hi I'm Mike Calving can be a time where it's easy to get focused on just the
calf and sometimes it's easy to forget that mom is a top priority as well today
we're gonna take drastic measures to ensure that both a calf and her mom
survive on our why on the life
welcome back and thanks for joining us once again on Hart Wyoming life the
purpose of these videos is actually to take a look at the inner workings of a
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weekly podcast and continue to escape the ordinary another portion of our
family that is growing is right here in the pasture calves are being born at
the average of about five to seven per day in fact yesterday I had 12 with a
very nice surprise that we'll get to meet a little bit later calving is when
you take it down to the basics and II complexify it and I know that's not a
real word but I kind of like it is simple a calf is born he or she gets up
on its feet takes its first steps those steps lead to mom's utter and the first
drinks of life-sustaining milk if all of those steps happen in that order then
chances are much higher that a calf will not have any issues with life it'll
continue on the ranch until it's time for them to leave to head to auction
then to a feedlot and eventually your plate it's when one of those steps are
interrupted for some reason that problems start to happen
first a calf has to be born but they can get stuck they can get turned wrong or
even backwards luckily most of the time Burris happened without a hitch
Angus cattle are generally good birthers only two to maybe three percent of
births have trouble with this stage sometimes even less after the birth
stage we're left with a calf on the ground
mom will usually start cleaning off the calf right away and within minutes the
calf will start to try to stand this is where I like to interject myself into
the equation calves at this stage are much easier to tag and identify we get a
look at them make sure they have the right number of legs and a tail and make
sure that all the other parts are present and what it's supposed to be on
the inside is on the inside what's on the outside is on the outside cold or
wet weather is the biggest damper to this stage as mom's could sometimes have
trouble cleaning off or drying their calf and warming them up enough to
actually get them to stand up these calves will continue to lay on the
ground getting colder and colder and eventually becoming hypothermic or what
we call freezing down those calves in that situation get a trip to the shop or
the barn to warm up either in a warmer or sometimes in a bath depending on how
cold they are but in a normal birth the calf will stand and it'll start to walk
and instincts will lead it directly as if by magic to Mom's bag and her udders
as a cow midwife which is almost the most accurate description of my job the
cows bag are usually the biggest indication of an impending birth a week
or maybe a few days before a cow gives birth her bag I'll start to fill in
it'll appear more solid the udders themselves will expand and hang lower
ready for that new calf to take its first drink a special milk that mom's
produced the beginning of lactation was called colostrum bovine colostrum is
produced the first few days after giving birth before true milk appears it
contains proteins carbohydrates fats vitamins and minerals along with
specific proteins called antibodies that fight disease-causing agents such as
bacteria and viruses needless to say it's almost imperative that a calf gets
this first milk it's a vaccine for the calves given by mom passing along her
antibiotics at her immunities and that can make the difference between life and
death for that calf after the first few days a colostrum true milk arrives and a
calf is on its way to a long and healthy summer on the ranch
along with the other steps of Catholic having process there are things that can
go wrong here as well although they are rare but they can be deadly
a mom with an infection of her own can pass that infection onto her calf that
calf will have no way to fight that infection and will most likely die
without our intervention this week we've been dealing with a situation that
luckily we were able to learn about before the cow even had her calf a
condition that precludes her from even being a mom this year and possibly for
the rest of her life number 78 is a 10 year old Black Angus
Hereford mix she's one of those cows that's always been in the background but
has never been a main player today through fate
she's thrust forward in the herd and becomes almost our sole priority she'll
be having her calf soon and soon after we'll have a bottle cap number 78 as
what can only be described as a raging multi quadrant case of mastitis mastitis
most commonly occurs in dairy cows but of course it can affect all cattle it
develops when bacteria enter the teat canal causing swelling and of course
discomfort for the count as she gets closer to calving it became apparent
that something wasn't right and the choice was made to let her have her calf
before beginning treatment when she did calves we tagged her calf but then
brought it into the barn her calf would never be able to nurse
from her and if she did she would run the risk of contracting the infection as
well the calf is dried off and given a colostrum supplement the closest that we
can get to the real thing and a vaccination to help give her the
antibodies that she'll be missing from them all and once she's situated then
it's time to bring mom in and start her treatment
with the massive amount of swelling induced by recently having the calf her
udders are actually rubbing together and causing obvious irritation for her even
bleeding her treatment course will include a steroid anti-inflammatory to
hopefully start to reduce swelling and an antibiotic to fight infection
antibiotics are something that are closely monitored on the ranch not every
sick cow or calf is going to get antibiotics and it depends on what is
ailing them antibiotics only treat bacterial infections mastitis is an
infection caused by bacteria so is pink eye or even infected wounds penicillin
or exceed is often used in these cases antibiotics are not going to help with
parasitic or viral infections so it's important for us to know what is causing
the infection and then we can treat it correctly and safely for the animal
without over or useless medicating she's gonna receive her medications via
injection and once we have her in the barn we can move her into a head gate
and we can give her insurance ins there we try to give injections in what we
call the injection triangle of the neck we can only give ten cc's of medication
in each injection site so she'll get multiple injections as these medications
are based on her weight and they are over 30 CC's each or one full ounce a
cow in the head shoot is noticeably nervous and over the next few days she's
gonna get daily shots so we want her to be as comfortable as possible after she
has her shots it's in to the corral where she will wait out the results of
her treatment only a few feet from her calf
out in the pasture more calves are being born and a busy day continues as the
number of cows being born today reaches 12 matching our record for the number of
calves born in one day with the help of a set of twins count by number 14
as with all twins born the ranch will help Mom out by taking care of one of
them for her now she's already choosing which one she's gonna take care of the
other one is left lying alone we'll take it into the shop and Kenzie helps it out
in the calf wama until it's ready to join the other calf in the barn now it's
number 50 for the orphaned twin and 37 hanging out together in the barn
both now are responsibilities and neither will be ever returning to their
moms as the medication begins working on number 78 it's easy to realize that even
if we do take care of her infection and swelling she'll never be able to take
care of her calf the infection could possibly return without us knowing until
it's too late and for both her sake and her calves the decision is made to keep
her calf with us and let her concentrate on recovery each day for the next five
days she'll be brought into the head gate
given her shots and her udders will be checked for reduction and swelling
there's no chance that milk will move through her system her bag is rock-hard
and although swelling is reducing her prognosis doesn't look good
the determination is made with the help of our vet that her milk glands and
memory tissues have probably been destroyed by the infection our only
course of action is to get her healthy then we can either let her live on the
ranch free of charge or seller to an animal feed processor it's a sad end to
a great mom but as always a part of the cycle of life here on the ranch
so once she's through with her antibiotics and anti-inflammatories
we'll check her for further infection hopefully she'll be cleared up then
she'll have a withdrawal period before we can sell her but more than likely she
will be going this is really one of the parts of the job that I don't like but
at the same time all I have to do is walk across the bar and see why it's
really worth doing thanks for coming along today and I hope that you're able
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you