Fields Full of Babies

The new calves came in torrents during the weeks following our waterlogged work assisting Holly in the pond.   We now had new calves in the morning, new calves after dinner, new calves through the night. 

 Here’s the funny thing.  They no longer came as a surprise.  With so much activity in the fields around us, we could now be very vigilant in our work.

There are certain things to do when cows are calving.  First, of course, is to see that that baby’s presentation looks correct and all goes well through the birth canal.  Calves are born face-first and tucked between two forefeet facing straight ahead.

Next, is to stay and see that the new calf finds the mama’s teats and physically starts to drink shortly after learning to stand. 

Standing is not as easy as it sounds.  Baby’s legs are wobbly and take a little mastery to perform.  It will take the calf a full 24 hours before they are strong on their legs, and another 48 hours after that to be secure in using them in stressful situations. 

Learning to drink is another skill.  Calves often can’t tell where to suck.  Most of the time, nature kicks in, it finds its way and the baby will be getting nutrition within the hour.    However it’s the few times when this doesn’t happen that we have to worry about, and it calls for a little intervention.

The first thing we try to do in this situation is to move both animals inside a pen.  Constraining the calf and mama in a small area gives him full focus, and within a short time he’ll often learn how to nurse off mom.

When penning the calf doesn’t work, we begin to worry.  Is there a physical problem?  Is mama’s milk not right?  Well, worry won’t solve the problem, action will.  So we’ll step in and try to feed the calf ourselves with a bottle. 

Newborn cows, just like newborn humans, need colostrum from their mother’s milk and they need it fast.  Colostrum passes along immunities to the young animal and helps it survive the first few days of life.  Calves need to have colostrum into their body within the first two hours of birth, so a cowman has to be on his toes.

What is colostrum?  Colostrum is only found in milk from cows which have just given birth.  We buy it either in dried powdered form or fresh from dairy farms.  Dairies raise a lot of cows and breed them to calf all year long in order to produce milk throughout the year.  Their cows need colostrums too, and they always keep fresh milk on-hand.

Umbilical cord visible mid-tummy on calf

The last thing we do during calving is we sterilize the newborn’s navel, and this is done out in the fields.  

Sterilizing is a tricky operation.  I don’t mean it’s hard—it isn’t.  

To sterilize the navel, we must go out in the pasture, turn the calf on its back, and spray a little iodine on what’s left of the umbilical cord.  

Calves are fairly light-weight, easy to turn, so what’s the problem?

Mama.  

Mama is the problem.  New mothers don’t like anyone touching their babies.  You probably know this, and we do too.  So to perform this task we need to get under her radar.

New mothers stand near their calves most of the day.  But sometimes they graze a little further out, and once in awhile they’ll leave the calf to drink.  The trouble is that before she gets busy elsewhere, she hides her calf in some protective backwater place.

This means our choices are either “distract the cow” when baby and mother are near to each other, or play “hide and seek” while mama is gone. 

There is only one way to distract a mother cow.  You encourage her interest elsewhere with the help of a little feed. 

If you’d rather play a game of hide and seek, it will require some stealth on your part to not wake a sleeping calf, a pair of high boots and long sleeves for protection for tramping about in the palmettos, and perfect timing so that mama cow stays away long enough for you to work.

With the friendlier new mothers we use sweet feed buckets.  We drive out to a spot 50 yards from her and stop.  I get out and make a big show out of finding feed and then walk it out to a position within her sight.  Once on the ground, I’ll walk away from the tub and stand still maybe 50 feet away from the bucket.  The combination of the smell of sweet feed and the curiosity of seeing a human standing so still will soon entice mama cow my way.  The idea is to keep mother’s immediate attention to be on me.

Once the mother cow is moving in my direction, Davis slowly maneuvers his truck slightly ahead.  He aims to place the vehicle so that it both blocks the mother’s vision and is close enough to the baby that he can make a single move in order roll a still sleeping calf.

I sometimes talk to the mother as she is eating.  It keeps her focus off the moving truck.  

From my location with the mama I see the driver’s door open, and watch as Davis takes one large stride, leans down, flips the 75 pound calf, and sanitizes the open wound where the umbilical cord was torn during birth. 

 He checks the sex of the animal and records all signs of health.  

Within two minutes he’s safely back into the truck, mother cow has not been bothered, and we move on to look for others.

We count the cows and calves as we drive the fields, to make sure we see that all are safe.  Calves can be the hardest to count because once the calf is a few days old; its mother will feel secure in leaving it on its own, hidden to nap the hours away. This means if we haven’t yet sanitized its cord, we’ll have to go out in the palmettos and find the calf. 

Palmetto strands are home for much of Florida’s wildlife.  Mammals, like coyotes and foxes, will den in palmetto patches which make it easy to fall from roots and holes.  But the biggest concern when you’re in the thick of things is the possibility of snakes.  Most snakes aren’t really a problem, except perhaps for their “scare factor”.  But palmettos can harbor poisonous snakes like rattlers and cotton mouths (water moccasins), so when we’re searching inside them, we need to watch our step.

When a mother cow hides her calf, it will usually be in tall grass or a slight depression.  How the calf knows to stay in place, I can’t say, but it will stay there for hours.  Mama will leave her calf when she’s some distance away from water and needs to drink.  After the calf is slightly older, mama leaves the calf in order to graze closer to the rest of the herd. 

Sometimes we will find a calf sleeping unattended and then it’s easy to approach.  

Other times the calf is so well hidden, we have trouble finding it ourselves.  When mothers notice that you’re getting near their hidden calves they panic, so you can tell when you’re getting close to a hidden calf. 

A worried cow will run full speed towards the location of her hidden calf but once in range she’ll divert and go another way.  Eyeing us as predators, Mama will pretend her calf is hidden elsewhere in order to try and head us off in a wrong direction.  By knowing how to read the mother's reactions, you can locate a lost calf without resorting to using dogs. 

The cow will lead you to a general area, and then you search nearby spots where she is not.  As you close in to the calf’s location, the mother cow grows more anxious.  You’ll see her eyes open wide and her ears stand up straight.  She’ll begin running patterns as she tries to cut you off and herd you in another direction. 

So we watch for mama’s reactions as we move within the area.  Are we getting hotter?  She’ll pace back and forth agitatedly.    Are we getting colder?  She’ll become calm and bored.   We keep calm and allow the Mother cow’s reactions to guide us to the misplaced calf.  The funny thing is that the calf will often sleep through the whole event.

This is how it is when all goes well out in the cow pastures.  We were learning this on our own and finding our own rhythm.

 It was November.  We had a herd of hormonal cows and a field full of babies.  

We were just trying to keep up with life itself.   

Visit us on Facebook 

Catch up with what's happening at the Ranch today at Love Those Wide Open Spaces

Read More About Rural Florida 
at 
Rural Florida Living   
 and

Florida: Just For Fun! - Things to Do in Florida Right Now

UUVVH4JRQ7H9

@Sanne Collins 2012 - All rights reserved