammation. The vet was pretty shocked that we successfully delivered the calf just the two of us. We were asked to let her rest a few more days then turn her out.

When we turned her out, it seemed to help her spirits and she appeared less depressed. The pushing slowly subsided.

On Sunday, Georgia developed a foul discharge from her vulva. The vet was called on Monday and an injectable antibiotic picked up. If this doesn’t work effectively, I’m to have the vet out to see her.

When I palpated her uterus on the second day, I found it to have lots of lumps and bumps. One even felt like a calf tongue would as far as shape and size. I have more questions for the vet as I’m not sure she will be able to continue to be a productive member of the herd. For now, the focus is on recovery and further decisions will be made later.

The calf was an almost solid black bull. The kids name him after Michael, the archangel, as he’s with him in heaven.

Gatlin was also due 2/11 and calved on 2/8. She was bred to DCC Destiny, a Calving ease bull.

DH and his dad intervened on this one also. In DH’s defense, he was still upset over losing Georgia’s calf that when almost an hour has passed since Gatlin’s water broke, they went ahead and assisted the delivery. There really wasn’t much difficulty on this one.

As it was her first calf, Gatlin had to have a little convincing to allow the calf to nurse but after a few hours, both were very good.

Gatlin’s heifer was named Genesis. She has a white star on the front of each ankle, a full white belly, and a white-tipped tail.

We don’t have any great pics of her but she will be staying and we are quite in love. I will share some of the pics that we do have though. Pics are in chronological order. She was several days old before she was turned out from the barn stall.

We are now waiting Maxine and Scarlett’s calves. Maxine was due yesterday (2/19) and Scarlett is due Saturday (2/23.) Both are in stalls in the barn bedded down with straw due to more rain causing more mud.

Maxine a few days before being put in the barn.

Scarlett- red cow on right. Shows how bad the mud is. Ugh! Maddie the tan cow in the upper right is due 2/25. Ember is the gold cow just to the left of center and she’s due 2/28.


We thought Melody wasn’t bred due to a standing heat but there’s a possibility that she is. Time will tell but we are hopeful that she is.

We tried and tried to get the other leg up and he even pushed the calf back while I tried to get the leg up without success. We determined that the calf was no longer living and decided that the cow was wearing down and we needed to get the calf out. We double wrapped the chain on the leg we had out and used a calf puller (it didn’t budge when we pulled using just the chain.) The come-along action worked well with my inability to muscle my way around and DH’s weakness from being ill. We were able to get the calf out.

Click to expand...

You were certainly right to go ahead and get the calf out with the calf jack once you felt the calf was no longer living. Lots of people don't take into account that underlined part...how tiring it can be on the momma to push the calf out...once she stops cooperating the job is much more difficult and harm can come to her pretty easily under those adverse conditions.

I have never tried it, but have read accounts by several knowledgeable cattlemen, that a (new) old fashioned toilet plunger works pretty good for pushing a calf back in and the small diameter handle leaves more room for you to get your own hands and forearm in to get the mis aligned legs in the right position.

I am sorry for your loss of the calf, but tickled that the first calf heifer had a healthy heifer for you. We are looking at the same muddy mess. It is pretty awful. Up to their knees and hocks in mud, constant rain then cold then warm then wet again. 4 " of snow last night, now changed to sleety rain and 4 days of wet/rain/mess forecast. I can so sympathize....
My son said there was new calf out in the field where the dry cows are. Put a pair out there, one that was born about 2 weeks ago, but it was tagged before we moved them out back, so know this was a new one. Didn't think any were due til March, but when they are bull bred, sometimes palpation isn't real accurate especially after the calf gets to the 5-6 month stage. I need to check my lists as I am thinking now that according to when we put the bull in at the one place, they could be due after the 25th.... and a little early is not unheard of. It was up and following the cow 2 days ago, so has had a little time to get it's belly full before this crappy weather hit. Hope everyone else holds off for a few weeks.

I'm sorry for your loss on the bull calf.

Genesis is very cute! And glad that Gatlin is doing well.

I didn’t even get a chance to finish updates! Maybe I’ll get to those later. For now, Scarlett calved last night. The calf was clean, nursing, and she’d passed her placenta when we got home from a funeral visitation. She had a heifer that is high percentage Simmental. She’s solid black except will have a white udder. Still deciding on a name. She will probably be retained.

Last night.

This morning...

Doesn’t take much to get WAY behind. Here comes the Readers’ Digest version of updates...

We’ve opted to go with a Biblical theme on names.

The kids got upset that Georgia’s bull calf that died didn’t have a name. We even named our babies that we lost was part of their argument. We decided to go with an angel name for him. He’s Michael, after the archangel. They were happy with this.

Genesis is growing and doing quite well. Here’s a few updates pics of her. She’s just over two weeks old. (Genesis means origin or source in the Bible.)

Selah (pronounced See-lah) is what we named Scarlett’s heifer. (Notes a pause, breath, moment of reflection in the Bible.) Selah is five days old and navigating the pasture well.

Maxine delivered on my sister’s birthday, 2/21, and it was horrible. She calved on her own but the calf was riddled with a variety of birth defects. I don’t feel up to detail but we gave her a few days to see if she could survive with us babying her along. It wasn’t to be so we made sure she didn’t suffer. Maxine is heartbroken. Her name was Mirielle, which is French for miracle.

Bailey calved just about an hour ago with a healthy heifer. Her name is Bethlehem but she will be called Beth for short. This is Bailey last night. (She jumped over and destroyed two gates today and went over another without damaged to get in the lean-to where we let her calve. She also let Ember out when she destroyed one of her gates. I let Maddie out to join them as she was nervous from being the only bovine in the main barn. Due to this stunt, Bailey is on the ship list for the year. Too dangerous for that to be happening with the kids around. Her offspring have been shown and we will retain Beth as her replacement.)

Best pic that could be gotten of Baby Beth in the dark. She’s got a wide tip and lots of curly hair-Bailey calves are typically curly-coated! I’ll try to get some better tomorrow.

Maddie is due today. This will be her last calf. Her legs are getting too arthritic and winter is so hard on her with the frozen/wet ground. She’s given us a calf every year without issue. We figured it up and she’s easily fourteen if not fifteen. She’s bred to Loaded for Bear. We really need some bull calves for kids to show. We’ve also kept four daughters, three granddaughters, and one great-granddaughter thus far. Both pics are Maddie yesterday. (Yes, she can get her head out. She did it several times. Yes, it made us nervous.)


Ember is due 2/28, so 3 more days. This will be her first calf. She is Maddie’s granddaughter. She was bred to Destiny (same bull as Gatlin.) Being a heifer, she’s showing enough signs to go any time. First pic is yesterday, second is today and shows some of her swelling and udder development.


Sydney is due anytime after 3/3. She was pasture bred so we don’t have an exact date. Her calf will be out of Otis. This is really exciting since we miss our boy greatly!

After Sydney, there Melody due end of March, Dolly due beginning of April, and Mabel due 5/2. All are showing signs of being bred and their pending deliveries appropriate for their gestations.