Haggis, how did Dorsey do?!

willow_girl · #1 04/05/05, 01:31 PM

Did she come through her birthing OK?!

Inquiring minds want to know!

Bitey had a huge and I mean HUGE bull calf last Thursday! I guess she had milk fever, but Mark caught it in time and she's OK now. Whew!

Haggis · #2 04/05/05, 06:51 PM

Thanks for asking but no calf yet! She was due with her 7th calf on April 1st, but so far we just have a very very large udder and a fidgety old Jersey.

It's supposed to thunderstorm and rain tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night so I'm betting she will sneak off into the swamp during the storms, and have her calf where I can't find her.

willow_girl · #3 04/05/05, 07:24 PM

LOL, I hope not, Haggis!

Do keep us posted on her progress.

BTW, Bitey went 2 days past her due date. I know with horses it's not unusual to go WAY past the expected date ... not sure how variable cows are, though!

dosthouhavemilk · #4 04/05/05, 07:29 PM

As cows age they have longer and longer gestations...probably because they tend to have larger calves as well.
Seventh calf? Not suprising she is overdue.

We have a first calf heifer (Siv) due on the 18th and a fourth time freshener (Sandy) (first two were dead bulls, last one was a live bull, surely a live heifer this time?) due at the end of this month.

The last calf at the school farm (unless Rhett has calved, and I should hope she has by now) was a heifer born late and dead. Dead in utero...

Glad to hear your cow calved at work, Willow. I know how that is! I was positive Rhett was going to calve Saturday night. She had been leaking milk for a couple of days and was ready to go, but no go. I hope she calved Sunday evening, but haven't bothered to find out. I will know tomorrow night though.

willow_girl · #5 04/06/05, 05:46 AM

Hope Rhett came through OK, Roseanna!

A heifer calved on the farm where I work sometime in the last couple days ... anyway my boss thinks she had a stroke (?) ... she's paralyzed. Poor thing!!! I wish he'd put her down, but oh well let's not go there.

She was near death yesterday so I don't think she will suffer for long.

Her calf (a huge bull) has been struggling, too ... my boss said that when he was born, he laid there for like 2 hours barely moving. His momma couldn't clean him off, and the other cows ignored him as if he was a dead calf. Yesterday when I went in, he was laying flat-out in the pen, I thought he was dead 'til I checked. Later he was folded up in the normal calf-lying-down position, whew! I managed to get him on his feet and get a half of bottle of milk into him ... my boss seemed surprised ... I don't think he has quite as much patience when it comes to coaxing them to drink.)

The heifer was rather small and the calf super large ... he has one front foot that wants to turn under ... that certainly isn't making it any easier for him to get up!

I'm afraid he'll get pneumonia from the lack of stimulation, though, and not crashing around (which loosens up the crud in their lungs). I rubbed him down really good before I left yesterday ...

It's frustrating to only be there 2 days a week and not be able to do more!!!

dosthouhavemilk · #6 04/07/05, 10:55 AM

Rhett calved Sunday evening.

Very healthy, very vigorous bull calf.

Wow, sorry to hear about the heifer! We have not seen that here that I know of.

willow_girl · #7 04/07/05, 05:42 PM

Glad to hear Rhett came through OK, now we are just waiting on Haggis' Dorsey!

Well the good news here is, that bull calf seems to be pulling through ... he was up this morning and demanding his breakfast, you'd never guess there had been a thing wrong with him!

A cow I call Sadie had twin heifers out in the field last night or early this morning ... Mark found them while he was feeding. They were a couple weeks early. He said the smallest one was mired right up to her chin in the muck. Yikes!!! (I almost lost a boot to this mud the other morning!) When I went to give them their bottles, the muddy little calf was bouncing all over the barn, and when I tried to chase her to the front to feed her, she cocked one of her spindly little legs and cow-kicked me right in the knee! :haha:

Sad to say her big sister didn't look so good, though ... she was cold and weak.

I did get her dragged into some hay where she'd be warm, and got some colostrum into her, so maybe she'll take off yet ... I won't know 'til next Tuesday!

dosthouhavemilk · #8 04/07/05, 07:33 PM

Wow! Twin heifers...we haven't had twins in almost three years. Frida and Freya were our last set of twins...obviously heifers.

Sounds like the mud didn't slow her down too much..I hear ya about the mud though. Geeze! Wish it would let up on the precipitation around here.

A couple fo teh calves at the school farm were like the one you described. They were born out on the lot when there was another cow in the box stall supposedly calving (of course, you always end up putting the wrong one in). One of them I rubbed down, wrapped and then covered wih bedding, until we got her mom milked. Mother gave one half pound of colostrum.

Luckily had another dam who also had had a calf so we pooled the milk. They have been testing free for over five years now, so it wasn't a huge issue. That calf was up and moving the next morning.

Hope they both pull through for you!

Haggis · #9 04/09/05, 09:25 PM

I wonder how large a cow's belly and udder can stretch before they mimic a Monty Python skit?

Herself and I saw our bull pushing Dorsey around the back sixty after she ran out of gas on the 1st of July last. The vet did not know this when he palpated her on the 1st of December and proclaimed her to be five months along and very much in calf.

