Calf deaths

[surespendalot]

Have there been a lot more calf deaths this year than usual? I have heard some horror stories where deaths have reached 10 to 30 %, and others where people have saved over 100%. I have also heard that there have been an extraordinary number of cows being sold at the auction marts after having lost their calves. Any thoughts??

[gopher]

It has been a tough calving season here in south west Alta, first with the cold weather then the wet weather. Many calves were weak at birth and there has been a very high number of breach births. We've had very good luck so far. Started calving Apr. 2 and out of one group of 62 cows we already have 48 calves. ( the bulls ration must of had to much viagra) We've had 4 breach births todate and lost one. It sure sounds like the folks west of Red Deer are have a time with scours. They could use some of our warm dry weather.

[surespendalot]

To what do you attribute the high number of breach births?? We have been calving 44 days and have 1 left to come out of a total of 56 cows. So far we are batting 100%

[cowman]

I have been hearing the same story. My accountant said he did one farmers taxes who is at the 30% loss and still counting. Says thats it...selling out.
I think a lot of cows lost calves in the big freeze of March. A lot of cows hit the mart then. No one can afford to feed an open cow this year.
Usually the people who say they have 100% calf crop don't own any cows.

[surespendalot]

If you don't belive my numbers, come count my cows and calves. I will say this tho... When we start calving, we almost live with them. Sure makes for a lot of work and a lot of sleepless nights. But we love it, so it makes it all worthwhile. Just wish that we could get paid accordingly.

[gopher]

Surespendalot - I have no idea why so many breach births this year. I noticed earlier this year that the cows were fighting alot and we had some awful icey conditions where the cows were slipping quite a bit so I suspect that may have been some of the problem. Sounds like you are having good luck - hope that last one comes ok and you do get 100%

[cowman]

I guess I should have rephrased that and not used percentages. I should have said"Those that say they don't lose any calves..."(and maybe added every year!)
I wonder what a lot of these cows are going to eat? I still hear stories about how dry it is everywhere. I think a lot of people sc****d through last year using up all the subsoil moisture.
I was actually talking to a guy who fed until the end of June last year. Then had to start feeding again Sept. 30! Can we actually survive when we can only pasture cows 3 months? I mean you are feeding about 270 days then...and we all know how expensive that is? I believe with another dry year we could see a further reduction in the cow herd of about one third. And I do believe that is a good thing from an overall perspective. Might be pretty tough on our feeding and packing industry though?

[surespendalot]

Unfortunately many people keep as many cattle as they can possibly pasture on a normal to good year. Then along comes a tough year and guess what.. all of a sudden the grass gets over pastured.. Then along comes a second dry year and they are in big trouble!! Then the only things that grow good are the weeds. An oldtimer once told me to "always leave 1/2 of your grass because every once in a while there will come along a year when you will need that reserve"... I think that he was right and and I think that this could be one of those years. This year I have rented a bunch of extra grass and hopefully I won't hardly have to use my own land and the grass will have a chance to recover a bit and set seed. I still have 80 acres that hasn't had anything on it since last June, but I will be putting some cows on it this week.

[cowman]

You are sure right about the overgrazing thing. And it sure is nice to get those cows out on some grass in the spring whether green or not.
The old rule about leaving half the grass is a good one, but I wonder who can afford to do that anymore? I guess if the land is absolutely useless for anything else you could do it. Or if you paid hardly anything for it. If it takes 4 acres to pasture a cow (and not abuse your land)then at $30/month/5 months you recieve$37.50/acre which is pretty good return if your land is only worth $200/acre. It is quite a different story if your land is worth $2500/acre?
I think if land is worth $2000/$3000 an acre it needs to be put to some more meaningful use...like subdivisions and horses and a playground for the rich!

[surespendalot]

I agree 100% with you. But here we go agin.. thinking like a banker rather than the farmer who cares for his land and his cattle.

[pandiana]

We also had a higher than average backwards calves. Also, had late abortions. On the other hand calves are in good condition and have done well up until March weather.

We are now fighting with some scours and pneumonia although we haven't lost any yet. We still have about 40% snow cover and corrals and paddocks are mired in mud. We will quite likely not have grass until June. We started AI last week and will put cleanup bulls out come June. Can hardly wait!

We do hear some horror stories of huge calf losses. Most of my neighbors are fighting scours to some extent.

[dalek]

My vet has been talking to some of the feedlot guys here in Ontario, they're running into the same thing in the feedlots. Lots running 25-30% losses on the bigger calves they have in and can't figure out why other than the strange weather the last few months.

[farmerboy]

We have finished calving, l84 head. We had no breeches, a couple of backwards, and one backwards plus upside down. We think sometimes malpresentations are caused by poor quality feed or feeding a lot of straw. In March, we had very cold and stormy weather and during this time we got some very scary cases of pneumonia in the February calves. They were fine one day and the next they were looking like they would die: pumping and struggling to breathe. We treated them with white penicillin and trivetrin together and all made it. The ones that were dull but not pumping we just gave LA-200 but there were a few that should have had the trivetrin and white. We heard of others who got this pneumonia outbreak too; caused by the wet (snowstorms) and the cold. It sure made for hard work and long hours, trying to determine who needed what and then catching them. We checked them twice a day, once was not enough.So far we have 2 cows without calves, the one having lost hers at birth (most likely it drowned in the birthbag as it was small and born quickly) and the other had a dead calf, we don't know why. Definitely there is no magic solution, the only thing you can do is be there and do your best. Its true that no one is paying you to work from sunup to sundown but if you don't stop working, so to say, the wheels wil fall off the wagon.

[cowman]

Calving cows can be weird. I have had a very easy calving season but my neighbor has had a hard time. I've been up to pull three breech calves and one upside down and backwards. He is fairly new to this business and get shook when he reaches in and all he finds is a tail!
Those upside down calves really help to work up a sweat! Talk about participaction!
He has fed pretty moderately but his silage is pretty high in protein and the calves are large. I suspect that is why he is getting a lot of backwards calves and also the breeches. He uses high performance Char bulls which tend to throw awful stout calves.