Calf 2

I've been busy so I've fallen behind with my photos.

If you remember, calf 1 (Mama's calf) was born Sunday, April 5.  Monday April 6 around noon calf 2 was born.  The mother is #60, the cow that looked to be close to labor a few days earlier.

The mother cow is black with a white face.  The bull is black with a white face.  What color is the calf?  Brown with a white face! Before you start thinking another bull snuck in and got Buddy's girl; cattle with a white face, whether brown or black, can mean a Hereford is in the family tree.

Fortunately the cow gave birth near a gate.  When I went over to check on the calf and determine if it is a male or female, my brown cow, Mama, suddenly came running over.  I thought she was at the far end of the pasture with her calf.  Apparently she had come up to eat from the large hay bale.  I climbed up the gate really fast.  Mamma then turned to the calf.  She sniffed it's head and had a confused look on her face.  She turned to me then back to the calf and sniffed it on its back.  The calf's mother was mooing at Mama but Mama ignored her.  After sniffing the calf at its rear end Mama looked at me then turned and trotted down the pasture to the far end where her calf lay.

While the newborn calf was brown with a white face, and Mama's calf was all brown, all Mama knew was that she had the only calf.

After Mama left I was able to check the calf and saw that it was a little bull calf.

A few hours old.

The weather on this day was cool with intermittent brief snow showers.  Later in the afternoon the calf was shivering. I picked up the calf and carried him to the loafing shed in the corral.  He was heavier than he looks.

For some reason his mother lost track of the calf when I carried him into the loafing shed.  So I had to carry him back to the corral entrance for her to see him and come.  Once both were in the corral I closed the gate so they would stay in the corral and the loafing shed which was warmer and drier.

Of course Buddy had to check out his little boy.

About five hours old.

Brrrr... it's cold outside.

The next morning Donna helped me band the calf to castrate him.  Then I let the mother and calf leave the corral.   Below they are posing before I open the gate.  Look at those ears on the little guy.

Following his mother out of the corral.

Here is the calf three days later.

The following video was taken less than 24 hours after the calf's birth, shortly after I banded him.  Later in the video his momma chews him out for not keeping up with her as she left the corral.  The video is 1:02 long.

https://youtu.be/ulAOqTwTQ2I

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Hay and horns

I got another large hay bale for the yearlings.  I locked them in the loading corral where they could eat green grass while I pulled the bale into their part of the corral.  A good thing I moved the yearlings as the bale fell off the wooden pallet just before entering their part of the corral.  As the bale weighed about 1100 to 1200 pounds I was able - with some effort - to roll the bale the rest of the way into the corral and into the metal feeder seen in the background.

Here is a photo of the banded horned steer.  The bands are still on and appear to be working.  The photo's colors don't quite capture that below the bands the color is a little more red indicating the stoppage of the blood flow.   The bands do not seem to be bothering the steer.

Calf 5, the next morning

This morning, since mother and baby were doing well, I let them out of the corral to rejoin the other cows.  The little calf looked quite cute.

I opened the gate and let them out.  Buddy was waiting on the other side of the gate.

Daughter, meet father.

Mom took the calf to the far end of the pasture to introduce her calf to the other cows.


Here is a 47 second video of the cattle in the corral late this afternoon.  The first calf (5) seen in the video was born less than 24 hours ago.  The white faced calf seen later in the video is a week old.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpAsw0pg_fU

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Calf 5 birth

At sundown I was coming from working in the pasture.  The cattle were making a ruckus.   The calves were bellowing.  Their hay was getting low so I moved the remainder from the middle to the sides of the feeder.  Buddy was along the fence and a few cows were in the corral. The red heifer was mooing.  That's when I noticed the red heifer was about to give birth.  A bag with her water was hanging off her rear.  I called Donna then came back outside to watch.

The heifer kept turning so it was hard to see her rear and whether the calf was coming out.  The four previous calves were running around the pasture and were about to run into the corral.  Three of their mothers were running after their calves bellowing at them.  The other cows were getting worked up.

I closed the gate to stop them from entering the corral.  I opened the gate to let out the other cows in the corral while keeping the red heifer in the corral.   The heifer laid down a few times and I thought she was about to give birth but she stood up again.  At one point I saw the end of a hoof sticking out the back.  The hoof was pointing in the right direction - down.   Then the hoof went back inside the heifer.

