Sunday June 19
At 8pm we took a tour of all the places and checked cows from the road mostly. It was 95* F.
We are trying to catch a look at the red calf born a few days ago we had to chase all over everywhere. Hubby saw it live a few minutes after birth and nothing since. We were hoping it was out nursing in the evening but no luck. We even drove in with the Yukon trying to make her nervous. She looked in a direction but we didn't see anything over that way. Couldn't smell anything thing dead and believe me would have in this heat!
We did notice we had a couple more new calves on the ground which is always good news.
Speaking of dead...........
We were a cow short on grandmas place today and we started driving around looking for her about 9am. It took a little bit but Hubby spotted her through a small ravine full of trees belly up and all fours straight out. We finally got to the opening where she was and it looked like she was trying to have a calf. It looked like the after birth was out. I told hubby we need to look for a extra calf just in case. He said the coyotes could have drug it off if it was dead. She wasn't smelling bad bad yet. Even the vulture perched on top of her hadn't cleaned up much of the mess yet. (Natures clean up crew, coyotes an vultures) We just counted all of them the day before and from the looks of things it happened during the night. You could tell because she was in a secluded but open area. If it had been during the day she would have been in the bushes more in the shade. We didn't spot any new extra calves. Then again I guess it could have been hiding but I doubt it.
This kind of thing makes it look like we don't take care of our cows. We do better than most. The Vet said that on the average you can expect to have to replace or lose 5 - 10% ? a year. This is the oldest herd we have with a average age of 14 yo. These cows all run about 1500 pounds normally. When they are pregnant I am guessing another 200 pounds extra. Don't know that one for sure but that is what we are guessing. The calves on limousine cows weigh in at about 70 - 80 pounds when they hit the ground at birth. That is not too heavy for this breed. The BIG problem here is the HEAT ! With this kind of heat and that kind of strain on a older cow I guess it can really take a toll on the animals.
Bulls could be a problem but all these bulls are heifer bulls meaning they usually throw calves small enough even a first time heifer can have a baby without problems. This cow had probably had over 10 babies through the years without any trouble at all.
Man it is frustrating sometimes! Sometimes we count 3 or 4 times before we get the number right or we have to go play hide and seek trying to find the cow or calf. We really do try to keep a eye on everything and spray them for ticks and all kinds of things to keep them in good shape.
I guess we just can't fix and protect everything perfectly and this weather just isn't about to help us at all.
Ranchmama
(thankful the convection oven we have isn't humid also outside)
No comments:
Post a Comment