Signs that Hereford heifers are getting close to calving?

[glenolam]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! The two moms are looking well so far. We've brought fresh water to them as well as their food (heaven forbid they have to walk to their food at a time like this! ) - usually they just head to the stream for water, but we don't want them to go too far from their calves just yet - and also don't want the calves to wonder to the stream and topple over. They sure are wobbly on those new legs!

I think you meant #2, from the pictures I looked at on page 3 or 4 of this thread. They all look like nice calves. #3 I'm sure will soon follow soon enough.

You are very correct - for some reason in my mind I thought I put the "questionable" one 2nd. I'm going back to correct myself now

 

[glenolam]

Update - both calves are doing very well. Both moms are (now!) doing a great job and the calves have names....

Bob and Sandy (our son named them after Spongebob )

Bob's mom is forever cleaning him off any time he falls down, poops, pees, stands, sits, breathes...... She's really taken to this mom thing!

Sandy's mom has finally come around and is doing a great job as well.

Both Bob and Sandy have now met - Bob was born on the side of our yard (the two cow pastures - one in the front of our house and one behind - are connected by a stretch of woods) and Sandy was born in the barn, so they never knew eachother existed until last night.

Bob and his mom made their way up to the front pasture all by themselves and we pushed Bob further into the pasture - he had found a big ol rock to sleep next to and was quite content there so we - and his mom! - had to coax him into the field. Bob and Sandy took turns frog jumping in the field, nursing from their mothers - all 3 of our cows were nice to the calves, no one got possessive or jealous!

This morning as I left for work both Bob and Sandy were sleeping next to eachother in the barn, with their moms very close by and our 3rd cow (#3) right along side....wondering what the heck....

 

[glenolam]

Well, for those of you who may have been wondering - #3, the questionable one, is definitely bred! She started bagging up about a week or two ago, and has now started springing. I've been watching her closely for a few days and saw the calf rolling around about two days ago. She's been stretching out (I assume to help the calf turn and prepare for calving) and the area around her tail head has sunken in, just as the other two heifers did.

Another good thing, the condition of the three heifers is improving. You cannot see ribs or backbone on anyone - and we're chalking that up to some really good hay and a lot of it. Yes, they have browse, but we've been putting out large round bales that were freshly cut so we don't have to throw square bales out every day. The calves are getting interested in the hay (can you believe they're 4 weeks old!)...they love playing in it and Bob has started chomping away at bits and pieces of it.

We're juuuuuuuuuussst about done with that darn fencing in the front field. Took a bit longer than we expected, but when it's just the two of us and we only have weekends....in the woods....with poison ivy....and barbed wire....I get a little squeamish. Thankfully all that's left is field fencing down the road and driveway.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I do really appreciate all the help and feedback I've gotten here. It's really helped me understand this whole process and make sure my gals are the best they can be.

I'll be sure to get pics of everyone as soon as I can - especially if #3 calves sometime soon!

 

[herfrds]

Glad to hear that you are batting a 100%.

With our 60 head we average 1-3 open a year. (not bred)

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Great to hear!! 100% bred rate is a heck of a lot better than a 66% rate, for a herd of three (now 5).

Can't wait to see the pictures.

 

[glenolam]

#3 calved late last night. Yesterday she dropped all her milk, filled up her teats and started with some amber discharge so we knew it was coming. About 4 pm everyone else was grazing and I didn't see her, so I figured it was time. I found her by herself in the woods having mild contractions. We left her alone and waited about 1/2 hr then checked again and saw that she was trying to break her water. She never looked to be in full labor, never broke the water - just had some contractions and light pushing. She kept eating and drinking as normal, too, which gave us both comfort and discomfort as it meant she felt good, but also meant she wasn't interested in having this calf. At 7 pm she had the water sack sticking out her rear and when we took a closer look we saw a hoof in the sack. We kept looking at the hoof and looking at the hoof and my husband said "Well, that doesn't look right at all".

It was 1 hoof, upside down and we couldnt tell if it was a front or rear hoof. So we corralled her into a makeshift pen in the back yard. We knew we were going to have to tie her up and the barn doesn't have enough support to withstand her, not to mention lighting was much easier in the backyard (well, not our backyard, but our yard abuts the cowfield). We called our friend, the guy who's bull we used and he came over about 9. We got her haltered up to a tree, backyard farmer style, and he cleaned up and went in. He was able to get the 2nd hoof through and felt the nose, but couldn't tell if the head was bent backwards or forwards. He was guesstimating it wasn't good - that he pulled two back legs out, then felt the snout because the calf's head was bent backwards.