Donna arrived. It was getting dark and I got flashlights.  Buddy was still in the corral.  It appears one heifer is in heat as I saw a steer mount her.   But Buddy then forgot about the heifer in heat and got interested in the birth and would stand by the cow.  Donna and I shooed him out of the corral.  Then we could get a better look without him in the way.

Daisy limped out to join us in the corral.  She sat with us near the feeder as we watched.

The water broke and some birth fluid and material came out.  The heifer ate it.   The hoof was out again and stayed out. We kept watching for the heifer to lay down. We needed the flashlights to see.  We weren't real close in order that the heifer would feel more comfortable and would lay down.

Then I heard the heifer slurping.  I didn't think it could be the birth material as she would have finished it already.  I got closer with my flashlight and found the baby calf on the ground.  The heifer gave birth standing up!  The poor calf had fallen to the ground.

In the mess of fluid, grass and dried manure I could see the calf was breathing.  The mother was working hard to lick the calf clean.  It was a matter of minutes and the calf was already trying to sit up, then stand up.  But with the mother licking so hard the calf couldn't get up.

Donna and I lifted the calf's leg and checked.  It's another girl.   The time I spent watching was just under an hour.

The mother was right on cleaning and attending to the calf so I think she'll be a good mother.

The leg starting to come out.

A few hours later I went back to the corral to check on the calf.  I wanted to make sure in the cool night air she wasn't cold and shivering.  Nope.  She was walking around already checking stuff out.   The mother was grunting her concern to the calf.

"A few hours ago I was curled up in a nice warm wet dark place and now where am I?!!"

Baby calf number 1 in 2015

Sunday, Easter morning, the morning I was dealing with a scratched cornea, Mama gave birth to a baby calf.  While waiting for Donna to arrive to take me to the clinic for my eye I checked on the hay for the cows and to see if number 60 had a calf yet.  The hay was eaten down and the cattle would need more hay later.   Cow number 60 was still pregnant.  However I noticed Mama was off by herself by some trees and she was the only cow not to come over when I checked the hay level in the metal feeder.

I walked over to Mama, taking care to have the fence between us.  Yup.  Mama had given birth to a little calf.  As I got closer Mama got more alert and her head was bobbing up and down.  The calf was laying down by a tree stump the cattle had broken off and rolled around the pasture.  I couldn't tell if it was a bull calf or a heifer. Also, with my irritated eye, I couldn't tell using if the calf was red like Mama or black like Daddy.

A few hours after I returned from the clinic, and after a few hours of sleep, Donna came back to help me with the calf.

The calf is red like Mama.  It is also a bull calf.  Normally I want bull calves but the exception would be Mama's calf.  Mama doesn't like anyone messing with her calf.  A bull calf needed to be banded for castration sooner than later.  ...this should be interesting.

Donna and I drove out to Mama and the calf in my pickup for safety.

Earlier I had put some hay into the corral to get the cattle in there.  Unfortunately I had shut the corral gate.  It was to keep the cattle in the corral, but to get away from us Mama and the calf went to the corral.  By the time I got out of the pickup to open the gate they moved away.

They went to the trees close to the river and we had to 'herd' them using the pickup back to the corral.  The cattle had finished their hay and some wanted out of the corral. Mama wouldn't get near the gate while I was there. Donna tried to herd them to the gate using the pickup and Mama charged her.  Donna thought Mama might come through the window to get her.

I got the cattle a fresh small hay bale to keep them in the corral.  While they ate, and once I was away from the gate, Mama and her calf came into the corral.

Then it was a struggle to get Mama and her calf separated.  Several of the adult cows starting fighting and I had to break it up before they or their unborn calves could get hurt.  More unnecessary drama.

Fighting cows.

I got Mama and her calf in the part of the corral with the yearlings.  Once most of the hay was eaten Donna and I shooed the cows and Buddy out of the corral.   Then it was a long struggle to separate Mama and her calf.   We had to work from outside the corral fence. Mama would charge me at the fence and several times in her anger at me almost stepped on her calf who had laid down by the fence.

Mam also would only go so far away from her baby even though she wanted to trample me.  Finally we let them out of the yearling part of the corral in an effort to get them in the smaller loading corral.  Several yearlings came out with Mama.

