Roxor Helps Save a Calf

bordercollie

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Been busy on the farm and with the moving from old homeplace these weeks too. Last night, we ate supper at 10 pm because we had to fish a little newborn muddy cold calf out of the pond's edge. It was abut 5 :30 , I rode in the sled to keep it in , after,, even though it was tied, flopped out 2 times. The 4 whlr pulled the sled about a mile through the pasture to the truck because I left the Roxor there after using it's winch rope to make a steady anchor for us and we got the calf out. Brought it to the house's outdoor heated water faucet and washed it off. Dried it with towels and a hairdryer at the barn, gave it a colostrum bottle and then took it back to it's mama in a pasture down the road a mile... she butted it .. brought it back to the barn ... made it a hay bed and then we came home to warm up and eat. Went and got the mama up this morning and bought her to the barn, put in the chute and got the baby to nurse in the chute but she tried to knock it around... Hormones are messed up so will work on that. then... theres a total of 5 calves at the barn needing extra bottles because of twins, orphans etc...
 

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ItBmine

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You were busy. Livestock is something I know nothing about. So what do you do now when the mom doesn't accept the calf? Do they eventually take or do you have to nurse it all the time now?
 

Doc

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You were busy. Livestock is something I know nothing about. So what do you do now when the mom doesn't accept the calf? Do they eventually take or do you have to nurse it all the time now?
Good question. I was wondering the same.

Way to go collie. Great job!!!!!!!!
 

bordercollie

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Thank ya'll. A calf needs a mama or it will sometimes turn out potty from just drinking from a bottle ( Purina 20/20 or Manna Pro is good ) . ( Soy based calf milk is bad news so never use it ) We have nurse cows (dairy) that we will put them on if we are persistent enough to get her to allow it. Usually though, we have cows lose calves during birth and are willing to take a baby. It's usually a learning process though because they know it isn't theirs. We have never fed bottles over a long length of time . Once a cow is available, we put her in the chute and nurse it for a few weeks, after that, she will allow it to nurse in the pasture. We do have to have an eye on them though. One of our best nurse cows died last week. We also creep feed the calves after their stomachs are ready for that kind of feed. (usually a few weeks>) .
 

ItBmine

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You are right there Ohio Pawpaw. And thanks for sharing your knowledge Bordercollie. The most we have ever raised is dogs, LOL

But as crazy as it may sound, the wife and I might be getting a couple goats next summer. I've been doing all kinds of reading on their care and shelter needs. If we do it, I want to make sure I do it right. Especially in my cold climate winters.
 

bordercollie

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Thank ya'll. :) Well, the Roxor did it again. 4wd low speed 1st gear, made moving the twins born today possible. The Roxor pulls nice and slow in this speed and kept the mama's interest in keeping up without getting out of breath. These boys were born in the same pasture as the mud baby but thankfully were born on dry land. We just put them in the sled and moved them right along. They did have to be hog tied to keep them from flopping out though. You can see the bil riding in the background - He kept the other cows out of the way and guided her if she wondered off . My sister drove the Roxor and I sort of hung on to the passenger's seat /Roxor's edge to jump out when necessary . ( only needed to once though) Later we took turns drying them off from the birth process and fed them a bottle mix of colosterex . Expensive stuff but makes a big difference on the calf's health down the line. They calves will nurse her in the morning { within the delicate time frame for the benefits of a mother's own colostrum to be beneficial. ) , Thank God we got home by 8 tonight. The three of us make a good team. :)
Also a picture of Azzie the milk cow nursing a calf in the chute. I made that platform out of a pallet . It makes nursing a calf much easier because the calf is then at a good height to reach his supper .
 

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bordercollie

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They're doing great !!! Each has gained about 4 lbs and although they were supplemented with some bottles , that about to end because they are nursing their mama. She seems to have enough milk and likes them now, but we will keep them at the barn patches to make sure they have enough supper . I'll try to take a picture today. One's front hoof wanted to buckle under when we first brought them home, but we just put a little splint on it and in two days , it was normal so we removed it. All seems great. :)
 

bordercollie

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ItBMine, This isn't a very good picture but you can sorta see them. Their tummies were full today when we put them out in the sun. Patting on those bellies sounded like a tight drum. :) They will get tagged in another day or 2.
 

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ItBmine

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Awesome pics. Thanks for posting. That looks like a beautiful farm. So how many cows there total?

Was looking at the pic of the calf in the mud you rescued. Good thing you find him in time.
 

bordercollie

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We have about 170 grown cows, (110 of those are registered angus) 60 are commercial angus, and 40 younger heifers that will be bred in Jan/Feb . Add to that about 50 registered bulls we raise for seed stock and sell each year when 1 1/2 years old. We AI all of our registered herd in Jan/ Feb.
It's about a 1000 acres, some in woods ,most in cropland and pasture. My bil leases out the cotton land to a neighbor farmer and our cows graze it in the winter. I'm very blessed to live here with my sister and her husband.
 

ItBmine

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Wow! That's a big operation. You must all be pretty busy. I wish I had that much property. The area I'm in is mostly all hay and dairy, but there is some crop land. Mennonites have most of the crop land. Years ago they bought a lot of the farm land that was going to waste and they have really turned it all around.
 

ItBmine

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Funniest thing I saw was one summer I was working on a highway resurfacing project with my dump truck and one of the Mennonites got their horse and buggy stuck in the ditch. So they got their tow truck.....a donkey (or mule?) to pull it out, LOL
 
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