Birth weight question

[GLZ]

Another stupid question, but if you don't know how else will you learn.

So I had the first calf of the season last night to a first calf heifer.  The heifer is a great mother so far, probably a little too good.  I went to weigh the calf last night, and the heifer has no intention of letting me anywhere near the calf.  She charged me a few times, and I got to the point where I gave up for the evening. 

I probably won't be able to try to weigh the calf again until this evening.  How soon after a calf is born do you usually birth weight your calves? (I normally do it within the hour)  How much weight can a calf put on in the first 24 hours?

 

[LN]

If you get the weight within 24 hours it doesn't need to be adjusted. Otherwise, I would think just a few pounds.

 

[Bawndoh]

That cow is not going to let up after just 24 hours.  Chase her out of the pen, go and weigh the calf, and then let the cow back in.  You are risking your life getting anywhere near her baby with her in the same pen.

 

[simtal]

most people don't weigh calves they guess the weight

 

[oakbar]

I alway run the cow outside while I'm working with the calf--it can get real dangerous, real fast otherwise.  There aren't many cows--even our former show heifers--that I trust for the first couple of days after their calves are born. 

I do weigh all our calves although we don't have that many.  I have a calf scale that I suspend from an overhead beam and try to get as close as I can.  A young freind of mine who doesn't have my shoulder and back problems, simply picks the calf up and steps on a scale--he's skinny so he and the calf can usually be weighed together on a regular bathroom scale. 

 

[aj]

I admire your wanting to get an actual weight. It can be a pain in the butt. It can be dangerous especially if you are by your self out in the hills. I can get get in done in the open 9 out of ten times. Once in a while you will get a wild calf that I can't catch. Or the cow will push a calf up when she sees you coming. Usually I try to work the calf at the afternoon and sometimes the calf is taking a snoozer.I can tag and tattoo and weigh a calf in about 60 seconds once I get my form down. Its been a couple years since one butted me hard and came after me. I like my shorthorn cows to be concerned even to lean on me but no more. Even 48 hours would be decent accurate. I might take off 2-3 pounds I don't know.

 

[justintime]

Be careful with any new mom. 99.9 % of them will be good. It is that 1 in 100 that is the concern and usually they get you when you aren't expecting it. I have a neighbour who lives right beside the highway (his yard is only a few years from the highway). He went out to check his cows early one morning, and he found a new born calf and it's mom right beside the fence by the highway. It was a very cold morning so he tried to pick up the new born calf to carry it to the barn. The moma cow was an older cow than had been a bit of a family pet so he was not concerned about it. As he began to lift the calf, the cow hit him from behind just enough that he went over frontwards and he hit his head. He broke his neck and had a spinal cord injury. He was unconscious for awhile, but eventually regained his consciousness and he laid there from 7:30 AM until 6PM. He heard hundreds of vehicles driving by on the highway, but no one saw him. His wife new something was wrong when she came home from work and noticed that the lunch she had left for him had not been eaten. He was frozen pretty bad, and he lost parts of his ears, some toes, his eye lids were frozen solid, and his face was a frozen mess.

The good news is that he has made a partial  recovery and is able to walk again, with assistance. He will never work again though. He was very close to death by freezing,  when he was found.

When weighing calves I always turn the cow out of the calving pen. I then weigh the calf, tag it, band it if needed, and dehorn. I leave the calf in a pen for an hour if I put dehorning paste on it, then turn it back with it's mom. If the calf is born out in the shed, I move it into the calf pen in one end of the shed, and put a gate across the opening so that the calf cannot get out and nothing else can come in. It is time consuming, but it is worth the extra time to be safe.

 

[RSC]

Be careful with any new mom. 99.9 % of them will be good. It is that 1 in 100 that is the concern and usually they get you when you aren't expecting it. I have a neighbour who lives right beside the highway (his yard is only a few years from the highway). He went out to check his cows early one morning, and he found a new born calf and it's mom right beside the fence by the highway. It was a very cold morning so he tried to pick up the new born calf to carry it to the barn. The moma cow was an older cow than had been a bit of a family pet so he was not concerned about it. As he began to lift the calf, the cow hit him from behind just enough that he went over frontwards and he hit his head. He broke his neck and had a spinal cord injury. He was unconscious for awhile, but eventually regained his consciousness and he laid there from 7:30 AM until 6PM. He heard hundreds of vehicles driving by on the highway, but no one saw him. His wife new something was wrong when she came home from work and noticed that the lunch she had left for him had not been eaten. He was frozen pretty bad, and he lost parts of his ears, some toes, his eye lids were frozen solid, and his face was a frozen mess.