Then it was an effort to separate the yearlings from Mama as the yearlings were very curious about the calf.  Mama didn't appreciate them near her calf either.

I tried this and tried that. I couldn't enter the corral as Mama would charge at me.  I was about ready to use the pickup again when Donna got her dog out. Mama decided to go to the loading corral with her calf.  The yearlings followed of course before I got the gate shut. I was able to get Mama and her calf into the loading chute by themselves.  Then it was relatively easy to get the yearlings back with the others in their part of the corral.

The loading chute had one gate dividing it.  You'd think it would be easier to separate the two in this smaller area, but no.

Finally I got the calf up and moving and it went through the gate before Mama.  I got the gate shut when Mama was distracted by Donna and the dog.

*whew!*

Then it was easy and quick to carry the calf to the loafing shed somewhat out of sight from Mama.  Making sure we had both of his balls we put a band on him to castrate him.

Job done we let Mama out of the loading corral and opened the main corral gate.  Mama quickly gathered up her calf and they got out of there.

They hightailed to the trees down by the river.  Ever since then Mama has mostly kept her calf there.  Sometimes she will leave her calf and come closer to the corral to eat from the large hay bale.  Sometimes she will bring her calf.  If she see me out near the corral she will turn around and take her calf back to the trees by the river. When she gets into a trot her large udder swings hard side to side.  Whenever Mama sees me outside, no matter where I am, she will hold her head up and closely watch me.  I could be walking across the hayfield and away from the pasture and Mama will watch me.

Me, I try to keep an eye out for Mama whenever I am in the north pasture checking on the other cattle in case Mama is nearby.

Separating Mama and her calf and banding the bull calf took us three hours of non-stop work.  Donna calls Mama, "The Witch".  Both she and Dan think I should sell Mama but I have a soft spot for her and have no plans to sell her.  I'll just have to be on my toes for a month until she relaxes and isn't so ultra protective of her calf.

Monday snow

Monday we had several instances where it snowed for a while.  None of the snow stayed long.  The weather has gotten better each day since.  The cold / snowy weather was not so good for the little calf born that afternoon.  In the evening he was shivering and I carried him into the loafing shed where it was drier and warmer.  Photos of the cute little calf to come later.

Scratched cornea

Last night I scratched my eye's cornea.  I was moving a pile of old tree branches and it was getting dark.  Some of the branches stuck together and I had to pull on them to get them apart.  One time either the branch I was pulling or the other branch suddenly gave way and smacked me in my face over my left eye.

I walked home, washed my eye and looked for matter in it.  I didn't see anything.  But my eye felt an irritation.  Seeing nothing in my eye I thought it was because of the impact.  As the night wore on my eye was tearing more and more and the irritation continued.  Seeing nothing in my eye I went to bed early.

I woke up after 2 am and my eye was more irritated.  Now it felt like something was in my eye.  I got up and looked.  Nothing.  I went back to bed and eventually to sleep.  Daisy scratched at the door at 3 am to come in for the night.  Eye still sore.  Went back to bed.

After 4 am I was woken up by my irritated eye.  It was really watering.  But that wasn't washing the irritation out.  I rinsed my eye with more water in hopes of washing the stuff out.  But that ended up washing the tears out and drying my eye which made it more irritated.  I went back to bed.  Daisy came and snuggled up next to me and did some major grooming before settling down. I finally went to sleep.

I got up at 8:30 am and felt miserable with an irritated and teary and red eye, stuffy nose and headache from the stuffy nose.  I called Donna and asked her to drive me to the hospital.  We stopped at the NorthMed urgent care clinic and a physician's assistant (PA) looked at my eye once another patient was done with the eye equipment.  He also had an eye injury.

The PA saw that I had a corneal abrasion. 

How do I know if I have a corneal abrasion?

The cornea is very sensitive, and a corneal abrasion is usually quite painful. You may feel like you have sand or grit in your eye. You may notice tears or blurred vision, or your eye may look red. You may also notice that light hurts your eye. Some people get a headache when they have a corneal abrasion.

The PA put drops in my eye to numb it, then put dye in my eye to better see the abrasion.  She said it was a good one.   Apparently I wasn't able to close my eyelid before the tree branch struck my face.

