Saskvalley Yesterday

Other picture.

Thats a nicely made heifer you can see how dry it is-she have any Aussie Blood?  O0

Her sire is by Spry's All Gold D052. I am very excited to see how Stockman does on the All Gold progeny.
Her full brother is a Gold Merit bull, they are extremely easy fleshing!

Duncraggan said:

First two Stockman calves arrived last week, due date 22 February.
First one arrived Tues 30 January, second Thurs 01 February, have never had this problem before, dipped them for ticks with a Cypermethrin dip on the Monday, and gave them 5cc Multimin with Cu and Se, like I always do a month before calving to ease management.
The calves were 28kg (62lbs) and 29kg (64lbs), the second was dead on the Saturday morning! My calves normally average 80-100lbs, except with Gauge when they averaged less!
Post mortem, self, showed nothing evident, other than slight bleeding around the navel area.
I usually dip with a long acting Ivermectin before calving, could the Cypermethrin have been the problem? I need to do some research on the matter.
Both cows needed to have their placentas removed, unusual. Their BC scores are good, see picture, first calf heifer, even though we are in a drought.
No wonder the average age of farmers is >55yrs, it takes you that long to experience most problems!

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Those are really small birth weights even for Stockman, I think high 70's to mid 80's catch the majority of his calves. Did you find out if it could be the Cypermethrin? You are right about it taking that long to experience most problems. I think the average age here has gone over 60! I attached a photo of a Crooked Post Stockman granddaughter at foot of our show cow last November. She is by Crooked Post Drover 28C.

Duncraggan did you have any free choice mineral out?  I have had similar issues with cows having small calves that only live for 1 to 5 days poat calving.  I only started experiencing this problem in the drought coupled with multimin injections 1 month pre calving.  Usually it is the first few cow's that calve then the problem is gone.  I wonder if i should move the shots up to two months ahead of calving.  I just like doing it when i do because tjat is when we haul them up from the lower fields(15 min away) to the home calving field(160 acre field).  Keep us updated if you have anymore.

Okotoks said:

Those are really small birth weights even for Stockman, I think high 70's to mid 80's catch the majority of his calves. Did you find out if it could be the Cypermethrin? You are right about it taking that long to experience most problems. I think the average age here has gone over 60! I attached a photo of a Crooked Post Stockman granddaughter at foot of our show cow last November. She is by Crooked Post Drover 28C.

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They are tiny for me!
Unable to find anything on Google about the Cypermethrin either.
Great November show pair there too.

mbigelow said:

Duncraggan did you have any free choice mineral out?  I have had similar issues with cows having small calves that only live for 1 to 5 days poat calving.  I only started experiencing this problem in the drought coupled with multimin injections 1 month pre calving.  Usually it is the first few cow's that calve then the problem is gone.  I wonder if i should move the shots up to two months ahead of calving.  I just like doing it when i do because tjat is when we haul them up from the lower fields(15 min away) to the home calving field(160 acre field).  Keep us updated if you have anymore.

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Not for this group of stock in drought, intake becomes too high, only for my young, growing animals. I give a salt/phosphate/sulphur mix with molasses to bind it during normal seasons though.
Good information/advice there mbigelow, thanks. I will push the Multimin out to 6-weeks pre-calving in Spring to see what happens.
I tend to blame drought, and poor management decisions when I change my routine, before anything though!
I calved three more to Stockman this week, 37kg (81lbs) bull on Tuesday from a cow, front leg back and head out, and driven a long way to my facilities before a medium difficulty assist. Mother rejected the calf and we did assisted suckling, lay down and never got up without assistance to feed three times daily until it died Friday.
42kg (92lbs) heifer calved Wednesday out of a first calver, no problem!
Twins Thursday, 30kg (66lbs) bull and 29kg (64lbs) heifer from a cow. Small but strong, bull calf has a hernia on the navel but is nursing strongly.
Had three calvings after lunch today but my herdsman on duty is illiterate so don't know if they are all Stockman calves, used some Irish semen on my second pedigree herd and there were a couple that looked close too. Find out Monday when all hands are on deck again!