Winter calving advice

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obie105

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Oct 17, 2011
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780
Advice for winter calving?? This is our first time ever at calving cows in January any advice is appreciated. Granted I only have 4 but they are all embryos. They are due within a ten day window. The cows are all older 4-6 years old and have not have any problems in the past. They are in good condition.
 

savaged

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Mar 9, 2008
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730
Location
Greenfield OH
Don't know where you are located, but in Ohio (southern) my club calf bred cows are all stalled when due.  I like to have them where I have quick access to a chute if needed, easy access to the calf for any issues (e.g., nursing), and to easily give the first shots and a dose of pro-biotic I like to use. I also use a camera system to monitor them inside.  Finally, in winter I can prevent frostbitten ears.

If you have them bred commercial or maternal and lower risk for calving issues they can calve outside.. I had pure bred limousin for several years and many calves delivered outside in very cold conditions.

To my mind the calves I breed for today are just too valuable to leave much to chance.  With ET calves I would personally put them inside to calve if you have that option. 
 

obie105

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Oct 17, 2011
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780
We are in northern Illinois. We do have a barn they will be in.  I was thinking about locking them up atleast at night. We dont have stalls. There is a decent size pen off the barn where they can move around also.
 

djbsimmy

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Dec 21, 2010
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63
Location
Western Iowa
We've started getting up at night to check our first calf heifers that are due Jan 2.  We check on them every four hours and when they get a little closer we will be putting them in the barn at night.  Have to watch that new calves are cleaned off well by momma and get up to suck in a short time,  if just left alone they can easily freeze.  Watch that ears, hooves and nose are especially dry.  Ears and hooves can fall off if frozen and if nose freezes it will swell and make it hard for calf to suck.  Sometimes we even bring babies in the house and use blow dryer on them when its below zero.  Once they're dry and have sucked your in good shape. Good luck!
 
J

JTM

Guest
You have got some really good advice already. I would just reiterate them and say make sure those calves get dry, stay out of the wind, and nurse within the first two hours in order to get warmed up. You don't want a calf getting too cold because it will take days for it to recover while you dump milk down it's throat. We get ours in the barn and watch them closely. When they are born make sure they get properly dried off and the mother keeps licking on them. Keep them in a dry area away from any cold breeze. Also, don't calve on concrete unless you have about a foot of bedding for insulation. The cold from the concrete will keep the calves temperature too low and create problems.
 

wiredangus

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Joined
Jan 13, 2012
Messages
23
Just remember one thing and you will be fine, claves can be born wet or they can be born in the cold but they can't be born cold and wet. Get them dry and I would rather have them running around on the clean snow than in the mud.
 

leanbeef

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Jan 7, 2012
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944
Location
Tennessee
I agree...we calve outside unless weather is predicted to be unreasonably bad. Our best calving pasture has hills and trees, and it's no problem for new mamas to find a spot relatively dry and protected. Dirty or wet conditions are not good for new babies. Do watch them & have them where u can get ur hands on them if needed.
 

ZZCATLE

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Dec 22, 2011
Messages
32
One thing we have had really good luck with getting cows to claim and lick calves dry.  As soon as the calf is born and the cow gets up if  laying down throw some mineral or some type of feed on the calf.  Are cows nearly lick the hide clear off of them.
 
J

JTM

Guest
ZZCATLE said:
One thing we have had really good luck with getting cows to claim and lick calves dry.  As soon as the calf is born and the cow gets up if  laying down throw some mineral or some type of feed on the calf.  Are cows nearly lick the hide clear off of them.
I might try that if I get one that doesn't want to lick the calf. Great idea!
 

leanbeef

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Jan 7, 2012
Messages
944
Location
Tennessee
The best thing around for getting a new mama to claim a baby is a product called O-NO-MO... "Orphan No More" It's a miracle powder, and I try to keep it on hand at all times.
 

Glorifying Pastures

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May 1, 2012
Messages
62
Location
Pine River, WI
ZZCATLE said:
One thing we have had really good luck with getting cows to claim and lick calves dry.  As soon as the calf is born and the cow gets up if  laying down throw some mineral or some type of feed on the calf.  Are cows nearly lick the hide clear off of them.

Great idea,  I'm going give that a try if one don't claim its calf.
We keep an eye on them very closly when they get two - three weeks away from calving and then put them in the barn the week they are due. Make sure you put plenty of bedding down for the calf to stay warm. We have concrete in our barn and put down at least 18" of bedding. Good Luck
 
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