She wrote me a prescription for eye drops that are slightly numbing and a prescription of an antibiotic gel that also coats the eye easing irritation as it heals.  I use them four times a day for several days and then less after that. She said abrasions usually get better after 24 hours.  But since my abrasion is bigger she thought it would take several days.

For a simple corneal abrasion, your doctor will prescribe a standard antibiotic to protect against infection. This antibiotic will usually be administered in the form of drops or an ointment. You will be advised to continue the antibiotic treatment for three to five days and discontinue it after you have been symptom-free for at least 24 hours. If you have a scratch caused by organic matter (such as a tree branch), your doctor may prescribe a more potent antibiotic, antifungal agent, or anti-pseudomonal agent.

I wonder if the scratch has a flap as sometimes the eye feels better than other times.  All I know is this is very irritating and often painful.  24 hours later and it is getting a little better.  This was a very eventful Easter Sunday and my adventure's continue in tomorrow night's blog post.  Tonight I'm going to bed early again.

For more info:  http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/corneal-abrasions

Banding, day 2

The bands on the steer's horns are still on.  The steer acts  normal.  No shaking of his head or other acts indicating irritation.   Donna stopped by this afternoon to ask how the steer was doing.  When we looked at the calves in the corral they all crowded into the far corner. They remembered yesterday and Donna.  At one point another calf started to nuzzle and lick the bands on the steer's horns.

Stop that!

The calf quit.

Here you can see the pink below the band.  I think the band is working and stopping the blood flow.  The bands also appear to have 'sunken in' slightly.

Also when Donna was here she noticed a cow acting like she may calve soon.  The cow's tail was up a lot and the cow's head was down sniffing and checking the ground while walking around without eating.  Then she laid down, then she got up. She was restless.

We walked out to look at which cow it was and it wasn't either Mama or number 7, the two cows that had looked farthest along. It was number 60.  Her bag had filled out quite a bit since yesterday.   We attempted to herd the cow into the corral but she didn't want to go and leave the herd and was getting agitated so we quit.  While it is easier for me to check on her in the corral, the pasture is cleaner than the corral and a better place to give birth.

I've checked on the cow every hour or two until it got dark.  No baby calf.  The cow appears to have settled down and is not as restless.  I'll see what the morning brings.

Tagging and Banding

Today Donna helped me tag my calves and band the steer with horns.  It took us almost two hours to get it all done.

First I had to get the cows and bull out of the corral.  The cows ambled out but Buddy wanted to hang around near the calves.  Donna and I had to herd the calves east of the barn out of sight of Buddy; then I was able to coax Buddy out of the corral.  Daisy helped me also.

Then we herded the calves into the loading corral.

The black calf is backwards in the loading chute.

I wanted to work on the steer with horns last as he would take longer.  Of course, he was in the front usually when we herded the calves down the loading chute.  I was leery of getting in the loading corral to herd the calves as in close quarters I didn't want to be poked by the horned steer.  He hadn't been aggressive using his horns up to now, but I've always kept one eye on him when in the corral as he could easily tear a hole in me.

Finally we got another calf up front.  But she didn't want to go into the head gate.  She kept turning around and trying to get back with the calves at the back of the loading chute.  Buddy decided to stand on the other side of the loading corral fence.  When the calves got worked up and ran along the fence, so did he.

Settle down guys. 

About the time I was thinking of trying to tag its ear through the loading chute fence, the first calf tried to go through the head gate and got caught.  That made tagging its ear quicker and safer.

Then I released the calf out of the head gate.  The later calves usually would try to go through the head gate as they could see the tagged calves on the other side.  It took Rose a few tries as she would turn around and try to return to the remaining calves in the loading chute.

For me, an even number means it is a female.  Mama is number 10, so 12 means daughter of Mama.

Then it was time for the horned steer.  He kept stopped before the head gate.  We tried over and over and then I noticed his horns were slightly wider than the head gate opening.  That's why he wouldn't go through.

I was able to adjust the head gate to allow for a slightly larger opening.  He still had to either cock his head a little sideways or tilt it so one horn was sightly ahead of the other to slip through.  I had my hand on the head gate control level when encouraging him to cock his head.  He got his head and horns through the opening but unfortunately I had my hand on the lever and in the excitement pushed it and allowed the head gate to release and he ran through and out to join the other calves.



