Hey guys, it’s been a good calving season here for The Tiny Rancher. We don’t have a big herd to calve out, so making sure every single calf lives is of utmost importance. I’m sure you’ve already read “First Calf of 2021,” so from there we had a little bit of excitement. I will give you a good description on how the rest of the calves came and what I did or did not do to help them get here healthy.
On March 2 my little horned hereford Maybelle was acting goofy. When I say acting goofy, I mean she kept trying to “claim” the calf that was already here. I watched her most of the afternoon chasing that calf around and trying to get it to nurse off her and just pretty much being annoying. At about 4:30 in the afternoon, when everyone was home, I finally saw her lay down to start calving.
. Luckily I was able to keep a good eye on her progress with my WYZE outdoor cams. When I saw the action start to happen I ran out and caught video and pics on my phone. She got pretty annoyed with one of the other cows and myself around so as she got up I backed off. Maybelle had her second calf, another bull calf, unassisted and they’re both doing great.
So now for the eventful and last calf! Of course this had to be my best cow too. She had been slow and uncomfortable for a couple days. This is pretty normal for her since she gets huge when she’s bred. On March 3 she was hanging out by herself all morning. I had 3 of my nephews at the house and we were all outside keeping an eye on her. She did not like us getting close to her so we had to keep our distance.
The nephews all left about 11:30 and I was busy on the phone with leather customers until almost 1. Once off the phone I decided to go put out hay and check cattle. I noticed her still laying by herself and by this time she’s pushing. With all the hay out I went and got a closer look. I saw feet and even a tongue wiggling, but the placenta was already broken so my first reaction was to pull the calf. With OB chain in hand I moved in to chain the calve’s feet.
I got a loop on one foot and was going to chain the second when she got up. I abandoned the second loop and was holding the chain. She started to run away from me but I was holding onto the chain. Mind you, she has 4 legs compared to my 2 and I’m pretty out of shape. I put up a good race but was losing so I planted my feet and tried to pull the calf or stop her. I failed, I ended up dragging for about 20 feet behind her. Luckily the WYZE outdoor cams missed all this excitement!
Now I thought I would walk her in the barn where I could halter her and tie her up. Nope, she wasn’t having it. I quickly gave up and needed to catch my breath so I put out feed hoping she would come up. She did not, so I just left her alone to do her thing.
At this point I figured there was no way this calf was alive. About 2:00 she went and laid down to start pushing again. I sneaked through the pasture and hid behind a hay feeder to watch her. She pushed the feet and the head out, all the while I’m expecting a dead calf. Once she pushed it out to the front shoulders I saw the calf’s head move just a little. I made my way along the fence and up behind her. By the time she noticed me she was to involved to get up. The process had kind of stalled out so I grabbed the calf’s legs and pulled it the rest of the way out.
It’s alive!!! She had a heifer calf and a good sized one too. The calf was alive but still had fluid in it’s airway. So I picked it up by the back legs to drain her out. To add to the excitement, about that time my son’s school bus was coming up the road. I dropped the calf and ran across the pasture and through the yard to meet him. He promptly dropped his backpack and jumped on the Yamaha Viking to check on her. This is where my son got to see a calf literally 2 minutes old.
Well, here it is the next morning and all the calves are up doing great. It has been a long few weeks checking cows all night and stressing over death loss. As a very small farm, every calf counts. The loss of a calf counts as a huge percentage in our death loss. But, I couldn’t be happier about my boys getting to grow up at a place they can go watch calves be born or go collect eggs for breakfast. It has definitely taught the boys about life and death. They know the value of life and knowing where their food comes from. So stay tuned for more of my stories of my crazy days and remember to shop SK Leather and eat beef!