The good news is that he has made a partial  recovery and is able to walk again, with assistance. He will never work again though. He was very close to death by freezing,  when he was found.

When weighing calves I always turn the cow out of the calving pen. I then weigh the calf, tag it, band it if needed, and dehorn. I leave the calf in a pen for an hour if I put dehorning paste on it, then turn it back with it's mom. If the calf is born out in the shed, I move it into the calf pen in one end of the shed, and put a gate across the opening so that the calf cannot get out and nothing else can come in. It is time consuming, but it is worth the extra time to be safe.

Good reminder to be careful!  Thanks for sharing!

Tony

 

[Cowboy]

Tony -- if you'd put a stocking cap on she won't think you are a coyote -- it's the EARS man, it's the EARS

hehehe

Terry

 

[RSC]

Tony -- if you'd put a stocking cap on she won't think you are a coyote -- it's the EARS man, it's the EARS

hehehe

Terry

LOL,  They've been passed on 3 times as well.  Better have 4 stocking caps and 3 better stay outside the fence.

Tony

 

[knabe]

if you have a stinger on the back of a pickup, rig a cage to be lifted by it.  dump the calf in the cage and weigh it there.  can't tell you how much stress is relieved by that.  it's almost like being in a shark tank.  you can even make it so the back of it hinges down.

there, another invention for someone to make money with.  some people have been using these for at least 25 years.

 

[justintime]

When I was young, we used to feed some pigs in the summer months. My dad used to tell me to make sure I wore a hat when I went into the pen so he wouldn't have to look for me !
lol

 

[RSC]

if you have a stinger on the back of a pickup, rig a cage to be lifted by it.  dump the calf in the cage and weigh it there.  can't tell you how much stress is relieved by that.  it's almost like being in a shark tank.  you can even make it so the back of it hinges down.

there, another invention for someone to make money with.  some people have been using these for at least 25 years.

Seen a neat invention at the Classic last year for this purpose.  It was a cage attatced to the side of a ATV with one end open and a trip rope.  You drove up to the calf and easily caged him in with the use of a trip rope.  There was an opening by the seat of the atv for you to then easily step in with the calf and be protected from the cow.  If I remember right inside the cage was an attatchment for a hanging scale and a toolbox for storing other tools.   Don't remember the cost but with a father in his 60's that helps, I thought it would be nice to have just for piece of mind!

Tony

 

[oakbar]

There's also a little calf crate being sold that you can pull behind a 4 wheeler that has a small headgate and scale right in it.  It also has an attached storage unit to hold syringes, ear tags, etc.  I've thought about making one out of an old hog weighing crate but I've just never got around to it!  I'd probably use it for a warming crate for calves as well by putting right the heated end of our barn and putting a warming pad in the bottom.  The portable one would sure be handy for people who are doing a lot of their calving on pasture though.

 

[RSC]

There's also a little calf crate being sold that you can pull behind a 4 wheeler that has a small headgate and scale right in it.   It also has an attached storage unit to hold syringes, ear tags, etc.  I've thought about making one out of an old hog weighing crate but I've just never got around to it!  I'd probably use it for a warming crate for calves as well by putting right the heated end of our barn and putting a warming pad in the bottom.  The portable one would sure be handy for people who are doing a lot of their calving on pasture though.

  They showed a video of this one being used and it was real slick.  The calf could be running away with momm and they would drive right along side the pair on the calfs side and easily catch the calf with out getting off the ATV.

Tony

 

[farmboy]

http://www.calfid.com/

your welcome

 

[aj]

Its best to have two people. JIT is right. I just use a 8 foot pipe with a log chain type hoo on it. I put the little calf cradle under calf...hook it to the scale....attach scale to the hook...then plant the end of the pipe in the ground and push the hook end of pipe up till calf is off ground. You have leverage this way. I think its insane to just lift the calf up by hand and look at the scale. I just got done weighing one. strapped on the cradle and the calf took off running. Got her stopped, had to drag calf back to where my scale was laying(25 yards)...calf was bawling...cow snorting in my shorts...so much for my 60 second brag I did earlier. 96# calf.ouch. anyway.

 

[LN]

I totally agree that to be safe have two people. I always like to have someone else with me when working cattle. They're unpredictable, so it's nice to have back-up in case something happens.

 

[Jill]

We are like most, chase the cow out and that way there isn't the danger.  We do weigh ever calf on a hanging scale and tag within the first few hours, they are too hard to catch after that.

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

I calve pretty much everything out in the pastures off of horse back. Everything is weighed and tagged as soon as it gets dry enough or I can get to it. If I have a cow thats a little ornery (I've gotten rid of most of them by now) I simply drop a loop on the calf and pull it up on the horse to weigh and tag it. RW