[Music] foreign [Music]
so we just had a baby cow pass away here on the ranch just a couple of minutes ago [Music]
um it's one that was small when it was born and we managed to keep her alive for over 24 hours almost
48 hours which is accomplishment which which is an accomplishment in itself but it's not [Music]
it's not something you like dealing with
but you have to
and the bad part is that there's another Gap out there that needs your help almost right away
so you can't wallow [Music] you just have to keep going [Music]
sometimes you don't want to
please don't die on me oh hey is there any chance I can get some help
all right
[Music]
we're over here this close to the barn we're actually going to swing in and take a look
at our newest arrival this will be that little white face calf that we had in yesterday's video
okay I'm not horribly optimal I'm giving her like a 50 50 chance uh she's not really
sucking on a bottle yet we've had to tube her a couple more times we've gotten her to eat a
little bit from a bottle but she doesn't really have the energy to do that we've
we've given her antibiotics uh we've given her respiratory medication that she's had uh pretty
much you said she had the multi-min shot that you guys saw us give her yesterday that's the
minerals and vitamins so there's not a whole lot more that we can really do for her we're
just hoping that her organ function catches up and that she's able to pick this up and and be
able to get all the nutrients that she needs from the colostrum which we finally did find
for her in yesterday's video and now she's on the milk replacer so we're hoping that
she picks up some energy but let's go take a look at her and see how she's doing today
there she is taking a little rest
and like I said we're doing pretty much everything we can for her she's just so
small and the organ function may actually not be where it's supposed to be for her but she's
still alive up till this point which is great and she can hold her head up she's a little drooly
but she's more alert than I thought she would be at this point so that's always a good thing
[Music]
she's just really skinny
and just get some rest you take it easy [Music] if we do get her out of this I
do think it's going to be a miracle but to be honest Miracles are what ranchers and farmers
are good at it's it's the perseverance and and just the the Never Say Die attitude
unless something actually dies then we kind of have to say die
but that was a joke not the best but I can admit sometimes you have to make yourself laugh
this job can be the most wonderful thing in the world and I'm I'm not just talking about ranching
I'm talking about ranching and being able to bring you along with me via YouTube and videos just like
this one I hope that you can take a minute to subscribe and continue to follow along as as hard
as it can be sometimes for me the real hard part of the last couple days has been this little calf
she passed away last night before I edited the video that you hopefully watched yesterday
so I had to stare at images of her and listen to myself talk about her condition
and yep even make a joke all knowing that she was already gone
we concluded with the help of our vet that her being born at 39 pounds her lungs were
not fully formed she was unable to exchange oxygen in her bloodstream as efficiently as
she should have been able to and also with the multiple symptoms she had from weakness
to heavy breathing there could have been actual congenital issues as well meaning
that other physical abnormalities were probably present from birth
she had a extremely hard life the whole 46 hours of it was no fun and while her end was very very
sad she was not alone and in all reality it was probably more of a blessing than a curse
this year while calving during the 30 and 30 we've lost two calves a male and a female
the female of course is the one that we just spoke about and dealt with over the last couple days the
male was huge he was a he had a very tough birth which strained his system enough that he couldn't
recover neither is anything that you want to deal with over and over again it'll strain you and your
ability to carry on My Worst season here on the ranch was long before YouTube but we lost almost
20 calves in a very very short of time mostly due to a massive snowstorm and the following days
I wouldn't wish that on anyone and it was those days that now oddly enough keep me
going emotionally it's not easy and it never will be but for each life lost there are way
more that rely on us to keep breathing and we do move on and we keep doing what we do
after a calf dies it's not easy to forget the feelings that we have the hours and sometimes
days that we spend trying to do everything we can for that little animal who has no control over
where she is or what's happening to her we then second guess everything we did
and we wonder if we could have done more and we promise ourselves that next time
we'll do better that's the emotional side of things which I hope every producer has
and nurtures it's way too easy to get concentrated on the flip side which is the monetary side of the
whole deal how much does losing a calf cost the ranch well it's easy and not so easy to answer
because it depends on the sex of the calf a male calf or a bull will eventually be castrated and
become a steer that steer will then be weaned and we'll head into our feedlot system about a year
later he'll be finished and butchered and packaged and eventually sold online and in our on-site Farm
Store so a male calf if it passes away before that point we can figure that the ranch lost an income
of about three thousand dollars approximately that doesn't count for all the food water and
even time that went into them that's just a top end number every steer on the ranch
or three grand simple and easy a heifer or a female calf is slightly more complicated because
they hopefully never leave the ranch they and well they do eventually but they hope they never leave
the ranch they enter our breeding herd and produce more calves both boys and girls for the ranch
let's say a cow is in the breeding herd for nine years over that time she could have eight calves
let's say that she has a 50 50 split between boys and girls she has four boys and four girls
the boys we know are worth three thousand dollars a piece so there's 12 Grand right
there of income and those four girls they stay on the ranch too for another eight years each
having four boys and four girls a piece and now that's 16 male cows worth 48 thousand dollars
all together our original mom has now earned the ranch fifty thousand dollars in less than 20 years
so yeah losing a calf is a monetary loss and the easiest way to recoup your loss is
to replace that calf that you lose but the big question here is when do you replace her if we
went and got a new heifer calf right now let's say she's a bottle calf and we got her for five
hundred dollars we now have to feed her until she's ready to breed that means milk replacer
eventually grass and hay that milk replacer is the big portion of the cost that's the powdered
milk that we use to feed our calves for the first 90 days or so of their lives and it's not cheap
a 50-pound bag will cost you about 100 bucks each day that calf will eat four bottles until you can
wean her off so we know that four bottles is about two and a half pounds of milk replacer per day
that's five bags or five hundred dollars in milk replacer alone for her first 90 days of life
at this point we now have a thousand dollars into this calf of course she's potentially worth fifty
thousand over the next 20 years I'd say that's a pretty good investment we start feeding her
hay from the ranch at uh when she's weaned and at this point she's out eating grass so we can
now say that roughly that thousand dollars is a pretty solid number for the total cost for this
new heifer on the ranch but there are other options what if we just wait and buy a heifer
at auction in the fall well I went back and I looked at a sale from October of 2022. heifer
cows weighing 523 pounds brought two dollars and 23 cents a pound at a cost of 1166 dollars each
a little more expensive than our raised bottle calf but pretty close to the same price point
almost as if somebody has figured this all out in advance well I'll spare you the suspense
and I'll tell you what we did this little girl is our new bottle calf
and we purchased her today to take the place of the one that we lost in the last night we found
her at a friend's Ranch about 20 miles away and we are very thankful that she is now here
aren't we yes we are
turns out that her mom couldn't take care of her so it's now our job besides Brutus needs a friend
and we need a win and we'll take it internet meet Bella our newest bottle cap imported from to the
ranch from the Collins Road and the barber place our hope is that she can be a part of
the ranch for her time here her many daughters time here and for well past even 20 years you
know now that I think about it our kids and maybe even their kids will know the result
of the last few days we lost one calf this week but we now have gained dozens over the years hard
times always lead to something great if you're willing to see it and eventually they Define you
thank you very much for being a part of this year's 30 and 30. as we head into the second
half of it and I want to remind you that it's not just ranching we do from the heart it's everything
I'll see you tomorrow on our Wyoming life I bet you're ready for a bottle aren't you
[Music]