Thursday, January 30, 2014

Dang it

Woke up to some bad news yesterday... it looks like our little dud bull Norman wasn't such a dud after all, there was a dead calf froze to the ground in the pen :(

We'd had no calves from him the spring before and never noticed any "activity" between him and the girls.  Last summer we sold him to a lady with a small petting zoo, which was a perfect fit for him.  Then we bought a really nice purebred Dexter bull.  SO if everything went according to plan we were expecting calves around May.  Perfect for us!  We're not set up for winter/cold weather calving.

I'm really hoping that it was just the one cow that took.  For now I'm checking cows as often as possible and holding my breath.  Momma & Dad B are coming out on Saturday to take a look and see if they can tell if the other three are any further along.  Right now I'm not seeing any noticeable signs (but remember these are my first cows and first calves!)

Trying to look for silver linings here... Hera was sitting in the pen "guarding" the calf and led me to it when I didn't go to the pen myself.  It also seems that she ate the placenta, I couldn't find it anywhere.  From what I've read this is good LGD behaviour to help keep from attracting predators.  Momma must have calved easily, she's not in any noticeably rough shape or distressed. (keep in mind these are heifers so it's their first calves) 

So I'm just going to keep hoping that little dud only got the one cow knocked up!

6 comments:

  1. Oh no! So sad. That's a good dog you have there.

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  2. Oh thats too bad but not your fault you werent expecting it. Lots of times the cow will eat the placenta too eventually it gives her protiens amd keeps predators away. Hope the rest wait till warmer weather

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  3. Crystal: I thought they might eat it but I wasn't sure. I'm pretty sure Hera did though, or at least some of it, as her fur on her face/throat had a bit of blood in it.

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  4. Well darn. That's too bad. Those darn heifers. They don't always give you warning they are about to calve. Heck, they don't even know they are about to calve. Any chance it was a slipped calf and not a breed from the dud?

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  5. It looked pretty much full formed, nice hooves good teeth etc so I'm thinking it was to term.
    I hadn't even started watching them too closely yet because we weren't expecting calves til May.

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  6. I was wondering like BEC if it wasn't a slipped calf, they can look pretty well formed if they are not too early. But May calving seems like it couldn't be that. Too bad about it ,never matters how many you have the losses still bite

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