Some cattle photos.
Right now I am feeding hay to the cattle twice a day. Otherwise they overeat the hay. After every few bales of twice a day hay, then I put out a large bale and let the cattle pig out on that bale.
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| The black cow didn't like the red cow eating next to her and pushed her away from the feeder. |
Last Spring cow #60 appeared to be in heat early. Instead of the normal 50 to 60 days, she went into heat 34 days after giving birth.
I wasn't sure she would get pregnant as it was so early. January 28 is about two and a half weeks away. So I looked at cow 60. That is her in the following photo. See how the tail looks a little more 'humped' and off as it enters her body? None of the other cows look like this now. A 'cock-eyed' tail - to me - is a sign that a birth is starting to get closer. Right now I think the odds are she will have a calf the end of January. I'm not thrilled by this as January weather can be bad. Right now the weather and temperature is decent. In two and a half weeks... who knows. I could have a problem in two and a half weeks.
Here is her calf. I think why the calf walks stiffly is that the calf was born with white muscle disease.
Since Toby's leg seems fine, and I don't want him to get an idea about the corral fence, I let him out of the corral so he could be with the cows. The ground is frozen, and some of the snow had earlier partially melted, so some areas can be icy and slippery. Toby walks slower than the other cows. He walks with his head down looking at the ground and tries to avoid icy areas even if it means extra walking.
Since Toby is out of the south corral I put Mama and her calf into the south corral for now. Mama's calf walks with stiff back legs. He always had an unusual walk. With the cold temperatures and hard ground he walks slower now. And I haven't seen him drink from Mama for a while now. That doesn't mean that he isn't drinking, but I don't know. Even though he is the oldest of the three calves, he is the smallest. Part of that may be that his mother is the smaller cow. Or he isn't getting enough to eat. He is always the last one to get to the hay to eat. I walk faster than he does.
So to make sure he gets enough to eat I put him and Mama into the south corral where the hay is just theirs to eat. This will last just a short while before I let him and Mama out so they can rejoin the other cows.
Mama's udder is smaller than she normally has when she has a calf. That is why I think she has 'kicked the calf off' and weaned the calf on her own.
Before I had only heard about white muscle disease, and that calves can die days after being born due to heart problems. Donna said years ago she had a calf die many months later after being born. So I don't know how this calf will do. He is seven and a half months old right now. I'm sure due to the stiff walk I won't get anything for the calf if I sold it. So it looks like I will keep the calf and try to raise it to be large enough to butcher.
The calf can still walk fairly well, even if it is an odd walk. When it came time to get him to go into the south corral to be with his mother, he didn't want to go or else Mama ran to the gate so I couldn't leave the gate open and then herd the calf. Around and around the calf and I went in the corral. Many times. Finally Mama was not near the gate and I was able to leave the gate open slightly and then herd the calf as he was close to the gate.
A 34 second video of the calf walking. I didn't get a long enough video of the calf walking as he wasn't interested in walking much when I had my camera to take a video. https://youtu.be/jKvku7rJx9U
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