So Donna and I had to herd the steer back into the loading corral.  Easier said than done now that the calves were super excited.  But finally I got the steer and one other calf into the loading chute. I then opened the head gate and allowed the other calf to leave.

Then we worked on getting the steer to cock his head and go through the head gate.  Finally he did and we had him held.

While his head was caught in the head gate he still could go up and down it he wanted to.  So Donna tied a rope into a makeshift halter to further restrain his head. I didn't want to get poked with a horn while working on it.

Then I used a scissors to trim the hair around his horns.  I had read up on banding to remove horns and learned the best way to band is to put the band way down near the head where the horn is a little softer.  That way the band would work better and be less likely to roll or slip off.  The descriptions I heard and read made me think there was a slight ridge or bump at the zone between the soft and hard part of the horn.

Ummm... no.  At least not on this steer. 

Donna had brought some electric clippers and she used that to further remove hair from around the horn near the skull.  Still no sign or a ridge or bump.

The horn near the skull appeared to be slightly - and just slightly - softer than the rest of the horn.  Or was it my imagination or hope?

I had read that some people had used a file to make a slight groove for the band to sit.  I decided to try placing the band without making a groove.  While the horns are hard, blood flows in the horns and they apparently can be sensitive.  That is why I am using a band to remove the horns and am not cutting them off: less blood and hopefully less pain.   Several people had told me of a few rare instances where horns bled and bled after being cut and almost losing the animal from loss of blood.  Also cutting the horns off leaves a hole that has to heal over.  Apparently as bands work slower there is no opening when the horns fall off.  I'll see.

I used the bander tool and rubber band I used when banding the calves to castrate them.  I placed a band as close as I could to the skull.  The horn was thicker than I expected for a short horn but it appeared I got the band on the softer part of the horn.  I then tried to roll the band further up the horn but I don't think I moved it.  It appeared the band was slightly indented into the horn.

So now it is 'wait and see' time.  Apparently it can take 30 or more days for a horn to die and fall off.  Hopefully he is not able to remove the bands before then.

The right side is shaved.  The left side had not been shaved yet.

I first noticed the horns peeking out of the hair last November.  So this is about four and a half months of growth.

After we banded the steer I tagged his ear.  Now all my cattle have ear tags.

Then we released the steer to join the other calves.  Then I let them back into their part of the corral with the hay.

While the calves all did an initial shake of their heads after getting their ear tags they quickly got use to them. The steer with horns shook his head longer so I believe he was feeling the bands on his horns.

The horned steer has been released from the head gate and is on a mission to rejoin the other calves.

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Big bale for calves

The calves almost finished another hay bale.  Rather than wait for morning I put the rest of the hay in their wooden feeder then got them another big bale late this afternoon.

Previously I had hauled the bales in on my pickup (by the way, today I received and installed the new tailgate latch), but now that I have all my bales I drug one into the corral.

I couldn't drag the bale next to the fence where I had the previous three bales, but that's ok, that area is getting built up with leftover hay, mud and manure.  So I had to position the bale out away from the fence.

The challenge: getting the bale in the calves part of the corral and the feeder around it without the calves harrassing me.

I pulled the bale into the other part of the corral, then prepared the metal feeder for moving.  That was a mistake as three calves crowded inside the feeder to eat the leftover hay I couldn't move to the wooden feeder.  The other three calves were at the gate looking at the bale behind my pickup.

Of course Buddy came over to watch the proceedings.  When Rose backed up against the fence Buddy took a sniff to see if Rose was ready for some "Buddy love".  She's not.

I faked out the calves.  I opened the gate and let them into the part of the corral with the hay bale.  Then I pulled the bale through the gate, jumped out of the pickup and ran over and closed the gate while the calves stood there dumbfounded.

*whew*

I now had time to cut the twine off the bale and pull the feeder around the bale and then wire the feeder shut so the calves won't be able to walk on the hay.

While I did this the calves ran around the other part of the corral checking everything out.  At one point as they ran along the west side of the fence Buddy got excited on his side of the fence.  But the calves ran to another part of the corral and Buddy settled down.

My poor feeder

With the recent warmer weather some of the cattle are rubbing because they itch.  On Rose you can see how the cattle can get carried away.