Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

The heifers finally started picking up on their calving this last week. They were definitely not cycling when the bulls were turned out last spring. Nothing I can do about that, it's just the breaks. We have been busy though keeping up on things. It has really been tiring.

The weather has been nice for calving but as with everything involving the weather, it could be better. It gets just warm enough every day to create a lot of mud then it freezes at night and sets the mud up. The ground never dries up so the heifers have very little good ground to calve on. What a pain.

Did have the first casualties this last week. Two calves lost on one cow. I don't know what it is, but if I have a cow with twins in her she is more likely to give me trouble than any other one around for some reason. This particular case was a little weird. The heifer never seemed to have any contractions. I noticed her acting a little odd in the evening, not real calvy, but like she was going to calve within the next 12 hours or so. By the morning she still hadn't started to calve but you could tell by looking at the discharge from her that something was going on so I decided to investigate. When I reached in to figure out what was going on I knew there was trouble. She was fully dilated, but I could barely reach the calf, meaning that she wasn't having contractions to push the calf up in the womb. I reached in as deep as I could go and finally snagged a front foot of the calf and started pulling it up. I could tell by the way the way it felt the calf was dead, I hate pulling dead calves, it makes me feel bad. I worked for the longest time but I never could get another leg or the head or anything, all I had was one front leg. I finally decided the only way I could save the heifers life was to take it in and have a vet get it out, another thing I hate to do with a dead calf but what option did I have?

The Vet tried to get the calf out just like I did and was having the same problem. He had a pharmaceutical solution though, Pitocin (SP?), causes the critter to have contractions. She started having enough contractions to push the calf up and get a hold of the one leg and the head finally. He pulled the calf out this way. He them reached in and found another calf in there. It was so far down in the womb he couldn't get a hold of it so it was time for more Pitt and the contractions finally pushed it up enough to get a hold of. He then pulled it out. He said by looking at the condition of the bodies the calves were more than likely dead for a couple of days. Why she never had any contractions was beyond him. I guess the hormone that starts such things was missing.

When you have as many cows as I do around here you can expect this kind of thing to happen once in a while. I don't have to like it, but you have to accept it. Otherwise you will go nuts.

The cows should start calving here before to much longer. Spring work will really start taking off then. Things to do and cows to calve. If I just had help that was worth a damn around here I would really be looking forward to it. The way it is, I will just struggle through.

The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. Albert Camus

Well, quite a day yesterday. Both Sunday and Monday I found a dead calf out on the cows in the morning, so yesterday I was pretty leery about going over to feed because I was afraid I would find another dead calf. Both the calves that died were so picked apart by the Bald Eagles that I could not determine why or how they died. It's depressing is all I know to find them dead like that. We got over to feed and it was looking pretty good. I didn't spot a dead one right away so thought I was in the clear. Then, from over the top of a hill here comes two bald eagles swooping down on a cow standing up on the hill by herself.

"Damn", I thought, "she must be standing over a dead calf there and she is protecting it." So we fed hay up that way to check the situation out. The eagles kept swooping at here and she would throw her head and chase them off every time. Even some magpies and crows were joining in attacking this cow. I knew for sure the calf was dead. When we got up there with the hay guess what? The calf was alive and the good momma had been valiantly protecting her baby. I was really surprised. I had never seen Bald Eagles attack cattle like that and was amazed. It makes me wonder if that is what happened to my other two calves. The eagles killed them. I got no proof one way or the other but I am keeping it in the back of my mind.

So what does this have to do with the title, "Two More Gathered?" Not a damn thing, just some thing interesting that happened. Also while we were feeding I noticed the other twin from the old cow I talked about the other day. I have had my eye on him ever since we pulled his brother and he hasn't been doing very well. I kept hoping his mother would come into her milk to feed him but she hasn't. I was worried if she would have enough milk for two babies, as it turns out she doesn't have enough for one baby. He was so thin that I decided I had to pull him and bring him in and put him on a bottle. Best thing I could do for him.

Then I found another calf on the feed ground who was starving to death slow but sure. I have no idea who his mom is or what the situation was but he was in poor condition. I threw an ear tag in him to identify him and left him until afternoon to see if he would mother up to a momma. When you have over 500 cows in a bunch it's hard to mother things up real easy. When we checked later in the afternoon we still couldn't mother him up and all he did was run around from cow to cow trying to get something to eat. The only thing I could do was grab him and bring him home and put him on a bottle. After having three sets of twins, there is an outside chance that this one is a twin that got separated form mom and she still has the other one. Judging by his size it wouldn't surprise me.

