Heifer became a cow yesterday

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Dani

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Joined
Dec 29, 2012
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We have been keeping an eye on our Geiger lately since she was about to calf. Morning feeding she was standing off instead of right by the gate so figured that was going to be the day. . . Unfortunately, it was also my mom's wedding so asked the neighbor to keep an eye on her for us and call when she went into kabor. Picked up my MIL and was at the church when we got a call. . . I told hunny to go. Wanted someone there just in case since she had not calves before and she still needed out from where the bulls were. We had previously tried, but she refused to stay so it needed to be done last minute.
Hunny got all the girls (Ellie would not unless her momma went too and in turn mommas other baby had to go) into where my milk girls were. Ellie had a little healthy heifer calf but she had not nursed. I was back home by that time. So we mixed up some powdered colostrum for her to bottle feed yesterday and again first thing this morning.
After I got done with my feeding and garden work, hunny and I went back out to start working with both baby and momma. Got Ellie tied to a tree and one leg tied up so we could try to get baby latched on. She took very little, so I went ahead and milked momma out just so I could have her milk on hand. We will go back out later to try again.
I've bottle fed calves before out of necessity but it is not something I want to do if momma is capable of doing it herself.
 
Well Ellie spotted the lariat and off she went, even jumping the fence into the goat pasture so happy I milked her out this morning when I had the chance. She went back in pretty easy after hunny put the rope up. Guess we'll try again tomorrow after I get off work but baby will continue getting bottle fed and see how it goes.
 
Hunny was home to bottle feed today, infact he wont be going back to work till Friday, so after I got home hunny roped and tied Ellie up so that we could try to get the new calf to feed bur once again that was a fail. I started milking her out and was on the last bit of striping her out when she side stepped knocking me over and spilling all that milk. I sure wish i could get her into the staunch, . . . she really is not a bad milker at all. She hasnt pissed or pooped while I am doing the milking, but she is a beef cow and only gives about 3/4 to a gallon each time, but i have only milked her once a day. Poor hunny was so concerned that she stepped on me but she only got my toe so no biggy. Its part of life when you are dealing with big critters. I just felt stupid for letting her knock me down, but I was more worried about her pinning me with the rope to the tree since we were so close . Baby is more active today so doing well in my book. Ill have to post a picture of her soon.
 
Hunny was home to bottle feed today, infact he wont be going back to work till Friday, so after I got home hunny roped and tied Ellie up so that we could try to get the new calf to feed bur once again that was a fail. I started milking her out and was on the last bit of striping her out when she side stepped knocking me over and spilling all that milk. I sure wish i could get her into the staunch, . . . she really is not a bad milker at all. She hasnt pissed or pooped while I am doing the milking, but she is a beef cow and only gives about 3/4 to a gallon each time, but i have only milked her once a day. Poor hunny was so concerned that she stepped on me but she only got my toe so no biggy. Its part of life when you are dealing with big critters. I just felt stupid for letting her knock me down, but I was more worried about her pinning me with the rope to the tree since we were so close . Baby is more active today so doing well in my book. Ill have to post a picture of her soon.
Glad you’re okay. I am always amazed at how big and powerful cows and horses are. You never really understand it until you stand next to them.
 
Glad you’re okay. I am always amazed at how big and powerful cows and horses are. You never really understand it until you stand next to them.
Personally, and I’m almost ashamed to admit this, I’ve always been a little intimidated by any animal that’s so much bigger than us it should be at the top of the food chain....
Danilgrl, you animal husbandry skills are a really good talent to have. If things ever go south you would be my first choice as a neighbor!
 
Personally, and I’m almost ashamed to admit this, I’ve always been a little intimidated by any animal that’s so much bigger than us it should be at the top of the food chain....
Danilgrl, you animal husbandry skills are a really good talent to have. If things ever go south you would be my first choice as a neighbor!
Unfortunately I don't know near enough. I just kinda learn as I go. Now if you want a good neighbor who knows about animals, move near Mav. His daughter is a vet :)
 
Personally, and I’m almost ashamed to admit this, I’ve always been a little intimidated by any animal that’s so much bigger than us it should be at the top of the food chain....
Danilgrl, you animal husbandry skills are a really good talent to have. If things ever go south you would be my first choice as a neighbor!
Unfortunately I don't know near enough. I just kinda learn as I go. Now if you want a good neighbor who knows about animals, move near Mav. His daughter is a vet :)
 
On the 21 st of Aug I had come home from work and went out to check on the new calf and she was heavily panting. Hunny got a bucket of cool well water so we could cool her downdown. Temps were over 100 with heat index I believe 115. It helped somr, but then later that night she developed scours and very lethargic. Ended up making a bottle of sugar water and a little bleach to kill the bad bacteria in her gut. I ended up staying up all night with her out in the barn trying to just keep her hydrated and alive. By 4 am Wed morning She could hold her head up so I came inside at 4:45 to get about an hours sleep. When I got back out there at 6 she was finally able to stand. That day she was given straight electrolytes until she finally found her mommas teats and started eating on her own. She was also put on spectinomycin to stop the scours. It's not something that we keep on hand so had to make a Tractor Supply run.
Happy to report that now she is back to being a healthy calf and running around the pastures. The same night she was so sick, we had a bad storm which broke the weather head off the house. We had down power lines and internet cable in our back yard. We never lost power but internet just got fixed yesterday.
 
On the 21 st of Aug I had come home from work and went out to check on the new calf and she was heavily panting. Hunny got a bucket of cool well water so we could cool her downdown. Temps were over 100 with heat index I believe 115. It helped somr, but then later that night she developed scours and very lethargic. Ended up making a bottle of sugar water and a little bleach to kill the bad bacteria in her gut. I ended up staying up all night with her out in the barn trying to just keep her hydrated and alive. By 4 am Wed morning She could hold her head up so I came inside at 4:45 to get about an hours sleep. When I got back out there at 6 she was finally able to stand. That day she was given straight electrolytes until she finally found her mommas teats and started eating on her own. She was also put on spectinomycin to stop the scours. It's not something that we keep on hand so had to make a Tractor Supply run.
Happy to report that now she is back to being a healthy calf and running around the pastures. The same night she was so sick, we had a bad storm which broke the weather head off the house. We had down power lines and internet cable in our back yard. We never lost power but internet just got fixed yesterday.
Glad she’s got a good mama like you to help out!
 

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