Working Ranch Blog

As I've posted before, we feed our heifers hay just before dark in the evening.  The idea is to get their bodies thinking about eating and not having babies, so as I don't have to be up every two hours all night long.  You see, heifers need a little extra husbandry applied when they are ready to have their first calf.  As Forrest would say, bred heifers are like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're gonna get.  Take, for example, the night previous.

Upon feeding my nightly ration of hay, I noticed a nice-looking bald face heifer walking with her tail up and doing the gestation shuffle.  It's kinda more like a waddle, but that ain't as catchy as shuffle, so there you go.  These are the signs you look for when a cow, or in this case a heifer, is ready to go into labor.  She'll usually walk off by herself and find a nice quiet place to have her calf.  Or in a heifer's case, right next to a nice steep creek ledge.  Oh you stinkin' heifers!

Anywho, she came up to eat, but soon was walkin' off so I knew I needed to come check on her in a couple of hours.  So I went home, had dinner, played with the kids, watched 24 with the wife, and then bundled back up to go check on momma.  I found her by the pond.  Fortunately she had the sense to be on the backside of the dam vs. on the water's edge.  She had dropped the water bag so she had made progress, although I was hoping she'd be a little farther along.  My cow senses began to tingle.  Somehow I just knew that this heifer was in no hurry to have her calf and was gonna need help.  However, Kirk has told me that one of the mistakes young cowboys make when it comes to calving, is that they want to rush things.  So, being the six year senior hand that I am, I decided to heed Kirk's cowboy wisdom, and just give her more time.

So ten O'clock rolls around and I find mother.  She had made progress, but not the kind I wanted.  She had walked farther from the working pens, but no calf.  The water bag had broken and I could see feet.  The dew claws were down, so I knew the calf wasn't breech.  The dew claws on a calf are on the back of the legs.  If the calf is coming out correct; front feet first, you should see the dew claws on the bottom.  If the calf is coming backwards (breech), the back feet will come first and the dew claws will be on top.

I did notice though that the calf's feet were big, so I assumed the rest of him was as well.  I got her moving back to the pens so I could assist.  She was an easy-going heifer and didn't give me any fits pushing her.  After a bit I got her penned.  I then went down to Kirk's and got the puller.  I always pull by hand first and only use the puller if I need it, but I thought I'd go ahead and get it just in case.  We use our tub to pull 'em in.  A tub is where the cattle go in to go down the alleyway when we work them.  I put a panel up so they can't go down the alley.  If you can get 'em in a corner and get a hand in 'em, they usually will let you help pull the calf without a fuss.  I don't catch 'em in the chute because sometimes they will lie down when the calf starts to come.  Our chute is made to open up on the side, but if the critter will let you help in the open, that's what I prefer.

As I said this heifer was easy going so she two-stepped away from me for a bit, but soon found a corner and let me slip a hand in to find a foot.  It was about midnight at this point and about 10 degrees out, not to mention the stiff norther that was blowing.  Thankfully the feet and head were right there, so I didn't have to shed my coat.  The calf was in good position, but was just big.  That and I think this heifer was a bit too easy going and was a bit on the lazy side.  I got the chains on the feet pretty quick.  I go above the dew claws with the first loop, and then add a half-hitch (second loop) around the ankle as not to hurt the calf's feet.  I hooked on the chains with my pull handles and gave a little tug to let mom know I was ready to go.  She got the message and was soon pushing, so I went to pulling.  I had the head out quick.  She gave another grunt and I had the lungs cleared.  She gave out one final giant beller and the little bull calf was on the ground along with mom.  I pulled the calf clear so mom wouldn't land on him.  He was in good shape except for his head was a little swelled on account of being in the birth canal a little long.  He was soon holding his head up and shaking the afterbirth off.  I didn't have any hay for him to lay on yet, so I grabbed my backup pair or coveralls out of the truck, and set him on those.  I then ran down to Kirk's, returned the puller, and grabbed a bale of hay. 

I spread the hay out in the tub and then proceeded to convince mom it was time to get up and get to licking.  She got up, but licking wasn't on her mind.  I tried taking the calf to her, but she wasn't having it.  I knew I couldn't leave the little boog for fear that he would freeze to death, so I plopped him in my truck and headed home. 

The mudroom makes for a good nursery in my house.  Well, it's the best I got until I build a little pen out in my shop.  I did mom's job and got him dried off, although I chose to use towels instead of my tongue.  It was about 1 a.m. at this point.  I could tell he was tired and so was I, so I made a little bit of formula and gave it to him, just enough to get him through the night.  I hit the hay about 1:30, but in what seemed like five minutes, I was shook awake by my wife convinced their was an intruder in our house.  I reassured her that the little bull in the mudroom didn't want our TV, stereo, or my valuable collection of ranch, farm, and cowboy magazines, but only was getting his legs under him for the first time.  He wasn't having much luck trying to nurse washing machine, so I decided he was ready for another try with mom.  So at about 3 a.m. I took him back over to mother only to be surprised that she did take to him this time around.  He was dry and had some nourishment in him, so I knew he'd be o.k. until morning.  I didn't have anything else going, so I knew I could get a few more winks that night.

Calving out heifers is tough, but there sure is an enjoyment that goes with it that you just can't experience until you hold that little wet, hairy, sloppy mess in your hands that you helped bring into the world.  Yes, the short term may be hard, but the long term is well worth the effort for the cow, the cowboy, and the rest of the world that they both help feed.


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