So that's the two more gathered. As you can see by the picture I now have three bum calves to take care of. It's a pain in the ass but it's best for the calves. Maybe we will get a mom like the other one I grafted, which by the way is a stunning success, she loves the little thing, but whatever happens, happens. I just hope there is no more mysterious dead calves like the two. I'm tired of that.

The day is always his, who works in it with serenity and great aims. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Like I said I was going to do I got the twin calf pulled off the heifer and have the two different bum twin calves shown in the picture to feed. The one that has been on the heifer I expected to give me trouble learning to go on the bottle since she had been on a mom so long. No problems though, took a bottle right down two hours after she nursed momma. That just shows momma was really not producing enough milk for them and I needed to do this. I hauled the heifer twin cow home yesterday and turned her loose and what did I find over in the cows? A cow that lost a calf.

It looks like it came back feet first which usually causes the calf to drown in the amniotic fluids before it is completely born so this cow makes an excellent candidate to graft one of the bums on. We brought her home and are now working on getting one of the calves grafted on her. She is not real keen on the idea yet but she appears to be gentle enough that I can make it work with enough patience and time. I will put that in because a cow will do a lot better job raising the calf than I will. Bums never do real well in the long run.

Now I only have one bum to deal with, and the weather. Winter storm watch is out, talking 3 to 8 inches of snow with possible strong winds to last from this afternoon to Monday morning. Damn, how miserable that is while calving. The moisture won't hurt but it's tough while calving. As always, have to take the good with the bad and make things work out. Lot's of fun.

Love and work are viewed and experienced as totally separate activities motivated by separate needs. Yet, when we think about it, our common sense tells us that our most inspired, creative acts are deeply tied to our need to love and that, when we lack love, we find it difficult to work creatively; that work without love is dead, mechanical, sheer competence without vitality, that love without work grows boring, monotonous, lacks depth and passion. Marta Zahaykevich

I came over a little hill this morning and spotted something that started a whole train of thoughts running through my head and I thought I would share how it went.


what's this? two calves following one cow...is one of them lost....no...look at them, they are very small and look real similar...look at the way she acts towards both of them...DAMN, twins...now what do I do...if I leave them on her she will lose track of one of them and it might die...I could take her home and feed her special and see if she could raise them both...

At this point I drove up a little closer to the cow and calves.

DAMN......look at that old cow...she must be 15 years old...she is going to have trouble raising one calf let alone two...I can't take her home or treat her special, even doing that she would never raise both those calves...she kind of looks wild too, so putting her in somewhere will just get her excited and put her off feed and make things that much more difficult...so what to do...DAMN, the best bet is to pull one of the calves off of her and let her raise one and I can bum the other...I don't want to do this....What do I want with a bum...well, it's the only choice...which one to grab...have to see what their sex is, if possible leave a bull on her and take the heifer if they are a split...both bulls, grab the smaller one...glad I picked up that sack of milk replacer before calving started, have something to feed the poor little guy...Hmmm..look at mom and remaining baby, she's leaving the country so I don't take her other baby...don't blame her but it's for the best...suppose I should do the same thing with the twins at home on the heifer...bum the heifer and let momma raise the steer...it would give this poor little fella company...you know, I heard yesterday that day old calves are bringing $300-$400 at the auction yard...I could sell the poor little fella...ahh, I don't want to do that...he's having a hard enough time being taken from mom, I can't stand to take him to the auction yard....hell, he would probably pick up a disease and die there...I wouldn't want to see that...yea....pull the heifer calf on the twins and I will have two bums...not the best solution but what else to do...DAMN...DAMN...DAMN...might end up with a cow I could graft one on...ahh, I wouldn't want that though, that means I lost a calf and I don't want that....DAMN...two bums...

Yep there it is, two bums now. I am going to wait a couple of days while I get this one on his bottle and I will pull the other one and start it. I guess I shouldn't complain about the twins but they are a pain for a cattleman. Well, that's the way the ball bounces. Now I just get to worry about the weather. Possible big storm coming in this weekend. Never a dull moment, that's for sure.

Those thoughts are truth which guide us to beneficial interaction with sensible particulars as they occur, whether they copy these in advance or not. William James

Momma and the twins that were born a couple of days ago. they are cute little devils. Taken 3/9/2006.

I just got in from checking a heifer I had been watching since 4:00pm just waiting for her to decide to calve. Guess what? She had twins. It is in a way exciting. It doesn't happen on my place very often. It's also a pain in the ass too. Where do I put the cow? What do I do with the calves? A cow has a hard time keeping track of twins since she can't count. Oh well, I will figure it out. I will just bask in the excitement for now.

The most exciting happiness is the happiness generated by forces beyond your control. Ogden Nash