It's CALVING SEASON!!!

It’s my favorite time of year…. CALVING SEASON!!

  That’s when all the cows have their baby calves.  It’s a busy time for us but it is so fun to see them all being born.  They grow super-fast and they are running around in no time at all.  The average calf is born weighing somewhere between 60-90 lbs.  That might be more than some of my #Agintheclassroom 5th graders weigh right now!! 

This calf was just born to this 

first-time mama #595!

  He weighed 65 lbs.  Just perfect

 to get them both off to a great start!

There are lots of things that influence their weight at birth like the sex of the calf, the nutrition of the cow during her pregnancy, the weather conditions, and most of all, the genetics of the calf.  Bull calves (the boys!) generally weigh more than the heifer calves (the girls) but not always!!  If the weather is very cold during the winter, the cow will send more nutrition to the calf during her pregnancy and that can cause bigger calves to be born.  Also, if a cow gets a lot of protein in her diet, this can cause bigger birth weights.  Birth weight is highly heritable (easily passed on to their babies) so if a cow herself had a very large birth weight, she is more likely to have a big baby!  We try to control this by using bulls that have known birth weights on the lower side of average.  We want the cow to have the calf without difficulty so the calf is born quickly and easily.  Just like humans, an easy birth on mom and baby makes life A LOT easier for everyone involved and gets the little one off to a great start!!  The older cows can have a little bigger calf than a young cow, especially when it is her first one.  We try to be very careful when choosing which bulls we breed the younger cows to.

Once the baby is born and we know it has gotten milk from its mama a few times, we 

weigh the calf and put a tag in its ear.  The tag has the date of birth, the sire (or dad) of the calf, and the cow’s number.  This way we can easily match up the cow and calf whenever we are checking on them.  We keep detailed records on all of the cows and calves in our herd.  It is important for ranchers to keep records on everything!

    

Here we are weighing one of the new calves born to cow #225.  Sometimes the mamas are a little protective and don’t like you messing with their new babies.  This cow doesn’t mind but she stays close by and keeps an eye on us to make sure he’s ok!  We use a platform with a small scale on it to weigh the calves.  Not all ranchers take individual weights but most do tag their calves at birth. 

I just took this photo this morning (2/14/17).  This calf (#827) is about 45 days old.  He was the first calf born on our ranch.  You can see how much he has grown compared to the new calves shown above.  It doesn’t take them long to get growing!!  Can you see his milk mustache?  He obviously had milk for breakfast.  I hope you did too!!

PJ's and Baby Calves go together!!

When you have to go out to check a heifer in the middle of the night, sometimes it's just easier to slip on your boots and run outside in your PJ's!

Luckily, all was quiet tonight so I was back to my warm bed in no time!!  During calving season, we check the cattle during the night to make sure nobody needs help delivering a calf.  Most of the time, they do just fine on their own but occasionally we need to help out a little bit.

Tag Making (featuring a cat photobomb...)

 If you've been around the site for a while, you've seen me post quite a few things mentioning ear tags and records at the farm.  When the baby calves are born, they are given a small, hand written tag with the same number as their mama.  But if they grow up and are chosen to stay in the herd and become mamas themselves, they need a new form of identification.

This is the point when we assign new numbers to the new replacement females.  Every ranch has their own unique identification system that works for them.  One common method is to start the number with the year the heifer calf was born.  In the video below, the females I'm making tags for were born in 2015 so they start with a "5".  We like to add an abbreviation for the ranch name if they are purchased from outside our herd or the dam's number if we raised the female ourselves.  We also add the sire of the animal.  This makes all the info really handy when you are working the cattle or checking them on grass.  

There are lots of brands of tags to choose from but I like these engraveable tags.  Watch this short video to see how I make a tag for a new cow in the herd.  And stay til the end to see the cat photobomb my tutorial!!  You just never know who might show up around here!!

It's actually a long, slow process but I shortened this up to give you a quicker version!  It would be faster to use a special tag marker but these are more permanent and there is no fading over time so it's worth a little extra effort up front!

Here is Gail giving the cow her new tag

Tech Savy Bulls

 Last week I attended a meeting in a nearby town to learn the latest in reproductive technology, synchronization protocols, and new sires available this spring to use in our cow herd.

Being a farmer or rancher means always learning something new every day and staying on top of the latest research.  Since my husband and I are both in the business of reproductive technology and artificial insemination (AI) in cattle, I thought this slide was rather fitting.  It shows us that reproduction / pregnancy has a HUGE economic impact on the rancher's bottom line.  That's why it's important in our own herd at home and why we love helping our customers reach their goals in this area of beef production.

And speaking of technology, did you know you can watch all kinds of livestock auctions online these days?  And bid on animals from the comfort of your own home?  Thanks to the internet, we stayed home Sunday and got a lot of work done with the cattle.  But in and amongst hauling cows home, sorting breds, and tagging calves, we also bought a bull during lunch!  Gail had the opportunity to go view the bulls in person so when sale day came, we just watched live video feed and bid on the internet.  We studied the pedigrees and the EPD profiles and aside from missing a great lunch for the buyers, we didn't skip a beat.

Nate was busy keeping track of the sale order and prices
the bulls were bringing during the internet auction

Hurry up! Calving is about to start!!

Anyone else wait til the last minute to get calving records organized??  The first calf recently hit the ground and I decided it was time I'd better get organized before anymore arrived!  We had a very productive weekend bringing the cows home from cornstalks and getting some much needed office time in so records were ready to go!

These ladies are headed out to their new home
after being on cornstalks for much of the fall
and early winter!

Since we use artificial insemination (AI) in our cows, we know the exact day they were bred and can then calculate the estimated calving date.

Did you know a cows gestation length is 283 days?  That's pretty darn close to a human!  And like humans, they might give birth within a couple of weeks on either side of that due date!  That means you have to check them often even if you know when they are due!  But regardless of when they actually calve, I think we are ready!

Welcome to the World #046

Timing is everything.  And I just happen to be at the right place at the right time to catch this amazing video.  I had taken my lunch break to run home and check on the cows.  They are calving right now and that means we check them numerous times and day.  That even includes the middle of the night!  I had seen cow #046 during the morning check and she had given me some subtle signs that she might be nearing delivery of her new baby.  Sure enough, she was just getting started when I arrived home at noon.  This video shows just how fast things progress in a normal delivery.  This baby will get a tag that matches his momma so for now he is known as calf #046.  He has made quite an impression so far!


A couple of things to look for in the video...

1. That is the head and front feet you see at the beginning of the video.  Normal position delivery is with the front feet coming first and the head pointed down so the shoulders can slip out easier.
2. The photo bomb is compliments of #227.  Her name is Boo.  She was a former 4-H heifer so she's pretty tame and likes to come say hi.  She would NOT get out of the way.  She likes her picture taken...
3. At 40-42 seconds you will see a good video of the head and body and if you watch closely you will see the calf move during the delivery.
4. Note that the calf is completely delivered at 50 seconds into the video and the cow is up and licking her calf by 1:12.  Yes... that's all of 22 seconds of recovery before she's checking to see if her baby is ok. 
5. And yes... that's old 227 in there assisting.  I told you she likes to be in the picture!

Mother Nature is truly amazing.  I am so blessed to be able to witness these daily miracles.  I hope you are as amazed as I am.  It never gets old!