Calving Update: Or You Win Some You Lose Some

Heifer calving is... well, it's a challenge, at best. Heifers are female cattle that are awaiting their first calf. Thing is, they don't all read the book, What to Expect When You're Expecting (a calf!) and they sometimes do stupid things. I've come across one heifer this season that was lying over the bank of a dry irrigation ditch while calving.... Hard to deliver a calf when you have a large hump in the middle of your belly. I got her up and she moved off a ways and then lay down with her head downhill. Ummmm, physics say that gravity is a GOOD thing during childbirth! We ended up taking her to the barn and pulling the calf. All was well.

Another heifer tried the push-the-calf-out-up-the-hill method. She couldn't get up. It was about 6:30 am so I enlisted the help of The Rancher, and my trusty horse. By the time I had saddled my horse and returned to the scene, The Rancher had succesfully delivered the calf. He then rolled the heifer over so she could get up. Once she was up she didn't appreciate what he had done for her and she decided to leave the scene. With my horse, I tried to push her back to her newborn calf. She was more concerned with being "bossed around" than taking care of her calf. She tried to leave the country. Although The Rancher was afoot, he had in hand the rope he had used during the delivery. He roped the heifer and handed me the rope to dally off to my saddle horn. We got the heifer stopped, and The Rancher retrieved the calf and brought it to the heifer. She was still being obstinate and would not mother her calf. So, I took her to the corral on the end of my rope and locked her in a pen. While The Rancher removed the rope I went with the old 77 Ford pickup to get the calf and bring him to his mama. He was big, and slippery and resented being lifted to the floorboard of the truck. I'm sure it was a commical sight! Once he was delivered to his mom in the corral and we penned them together and were able to back off quite a ways, the heifer decided motherhood wasn't so bad after all. I love a happy ending!

Last Monday, was a MONDAY! It rained most of the day. We had three heifers decide to calve. We had to pull ALL THREE! We were able to take all three to the barn for a reasonably dry environment. The first one was a tough pull but made it and was happily nursing in a relatively short time. The second one was a big calf, in a small heifer who had not dialated properly. It took both The Rancher and I pulling with all our might on the calf chains. (These are small chains looped like a bracelet around the ankles of the calf and attached to a handle to facilitate delivery.) We were able to deliver the head and shoulders of the calf. On large calves, it is espcecially important at this point to "twist" the calf in the birth canal so that his hips do not get stuck and pulling him the rest of the way out is easier. We twisted, but since this was our second calf in a short amount of time, we were tired, and I don't think we twisted quite far enough. We continued to pull. The calves hips then "locked" with the pelvis of the heifer and we were unable to pull the calf out completely. We attached a rope to the handles, and pulled with the horse, and still were unable to deliver the calf. The Rancher drove to the neighbors to borrow the "calf-puller". We had lost the calf, but now had to work fast to save the heifer. With the calf puller, (a pole with a hand winch, and a brace that goes against the hind end of the heifer) we were able to deliver the rest of the calf. The story may have been different if we had the puller on hand earlier... but you live and learn, and you can't save them all no matter what you do. About an hour later, we pulled the third calf of the day. We went straight for the puller, and delviered a live calf. Our record was 2-1 for the day. It was dark by then and we went to the house wet, and exhausted.

Today, I happened to be at the right place at the right time. I noticed a heifer out in the pasture behaving as though she had just calved and was looking down at her baby. But things weren't just right. So I stopped the truck and walked out to the heifer. She had chosen to calve right next to an irrigation ditch full of water. Her calf was alive and standing up in the ditch with it's head just barely above the water. The sides of the ditch were too steep for it to get out... being a complete newborn. I jumped in the ditch and grabbed the calf, pulled him out, and drug him as far from the ditch as I could (without provoking this good mama to fight!). Mama came over to him, licked him to dry him, and I saw him up and nursing when I went back to check a while later. Phew! Another happy ending!

We are down to about 30 head of heifers left to calve... the grandma cows are calving on their own in the North Pasture... as it should be!