Needless to say we figured it was going to be still born or die in the birthing process. He was very gentle and nice with her, but said that honestly he wasn't comfortable completing the birth and recommended we call the vet. We called at 10 pm and the vet showed up at 11:15 - what's really sad is that he had to come from 45 min away when anther vet in the same group is located just down the road from us, but wasn't the on-call vet, the guy farther away was.

He hooked up calf chains to the hooves and luckily by this point the cow seemed to be going into hard labor - either that or she was feeling the pressure from the calf being pulled out and decided to help us out for once. After about 5 minutes (no joke!) the calf fell to the ground. Again, we prepared for a still born but to all our amazement the calf let out this huge grunt, picked it's head up and shook snot all over the place!

It's a little bull and somehow he made it through the process. Now the bad part is the cow has barely sniffed him so far, even 12 hours later, so I went on a late night ride, got colostrum from a nearby farm and gave it to him about 2 am - it was just under a quart but enough to last him until morning. This morning we went to another farm and got 2 quarts and gave it to him as well because the cow barely even noticed him. We've put some of that O-NO-MO on him hoping it'll help and left them alone for the day. We're hoping it'll be like the 2nd cow who finally accepted the heifer after a few hours. This little bull is very eager to eat and is up walking around.

We are completely amazed - something worked in our favor last night, that's for sure! Pics to come soon!

 

[herfrds]

Sounds like a tough time for you. Glad the calf survived.
When calving season hits here you are lucky to reach either one of our 2 local vets.

Sometimes a heifer that you have to do a hard pull on will not accept the calf right away. Now if you had a headcatch I would tell you to put her in it and get the calf latched on to nurse.

Now since you didn't know this I will tell you. The calf needed the colostrum sooner then 12 hours. The sooner you get the colostrum in the calf the better. Now after 24 hours it really doesn't do anything.

Just keep an eye on her. If she is not accepting the calf in the next couple of days then you have a couple of options. Milk her out and feed the calf.
Now if you milk out the colostrum put it in small bags and freeze it in about 1 pint amounts.
You can keep the calf as a bottle calf and raise it.
If she never accepts the calf either butcher her or sell her.

 

[glenolam]

I know the importance of getting colostrum into him sooner than 12 hours - we were able to get a quart in him after an hour (the "about 2 am feeding, which was more like 1:30 am when he was born about 12:15 am), then 2 more quarts when he was 7 hours old (7:15 - 7:30 am the same day he was born). I know that's not optimum and everything says "a gallon within the first hour" or something to that affect, but we did what we could. We then got another 2 qts into him at 16 hours old.

The vet was a great help in finding us colostrum at that ungodly hour, too, and drilled it into us what we should/shouldn't do, how we should raise our cows, what we should invest in, what we're doing wrong, etc. Yes, I should have been more prepared but I wasn't. It was pretty stressful for us once we determined we were going to have a late night calving since I knew if she didn't accept him I'd have a hard time finding replacement colostrum. Part of the difference between us and other "farms" is that we're a simple hobby farm, not a beef farm or cattle operation, so we do with what we have. Even though it's probably too late, we've decided if it doesn't seem as though he's nursing we'll tie her back up and I'll milk her out this afternoon. We still haven't seen him nurse, but her teats aren't full and shiny so it's hard for me to determine if he's nursing when we're not around or not.

On the flip side, he is a very spunkly calf who seems to enjoy hopping around like a frog and running around in circles.

 

[jhm47]

If you tie her up, let the calf suck on his own. Don't try to milk her out. You likely will be kicked. I'd guess that if the calf is spunky and bucking around, that he's been sucking on his own. The ones that aren't sucking don't have the energy to play around. Good luck!

 

[herfrds]

To your vet for critizing you.

You guys are doing alright. Glad to hear you got that much colostrum in him.
If you think he is nursing that is great. Just watch and wait.
Hopefully she gets attached to the little guy and accepts him.
It does sound like he might have nursed.

Had a first year heifer try to kill her calf. Would kick the snot out of him and would butt him into the gate or the side of anything she could. Little bugger wouldn't quit though.
He became a bottle calf and she became "Do you want fries with that?"