last month before birth questions

Christina R. · #1 10/04/05, 01:12 PM

Corabelle is due to freshen on November 1st. Besides going through all the emotions of I can't wait until the calf is here, and oh I can wait until the calf is here because it means chaining myself to the barn again, what should I be doing?

Here's the bases I'm covering.... she is mostly on grass hay now. There are a few bales that are grass/alfalfa blend that creep in, but for the most part she is on timothy.

I am still giving her only one scoop (I think it is a 3# scoop) of grain in the am. Do I increase that to one in the am and one in the pm now or during the last 2 weeks?

What about shots? I didn't give her any before her first calf was born, but I think I remember reading about something to give her about a month out that will prevent the calf from scouring.

I also remember reading about something like toxemia that goats and cattle get, but I forget the word. I'm assuming now is the time to prevent it. What do I do?

Thanks for your input!!

Goat Freak · #2 10/05/05, 10:06 AM

Pregnacy Toxemia?

twstanley · #3 10/06/05, 09:59 AM

Be careful on wanting to overfeed as from what I have read during the last 3 weeks almost all the food goes directly to the calf, overfeeding could make for an overly large calf and a difficult delivery.

Do NOT give any alfalfa as it is high in calcium and potassium and can cause the cow to have milk fever.

What I do for our cows is just make sure they have access to good grass pasture or hay, mineral block and water. After that I wait impatiently for nature to take its course.
http://stephenville.tamu.edu/~butler...milkfever.html

http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/research/dairy/TR31.pdf

Goat Freak · #4 10/06/05, 10:07 AM

Man that just does not sound right twstanley, we feed our doe a crap load of feed before she had her babies and we still ended up with two babies that were on the tiny scale, as far as doelings go.

twstanley · #5 10/06/05, 11:35 AM

I don't know how it applies to goats. I think the article I was recalling was in reference to helping heifers have their first calves and one concern was obese cows/heifers and the problems they have, especially trying to give birth to large calves.
....

Christina R. · #6 10/10/05, 09:55 AM

I am still going through some of the alfalfa/grass mix, but will turn it over to the grass hay when this 2 wire bail is done. I was going to begin giving her the pm scoop of grain in the pm for the last two weeks only, so she shouldn't be overfed. The problem I was thinking of was pregnancy toxemia, but I was thinking of it by its other name, ketosis. I lookied it up and it seems to be due to poor nutrition, so I'm not going to worry about that. I'll call my vet about the antiscours vaccination. I read about it again; I just hope it didn't need to be administered before now. Other than that, I guess I will try to relax, though I know all of you know this is the most exciting time, even if it is her second calf!!!!

unioncreek · #7 10/12/05, 05:25 PM

We've never fed our cows grain, they get only grass hay and that's it. Feeding grain will just make the calf a lot bigger and this may lead to calving problems.

Bobg

Philip · #8 10/13/05, 08:31 PM

Yes, ad lib hay (not alfalfa/lucerne) and less grain. 60% of a calfs size is formed in the last 6 weeks of pregnancy, so keep the old girl a bit lean. If you look on the net for pictures of cow condition scores, aim for a 4 to 5 score at the most ie ribs and backbone easily seen, pelvis similar (for a dairy cow anyway). We usually aim to have ours 4 to 4.5, as we have had to pull stillborn calves out before today - which is one reason we swithed to AI Lowline semen.
We never vaccinate for anything and have yet to loss a cow or calf (although we do vaccinate lambs with a 5 in 1 for pulpy kidney, tetanus etc

Christina R. · #9 10/14/05, 09:59 AM

Thanks for the input. She's still hating the grass hay, so I guess that's a natural way to keep her leaner. The bale I opened today was 1/2 alfalfa and 1/2 grass. I fed it to her this am, but will open up a few bales this pm for a total grass bale.

I won't add the extra scoop of grain at night, but I'll keep the am one as the turkey, chickens, goats, and her all dig in as a treat.

The size should be fine as the sire was a dexter. I just keep imagining that lil one in there in the right position (and praying it is). -3 weeks and counting (or trying not to count???).

OD · #10 10/14/05, 12:38 PM

I like to give my calves the pneumonia vaccine that is squirted up their nose. I used to have some trouble with calves having lots of respiratory problems until I started vaccinating, but hardly ever have any, now.
Another thing that I did this year was to have a tube of Cal-Gel on hand to give the cow as soon as the calf was born, because she has had milk fever in the past. I don't know if she needed it, but she got it anyway, & didn't have any problem this time.