I wonder if she knows it will just get bigger each day she holds on to it?

willow_girl · #10 04/10/05, 06:41 PM

STILL nothing?!?! AUGHHHH! :no: :haha:

Haggis · #11 04/14/05, 05:35 PM

Dosey didn't move from where she lay down last night until I milked Lucy this morning; Dorsey came in for her milking time treat.

Today she has spent the whole day off to herself.

I'm not much of a wisher but I wouldn't mind having the equivalent of her udder full of dimes. The poor dear has her udder hanging well below her hocks and so wide she can barely walk. It looks like a bushel basket with spigots.

OD · #12 04/14/05, 05:55 PM

Sounds like it's about ready to happen!!!

willow_girl · #13 04/14/05, 06:54 PM

Keep us posted!!! We'll be pulling for the old gel!

Calves have been arriving fast and furious on the farm where I work! On Monday, I came in to find two new calves born during the night -- one heifer, one bull -- plus I had four additional bull calves from the preceeding days to bottle feed! That's a trick, as I can only do 2 at a time, and meanwhile the other two were trying to wrest the bottles away from their penmates. LOL!

Mark shipped all the little bulls yesterday, but left Bitey's little man behind. I didn't think he was going to use him as a breeding bull (Bitey's not registered, and in honesty, she's not all that great of a producer) so I asked what was up. Turns out Mark is giving him to the feeder in exchange for some labor. I was glad to hear that; even though he will still end up on someone's dinner table, he won't have to live in a feedlot. :waa:

He was the biggest and spunkiest calf of the lot. Someday I hope to be able to bring his momma home and let her raise up one of her babies herself ...

Haggis · #14 04/15/05, 07:19 AM

Dorsey had her calf.

I was up nearly all night and she had it at 6 a.m. So far all is well and the little guy is lookng for a faucet, but Dorsey's access valves are low slung.

I took pictures of everything if I can figure out how to post them. The little fellow is half Milking Devon, half Jersey, and bloody red in color.

Now to keep cow and calf alive and well. Dorsey has shown no sign of Milk Fever, but I have the calsium gel ready just in case.

A live calf at Wolf Cairn Moor!!!

I had nearly given up hope.

OD · #15 04/15/05, 07:42 AM

If he doesn't find the"access valves" soon, it would be a good idea to milk some out & give it to him in a bottle. They can give up looking pretty fast if they don't eat soon after they are born. After they get a taste of milk, they will be eager to find some more, & will have more strength to look for it.

Haggis · #16 04/15/05, 09:37 AM

Thanks OD. It's been over three and a half hours without success, I think I may take matters into my own hands.

I bet this little guy won't weigh 40 pounds. We looked for second when this one was born so small, but it seems like the action is over. I've seen bunches of calves born over the years and even pulled a few when I was much younger, but I've never seen a calf come so easily.

Haggis · #17 04/15/05, 10:38 AM

I drained about a quart out of Dorsey and into a calf bottle. The calf took the bottle and drank it all, and as OD said, the calf began to search for more with a vengeance.

If he doesn't figure things out in a couple of hours I'm going to go ahead and separate the pair. I'll have to ayway if we're gong to keep Dorsey milk coming in top form.

I'm not real sure how much to give him just now per 2x a day feedings, but maybe he'll tell me by how much he'll take. When I was a boy we would let the calf nurse on one side while we milked the other. They would usually be given a front teat to start, when they got older a rear teat, and when they reached the point they needed more than a whole side they were ready to wean. Man, those little calves were great for the final stripping of the udder; there wasn't any milk left when they got through.

Ofcourse, our old cows didn't give any more than 2 1/2 to 3 gallons a day, and Dorsey will give that much to the milking.

Jim in MO · #18 04/15/05, 12:31 PM

Congratulations Haggis! I’m glad things went smooth with the calf. I’m letting our little heifer stay on momma since we don’t sell all of our milk and it saves me the trouble of dealing with a bottle baby. She stays in the stall with Millie when I’m milking but she hasn’t tried to nurse while I’m working on one side. Mostly she stands next to me and watches what I’m doing and at time uses my back as a rubbing post. ( I need to stop her from that before she gets any bigger though). :haha:

Jim in MO

Haggis · #19 04/15/05, 01:12 PM

I went out at a wee bit after 11 to see how the little Jer-von was doing and he was no where to be seen. After a bit of a search I found him in the woods well beyond the electric fence. I figure he got his head under the fence and then got bit in the backside by the wire which helped him on through, and then he just wondered off; of couse I figured he was already bait. With all of the wolves, mountain lions, black bears, and coyotes we have around here, escaping into the woods will never do, so now he's in a pen in the barn.

Oh well, he was destined for a pen in the barn anyway.

Talk about a calf leaning on you, my Tulip is doing great with her step-up, whoa, gee, haw, and back lessons, but if I stop for a minute or two she wants to throw her wieght on me. At 8 months old she weighs too much for that sort of tom-foolery. She does enjoy our time together, maybe because it's the only time she gets to be out of her pen.

willow_girl · #20 04/15/05, 03:59 PM

Congratulations!!!!