Calf eating hay

Some calves are now eating hay in addition to drinking from their mother.   This calf was the first calf born this year.  She was born on January 30.

Calf 11 - Little Beulah's

Last Wednesday, the day 110's calf was born, Little Beulah's calf was born.  110's calf was born in the morning, Little's Beulah's calf was born in the afternoon.  It is a heifer calf.  Wednesday was a cold and wet day.  So I waited to ear tag the calf until Thursday  So I kept Little Beulah and her calf in the corral, along with 110 and her calf.  

The next day, after the calf got her ear tag, I let them out to the north pasture to be with the other cattle.  As you can see, once the calf got dried off, the next day she was more of a light gray.

Still no testicle

Today Donna, my neighbor Ty, and I checked the bull calves' testicles in an attempt to band / castrate them.  Ty helped because now after a week the calves can run fast, and Ty has had experience castrating calves in the past.

Around and around the corral Ty and I went as the calves and mothers ran from me. I caught one calf. Ty and I were holding the calf down, and I was checking the calf, when Donna arrived.  Donna worked and worked but couldn't keep both testicles in the scrotum long enough to band them.  Eventually we quit.

Then it was on to the next calf.  Around and around we went.  At the east end of the corral I was able to somewhat catch the calf.  Down I went into the nearby gate.  I ended up underneath the calf and was holding on to it so the calf wouldn't get away before Ty and Donna reached us.  Ty then grabbed on to the calf and I was able to get out from underneath the calf.  I didn't want it to be me getting castrated as I was on the bottom.

We checked and checked and could only find one testicle.  So we quit.   Neither calf was different from the last time Donna and I checked last Tuesday.  I'll have to give the calves more time before trying again.  Hopefully the calves will drop both testicles so we can get this done.  So, for now they will remain in the corral.  If the calves were in the pasture... good luck in trying to catch them.

Toby and a post

Toby... Toby... Toby... what am I gonna do with you?

After I let the cattle out of the corral late this afternoon so they could go and eat from the hay bale I had just put out in the north pasture, I looked over to the part of the corral where Toby, Red, Little Red, and their calves are, and I saw that one of the posts that hold up the roof over the area next to the barn was leaning.

While you can't tell from the photos, part of the top of the post is cut so that the roof boards rest on the post.  The roof boards were nailed to the post by two long big nails.  Toby pushed the post away from the roof and nails.

I had to use the tractor to lift the roof up so that I could put the post under the roof and re-nail the post to the roof.  I used two more long large nails in addition to the two other nails.

I had to keep an eye on Toby while I worked on fixing the post as he was acting up.  I don't know if his behavior was because a cow was in heat and now that they went to the pasture to eat hay, Toby was now jumping around and checking things out.  He started to rub on the tractor; first the tires, then the loader arm.

I got into the tractor cab since Toby was acting up.

Then Toby went round and began to use the hay bale spear to scratch his back.

Here is a 43 second video of Toby scratching against the bale spear: https://youtu.be/G-c1ghSZPiE

Getting the tractor out of the corral was time consuming.  Toby kept following and occasionally rubbing on the tractor.  So I had to wait a while until he lost interest and walked away.  Then I could open the gate and drive out of the corral.

Calf 10 - 110's

Calf number 10 was born Wednesday morning between 9 am and a little after 10 am.  The cattle were in the corral as I fed them there in the morning as I planned on putting a large hay bale out for them that afternoon.  At 8 am in the morning all the cattle, except for 110, were waiting outside the corral for me to put some small hay bales out for them to eat.  110 was at the west end of the pasture.  She preferred to be alone and wasn't real hungry.  She was acting like she was going to calve later that day.  I herd to herd 110 to the corral.  When she got close to the corral and saw the other cattle already eating she then ran to the corral.

So I checked on 110 again after 10 am and found her standing over her calf in the middle of the corral.  The calf was still fairly wet.  110 is known as the "bad mother" as she initially rejects her newborn calf every year.  I have to put her in the loading corral runway and then put some boards around her so she can't headbutt her calf or kick it as the calf drinks from 110.  After a time or two of nursing the calf then 110 bonds with her calf and will accept it and become a good mother.

