Calves 3 and 4

Yesterday afternoon cow #80 gave birth to a male calf.  I saw it around 7 pm.  The calf was standing and walking and dry.  Since it was getting close to sundown and the calf was fine I decided to wait until today to band it and ear tag it.  It was sunny and yesterday's high temperature was 46 degrees.  Finally back to normal temperatures.  The wind was calm and the overnight low was suppose to be in the 20s.  The calf should be fine out in the pasture overnight.  The overnight low temperature was 16 degrees.  This morning when I checked on the cattle I found 80's calf was dead.  Apparently the calf froze to death.  I was shocked that this happened.  And not happy that it did happen.

Global warming.  The earth is supposedly getting warmer but the temperatures are getting colder.  This is the coldest March since I moved here 20 years ago.  I am very tired this year with having January temperatures in March.  There is a reason I don't have cows calve in January.  And the weather forecast for the next week is to mostly have colder than normal temperatures.

Cow 80 is heartbroken over her dead calf. I haven't moved the dead calf yet.  Cow 80 spent most of the day laying next to her calf and mooing.  When I came over to look at the calf cow 80 looked at me like "help me and fix my calf for me.  Usually cow 80 is a bully towards other cows and tends to ignore me.  Not today.


This afternoon cow #60 finally had her calf.  Cow 60 is a white-faced black cow.  Her calf is an all black male calf.  Looks just like the calf that died last night.   The weather forecast is for a low temperature of 19 degrees tonight.  This night the wind is blowing at 18 mph with gusts in the upper 20 mph range and is supposed to blow all night.  I am not having another calf freeze to death.    At 5:30 pm Donna came over to help me band and tag the calf.  First we herded the cow and calf into the corral and placed them in the roofed area with straw next to the barn.  The other two cows in that corral had pulled hay out of the feeder and the other two calves have, and can, lay on that hay.  Being in the roofed area with straw, and out of the wind, should help the new calf survive tonight.  None of the other cows look close to calving tonight, but then again I was surprised cow 80 calved a day before cow 60.

When Donna and I banded and tagged the calf I had cow 60 outside the corralled area so she wouldn't get upset and push or step on us.  Here the calf is banded and tagged and I am about to herd cow 60 inside to be with her calf for the night.