We love calving season, especially the first season after we start using a new bull. It’s great to see the subtle visual differences the new genetics bring to the herd. Our cattle start having calves in February and usually finish in April, with a second group calving between September and October.
We assemble the expectant cows from the spring group into a pasture close to the house and watch for new arrivals. When we first started, there was always a concern we would have to help with the birth, pulling a calf or something, but in the 12+ years of our experience we haven’t had to assist even once! When our daughter married in 2018, we had the ceremony and reception on the farm. One of our expectant cows decided to start having her calf as the guests started arriving for the ceremony. Many of our guests were very concerned and thought I should be helping her. It’s a natural response I suppose if you don’t have experience with cattle, but within just a short while the calf was delivered and nursing happily. Very memorable addition for their wedding day.
We keep a “kit bag” handy to attend to the new calves. We try to get to them within 24 hours so we can inspect each for good health, install an ear tag, and apply the castration band to the males. If we wait longer than this, they get tricky to catch and it seems to stress them more when we attach the tag. Our number system has evolved so now we use the standard letter corresponding to the year (L is for 2023) and then the mother’s tag number, so a calf born to cow H23 would be tagged as L23. This system has helped a great deal in keeping track of pairs. As the calves grow, they hang out together and run around the pasture playing; entertaining to watch from the porch. It’s amazing how athletic they are at this age and always run with their tail straight up in the air.
Cattle losses are terrible and come from different causes. We’ve lost one or two calves each year to a “mysterious” illness. It always seems to happen between December and April. The calf becomes listless, standing off from others in the herd. Listlessness is followed by dwindling appetite, weight loss, and eventually death. We’ve asked many resources and even had the Vet out several times. The Vets available to us are typically Equine Vets who agree to come out and see what they can do. So far, although temporary improvement might be seen, the calf eventually dies.
In response to this “mysterious” illness we’ve stepped up vaccinations, changed food, etc., but nothing has helped until this year. During February and March, I had as many as six weanlings showing these symptoms; slow growth, then weight loss, lethargy, and dried manure on the underside of their tail. I called a cattleman friend at Monadnoc Farm near Newberry for advice. He asked a few questions like, “Are they in close confinement?” … well, as a matter of fact we concentrate groups in small pastures in the winter to make feeding easier and to concentrate manure for fertilizer … Next, he asked me about dried manure on the underside of their tails… Finally, a diagnosis! He said it sounded like coccidiosis and described an off-the-shelf remedy! I looked it up and found out an organism infests the intestinal track of especially young animals, damaging the intestinal lining and the animal’s ability to intake nutrients. It comes from manure contaminated hay, etc., and if not treated is fatal! We immediately isolated any yearlings that showed possible signs and started treatment. The medicine comes in powder form to mix or in liquid form to add to their water. I’m happy to say that all of them have responded and we’ve now separated the herd into smaller groups, moving the hay ring every bale and we isolate and treat immediately if we see any signs. Definitely a success story!
There are also accidents. One of my best cows, fat, healthy, always calving each year etc. was found in a ditch one morning. Apparently, she fell into the ditch and onto her back the previous day. She was unable to get off her back and apparently suffocated. Terrible loss. Another accident, on a Monday evening right at dark, I was feeding a fresh bale of hay to the yearling herd. They all mobbed the hay bale as I set it down and then moved to get the hay ring around the new bale. I set the ring in place but had to push excited yearlings out of the way to get it in place. We didn’t see anything amiss on Tuesday, but on Wednesday evening I noticed vultures around the back side of the hay bale and the yearlings were standing in a group on the other side of the pasture. Upon investigation I discovered a yearling with his head stuck between rails on the hay ring, and his neck was twisted and pinned to the ground and of course he was dead. I must have set it on him in the dark. Terrible to lose stock to accidents, even more so when I feel like it could have been avoided. Each one is a new lesson on what to do or not to do to avoid the same in the future. We check the herd every evening now, accounting for each one and monitoring the health of each. We’ve always checked them but many times from afar instead of riding or walking through for a close look. Not for everyone’s situation maybe, but that’s how we do it now.
Life and death are inevitable on a farm, and I think it has taught us how fragile life can be and how precious it is. We never take a life without just cause and we acknowledge the sacrifice of lives taken for food.