• April 28, 2009 - Do You Have Days Like This?

Do you ever have days like this??

I do. I did. We had a calf born yesterday morning. The long overdue and worried about calf. Her mom lost her calf last year. We were hoping it would go well. We made sure to get an extra low-weight bull this year (well, low weight for a Pinzgauer bull). The birth went fine - at least it went fairly quickly. Yet, when the calf was born, she seemed less than peppy. We waited for her to get up. At close to an hour, she didn't. And we tried to help her. But she was uninterested in eating. We moved her to the barn and unfortuneately this seemed to make her Mom really upset. Normally, she is a really tame cow. We called the breeder we got the Momma Cow from, to get some advice. We waited. At about two and a half hours, she got up. But when she got up to nurse - them mom kicked her away. The breeder said the Mom probably got nervous because of our early intervention. She said to wait more and leave them alone. We waited. Around five hours we decided to get her some Colostrum. Then, the breeder said, leave them alone. Well, today, the calf is still not eating. And isn't peppy. And when we get her up to nurse, the Mom is still kicking her. Jon headgated the Mom and milked her to relieve the pressure. The Momma Cow may be kicking because a) she's nervous and b) it hurts. Jon got the calf on Mom, but the calf isn't sucking resilantly. (This sounds like my experience with my youngest breastfeeding.)

In hindsight, we would have tubed her with Colostrum at two hours. We had never done that before and it proved to be easy. And, we would have been more low-key, and except for the tubing, left the two alone. I really want to keep the Momma. She is so sweet and so pretty. I am thinking that in the future we can just breed her with Angus (I prefer Red), for easier births. She is such a sweet Mom.

But, for today, we are unsure what to do and a little worried about our calf. We are thinking of milking and supplementing, or of just headgating and tying that leg up and having the baby nurse. Eventually, if that baby gets enough good experiences and the Mom gets used to being nursed, she should learn to nurse without intervention. I'm going to read and re-read the chapter on calf care in our Cow Book.

Well, say a prayer for our guidance and for our little calf if you get a chance. Below are some pictures from yesterday. Above was my mess when I was trying to mix up the Colostrum supplement yesterday.

Your Thoughts (3) :: Post A Thought! :: Permanent Link