Happenings on the Farm

bordercollie

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We had some really bad weather the other night and spent several hours in the tornado room. There was a funnel cloud right at us but thankfully never came down.We did however have a lot of lightening. It is always a chance a cow will get struck and one did that night. We caught her calf and brought her home to the barn. We had a dairy cow that we keep for such occurrences that had just lost her calves(twins) and so we put this calf on her to nurse in the chute. The calf was hesitant at first because she knew "those" weren't her Mama's. Well, we squirted milk on her face -still hesitant- then we "primed" her with a small bottle to get the taste buds working and then.... well she latched on and that tail started winding and it was a happy site to see.Now getting a Mama cow to take a "foreigner" just isn't too easy so we rubbed down the calf wit a product called" O no more" and separated them after the nursing so the calf won't get kicked silly- but so that the mama can smell the o no mo thru a gate panel. This morning the cow was giving the "Mama moo" and the calf answered back with the little maaa. She still kicked at her when in the same pen when it tried to nurse but she took a lick of the o no more and got interested so we nursed again in the chute, did the panel thing and in a few days I think they can be a pair.- By the way , the O no more picture was also taken at the barn - just mentioning that "cause of the pristine background haha.> Bordercollie
 

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MBDiagMan

E-5, US Army 1968 to 1971
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It's always good when you have a cow that will take to nursing. In fact if a guy can find a few and is in need of extra money, go get newborn calves from the surrounding dairies and put them on the nurse cows just a little every day. Supplement that with the bucket and you can raise some calves on the cheap.

In our area it's not far to a dairy area south of here where these calves once raised will bring decent money. It's possible to raise up to four calves on the right nurse cow. You just have to let them nurse for a minute or so and then pull them off and put them on the bucket. It doesn't take long to get them wiened and on pasture.

For someone who's not afraid of a little extra work and in need of money, it's a good trick.

BTW collie, I really like what I can see of your nurse cow. Nice to have an indoor chute as well.
 

bordercollie

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Thanks , We have 2 of the Jersey mamas . One is Bovina which I posted a picture of with her calf in a previous thread and then Marcy -this one. They are very smart and can figure out stuff real quick- A few years ago we had a Holstein named Elviria and she was named that for a reason. What a tart! We had her in the chute to nurse a twin and I watched her do this: My sister had been working with her to keep her from kicking the calf, and left the calf nursing, she went to get some hay so Elviria tilted her head ever so slightly and out of the corner of her eye, saw sis preoccupied and knew she could kick the calf and did she. One a calf becomes afraid to nurse it makes things really difficult so you got to nip it in the bud.It took forever and a lot of standing over them but it finally worked out. .. With all of the diseases out there we decided to have a closed herd many years ago. I would love to raise some calves but I can't because of that. We test our cows and bulls for BLV and other things every year. The BLV is bovine leukemia virus and it can be spread by saliva, etc. The other thing to worry about is Johannes which is really scary. Since our herd is clean, we can't bring in anything .We do benefit from the dairy cows though. In our registered herd, calves will often steal from them and go sack out from all the milk. We use the dairy bull calves born, in our A.I. program for heat detection and the heifers for future herd members. .. This morning , Marcy licked all over the calf thru the panel after the o no more and I think tomorrow it will be like 2 peas in a pod. Thanks again friend, Bordercollie
 

bordercollie

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Success

Success !! In the photo Marcy is giving the Mama moo and licking on the calf. Ha, It looks like ear washing time. . Tomorrow we will put them together and keep a check on the pair. Bordercollie
 

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EastTexFrank

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I just love it when everything comes together as you hoped it would. Great story and I'm glad for the happy ending. Thanks for posting.
 
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