Calf 13

The final calf of 2106 was born this Thursday afternoon.  I had checked around 1 pm and the heifer's bag was a little larger and her rear was a little more swollen than yesterday.  The birth could be today; it could be tomorrow.

I ran an errand uptown.  I should have checked when I got back but I was hungry and ate first.  Then I fell asleep.  I woke up before 7 pm to strong winds as a weather front was moving through.  When the brief rain quit I went outside to check on the heifer I found she had given birth.  I had to count the calves to make sure as the heifer and her calf were in the corral out of the wind and were laying near each other nicely and the calf was all cleaned up.

I checked and it is a boy.  That makes 8 boys and 5 girls this year.

Donna wasn't doing anything and was kind of bored so she came down to help me band the calf.

The calf and his mother were laying in the corral next to the loading corral gate.

When we went to band the calf his mother was agitated but something we could deal with.   The problem was Mama.  Even though this was not her calf she was protective and wanted to charge Donna.   So I carried the calf into the loading corral and closed the gate.  Then we were able to safely band the calf.

Even though the banding only took a few minutes, by the time we opened the gate and let the calf walk out into the corral, his mother had gone to the pasture and was eating hay from the feeder.  The rest of the cattle, who had been out of the wind in the loafing shed, started to wander out to the pasture.  Mama and Clyde checked the new calf over.

Clyde, just over a month old, was already in a horny mood.  Earlier I saw him hump another calf.  Above he was trying to hump the new calf - who hours old had to work at standing and walking.


The calf followed the cattle to the pasture.  Being so small he began to trail the other cattle.  Donna and I pushed and helped the calf along.  Mama then saw us and then got excited and came running over.  Donna climbed up the corral fence to get away from Mama.  After Mama settled down I was able to push the calf until he decided to lay down.  I carried him the rest of the way to his mother at the feeder.

While neither of us had seen him drink from his mother Donna thought part of the mother's udder was smaller and the calf had drank milk.

But then the mother started pushing her calf around and treating it mean.  This isn't good.

Maybe the calf hadn't drunk.

So Donna and I thought we would put the mother and calf into the loading corral runway like we did the previous mother and calf and make sure the calf drank.

The problem was Mama.  She charged Donna and then she charged me.

I couldn't pick up the calf to carry it without Mama charging me.

The calf between its mother and Mama.  Clyde is eating hay.

Clyde wasn't helping matters as he was always in the wrong place at the wrong time - which made it hard to deal with Mama.  Finally we got Mama into the corral and the gate shut.  Then after much effort we got Mama into the loading corral.

It was relatively easy to get the newborn calf's mother into the loading corral's ramp.  I carried her calf into the loading corral ramp to join her.

Then Donna and I took a break.  We were freezing in the strong cold wind.  We each put on an extra coat I had in the house.  Warmer we went back outside.

We worked on getting the calf to drink.  The calf stood the wrong way; wouldn't move the right way; stood on the wrong side of his mother away from where I could move him.  Mama was just on the other side of the corral fence and she was more upset than the calf's mother.

*sigh*

So we took a break and got Mama out of the loading corral and out into the pasture.

Then I could go on the other side of the fence and work with the calf.  After some effort I got the calf up to the mother's udder.  But it wasn't interested in drinking.  Donna put her finger in the calf's mouth and it would kind of suck her finger.  But it wouldn't drink from his mother's nipple.

Finally we gave up.  We guessed the calf had already drank and was not hungry.  He just wanted to lay down.  He was wet and shivering.

It was getting dark and was now raining.  We let the mother out of the loading corral ramp and into the corral.  She went to join the rest of the cattle (other than Mama and a few other cows in the pasture) standing in the loafing shed.  I carried the calf into a corner of the loafing shed out of the wind and rain.

Once Donna was out of the corral I let Mama and the other cows back into the corral and they joined the rest in the loafing shed.

So... I'll see tomorrow how things are.  Hopefully the calf drinks from his mother and she is treating him better.

Here is a 19 second video of the mother pushing her calf:  https://youtu.be/xKMtZv7bN6k


While I missed getting where Mama was charging Donna on the fence, here is a 16 second video of Mama confronting Donna:  https://youtu.be/haDUPAT95-c

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