Once again 110 was acting as a bad mother.  In the corral she would lick the calf or sniff it, then would push it with her head.  Usually I keep the calf and 110 in the loading ramp area so they could bond.  But this day was cold, rainy, and windy.  So once the calf drank and got his - he is a male - fill of milk, I put some straw in one section of the loafing shed.  I put up a couple corral panels and then put the calf in there to lay on the straw to be dry and warm.  The corral panels were to stop the rest of the cattle in the corral from taking over the straw area and kicking the calf out.  And it prevented the mother from the calf.  I  had another matter going on for the afternoon so I couldn't keep an eye on the mother and calf for a few hours.  I didn't want the mother to headbutt or push the calf around.  When I let 110 out of the loading ramp area she spent the time at the opposite end of the corral, away from her calf.

So bonding took longer this time.  At 5 pm I put 110 and her calf in the loading ramp area so her calf could drink again.  I also put out a new large hay bale and let the cows out of the corral to go eat.  But not 110 and her calf.  I kept them in the corral to bond and so I could keep an eye on them.  I took the corral panels down so now 110 could be with her calf.  I had put hay out in the feeder by the barn and 110 preferred to go over and eat hay and had no interest in her calf.  It was a mix of rain and snow by now so the calf was warm and dry in the loafing shed.

At 7 pm I checked on them again.  110 was standing in the loafing shed but not near her calf.  110 was mooing at the world, and not to her calf.  I put 110 and her calf in the loading ramp area.  110 was not keen on letting her calf drink so I put 110 in the area with boards so her calf could drink again.  110 would moo and moo.  She looked around.  It seemed like she wanted to go join the other cattle.  Nope.  You two are going to stay in the corral together overnight.  You need to bond.

At midnight they both were in the loafing shed.  They were close together.  It didn't seem like the calf was hungry, so I let them be.  In the morning after 7 am I checked.  The rain had quit.  Both 110 and her calf were standing right next to one another in another part of the corral.  110 seemed protective.  The calf wasn't hungry.  By early afternoon they were still close to one another and this time I saw the calf drink from 110.

Since they bonded, I let them out of the corral so they could go join the rest of the herd at the feeder.  Off they went together.  And they have been together ever since.

The calf before he could stand or drink.  I had to carry him to get him here from the other part of the corral, which was dirty.

Once the calf drank his fill of milk, I put him in the loafing shed and on fresh straw.

Donna dried the calf off since the mother hadn't completely licked the calf clean after birth.

The second go around at 5 pm for the calf to drink again.

Belly full again after his second drink of milk.  And now ear tagged and banded.  And back in a dry area as it was raining lightly.  What a little cutie.

Here is a 45 second video of the calf after he finally learned how to get milk from his mother: https://youtu.be/G0iU6uTHeTA

Calf 9 - 90's

 Late Monday afternoon calf 9 was born. Another cutie. It is a heifer calf.  It was late enough in the day I didn't have time to make an ear tag for the calf.  Mother and calf were laying in the pasture in an open area where a feeder was at one time.  I checked after sundown and they were still out there.  Rain and cold temperatures were in the forecast.  So I walked the calf over to lay under a tree overnight.  The mother followed. 

The next morning I found them under a different tree near the one I put the calf under.  The calf was laying between a tree and an old tree stump

Mother telling me to stop taking pictures of her and her calf.

In the afternoon Donna came to help me tag the calf's ear.  The cattle were all at the west end of the pasture near the feeder.  But we found 90's calf along the east pasture fence, near the old swather.

After we tagged the calf's ear she wanted to go find her mother.  But she went over to the corral to look for her mother.  Little Red was there, but not her mother.

So I herded the calf across the pasture over to where her mother was.  When 90 saw me and the calf coming she ran over from the hay feeder.  The calf immediately drank as she was hungry.

Here is a 1 minute 5 second video of the calf after she had her ear tagged: https://youtu.be/wXEW2QNvyyI

Calf 7 and Calf 8

Donna told me not to say that the calves' ball did not drop.  Instead say their testicle did not drop.  She is a medical person.  Monday was cold and rainy so we didn't check if the calves other testicle dropped.  Tuesday was nice, so we checked.  The testicles still did not drop.  What?   I talked to a few other cattle people I know and they said they usual wait until after a week to ten days before banding the testicles.  They felt my calves other testicle will eventually drop.  So I will have to wait longer.

We did place ear tags on the calves.

Red still has a bad limp when she walks.

Here are a couple photos of these calves from Tuesday morning after our snow.

Red and her calf

In the background along the fence is Little Red and her calf

Snowed overnight

A chance of rain last night, not snow. But we got snow.  At least it is sunny today.  While the same temperature as yesterday, today is sunny with calm wind unlike yesterday's cloudy and windy day, which felt colder.

The cattle were standing outside the corral.  Like they had eaten all their hay.

I checked.  They hadn't.