Had our first casualty this morning calving heifers. I had to pull a calf about 1:00 a.m. and it was dead when it come out. I have no idea why the calf was dead. Looked like a full term fetus. I noticed the front legs were a little odd while I pulled it but nothing big wrong, just a little odd.
Now comes the question, do I graft the twin I bummed on to her? Did she lose this calf because of an inherent genetic problem she has or was it just a fluke? Will I get a live calf in another year from her? Does she even want a calf? I know she doesn't act like she really wants a calf. I dreamed about the situation the few hours of sleep I managed to get. I didn't come up with an answer in my sleep and I'm not sure now but we will see in the fullness of time how it turns out. I'll make the decision when I see here shortly.
We ask for no statistics of the killed,
For nothing political impinges on
This single casualty, or all those gone
Karl Shapiro
Saturday, February 26. 2005
Casualty
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All the time spent with grafted calves can be discouraging. But it's worth the try. We had one older cow who lost her calf - we didn't bother milking her out, since we didn't have any "spares" - and the thought of buying an expensive calf & maybe bringing in disease didn't appeal. Aside from the fact that milking her is time consuming, too... The other morning I looked at your "spare" with longing. Later that morning we had a set of twins. So now you know what <b>I've</b> been doing. Should have been milking the cow, since she's decided that she really wants the calf. So much that she's all over me when I bring him a bottle. He needs to be supplemented since her milk hasn't dropped completely. But it is another rare success.
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moos
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2005-02-26 11:04
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