if a weird thing can happen.....it will

[Malinda]

I got very lucky this afternoon. I had a cow due with her second calf this  Saturday. Actually, it is an ET calf; the cow is a THC and is now a recip. She got restless around 2:30, water bag was out at 3:00, bag broke before 3:30. Heifer calf on the ground at 4:05.

Here comes the weird part. The cow got up a little too soon and swung around to see the calf and ended up droping the calf's body over top of the calf's head. In otherwords, the calf's head was pinned under it's body. That little heifer sure took a deep breath when I got it straightened out!

This is the second time that has ever happened; the first time was actually out of this cow's mother. That was her 7th calf.

I wonder how often that happens and we just go out and find a dead calf that the cow got straightened out but too late?

I think I could write a book about weird calving happenings. I think the worst was a cow that dropped a calf into a 100 gallon water tank just as I walked into the barn. I am sure I would never have figured out where the calf was until it was too late if I had not seen it happen. Last time I ever let a cow calve where there was an open watering tank.

Malinda

 

[kanshow]

Good thing you were there!    I know it seems like when we think we've seen it all, something even odder than ever happens. 

 

[oakbar]

Malinda,

Your post about the water tank reminded me of a surprise of my own!!

I  had a heifera few years ago named "Airhead"(she was out of a bull called "Oxygen")that calved in the middle of a pond of standing water about two feet deep.  We had a very wert spring and all our low spots had water standing in them so when the weather warmed up the cows would walk out and stand in them.    I saw her circling with a kinked tail in the middle of the pond when I returned from a business trip wearing a coat and tie.    I ran in for a quick change, grabbed my rope, and when I returned to the pond all I could see  was one black, hind leg sticking up out of the pond.  I roped it and pulled a spluttering bull calf to dry ground.  As soon as I took the rope off the calf the heifer took off leading it back into the water so I had to rope it yet again.  You can bet I didn't atke that rope off until I'd moved them to a dry pasture near our house.

The next day "Bubbles" decided he wanted to go under the fence and lay against our back door--he actually fell into the entryway the first time we opened the door.  We stepped over him and fussed over him all day and later in the day when he got hungry he  wandered back across the lawn to his mother.    Bubbles went on to be a show calf for one of our friends.  He won the Rate of Gain contest at our local fair and also place second in the heavyweight steer class.  I've always said that Arihead lived up to her name so Bubble could get his!!  Sure glad I came home when I did that day, though!!

Since that time, I've had a number of cattlmen tell me their stories about cows calving in water so I guess its not that uncommon--especially in hot weather!!

Oakbar

 

[simtal]

We had a cow calving.  She was doing fine and the head and shoulders came through no problem.  However, the calf got hip locked.  The cow thought she was done and got up with the calf hanging outta her. Before we could do anything, she  whirled around and managed to wack the calf up against the gates really bad.  calf died.

 

[justintime]

Malinda, the cow pictured in my avator is one of our best donors and she is also the dam of Wolf Willow Major Leroy, who is one of our herd sires here.  Sparkle was due to calve in early March this year, so i was keeping my eye on her quite closely. One morning, I saw that she was restless so I was fairly certain that she would calve within the next few hours. It was a nice day so I left her outside as it was bedded deep  in straw and the sun was warm. Sparkle was eating at a hay bale so I decided that I might as well take a bale into a pen beside the pen she was in. I could watch her as I bedded the pen. I picked a straw bale up and as I was driving into the pen, I saw that she was straining. I got off the tractor and decided I should make sure she was on the straw when she calved.I climbed over the fence and before I could walk over to her, the calf landed on the ground ... just like yours with it's head underneath it's body. I have never seen a cow calve as easily, as she never even laid down and in three or four pushes, the calf landed in a heap behind her... She was still standing at the hay feeder. She turned and saw the calf on the ground and started to clean it up. I am not sure if the calf would have been able to breath or not if I had not got it straightened out.

I have seen some very strange things over the years and I am certain that some do die from strange things like this. Some are probably fortunate and get straightened out as well.