44 Our Advertisers Appreciate Your Business Better Farming | January 2024 Livestock one in case we need to pull a nose around. There are also OB gloves and lube. The calving jack isn’t in the kit, but we make sure it’s ready to go. We try to monitor birth weight a lot, so it’s maybe only used once every two years.” Windeyer suggests making sure that calving chains are clean and checked for rust before calving. She also recommends having gloves, a good bucket and antiseptic soap on hand to keep the calving process hygienic. “One trick I like is having a bucket of water and a pitcher with a handle. Then you can scoop water without getting mucky hands in it when you’re keeping the back of the cow clean,” says Windeyer. The final components of a calving kit should be colostrum products and resuscitation supplies such as towels and squirt bottles to wake up the calf by putting a bit of water in their ears. Compiling a calving kit ahead of the season will make sure that all the necessities are accessible when needed. Calving protocols In an ideal year, every cow would calve on their own, requiring no intervention or assistance. Breeding decisions and nutrition earlier in the year can help make this goal a reality, but when trouble arises it’s important to know what to look for and how to solve it. During calving, timing of intervention is important. The Beef Cattle Research Council states that after a water bag appears, calves should be landed within an hour for cows, or an hour and a half for heifers. If the cow or heifer has not calved by then, producers should assess for dystocia and determine if the calf should be assisted. Once the calf is on the ground, it should be vigorous and ready to drink within the first few hours. “A calf should start sitting up within that first two to three minutes, and shaking its head and moving around,” says Windeyer. “If not, we probably want to jump in, depending on the personality of cow.” Calves should be put in the recovery position, with both back legs placed forward alongside both sides of the body, and front legs to the front of the calf. “This gives each lung equal opportunity to fill with air and helps the calf breath. I try to do that as quickly as possible once the calf is out,” says Windeyer. “We don’t hang them over gates or upside down. We’ve been advocating against that for a while. “If it’s not vigorous, we want to resuscitate it – put a finger in its ear, rub it down with a towel, poke the inside of its nose on the hard tissue between the nostrils. This can make them cough and clear the fluid from their lungs and get them breathing.” Ribey says that they make sure calves are up and drinking within the first few hours. “If everything looks good, the calf is alive and doing fine, we walk away and let them do their thing. I like them to nurse within a couple hours. Our Angus calves are usually up and sucking within about 20 minutes,” says Ribey. “Once we are at two hours, I think they get hungry and a little silly, so we go in and help.” Windeyer explains that calves should get colostrum, either from the dam or from colostrum replacement products, within the first four to six hours after calving. “After four to six hours the absorption of antibodies drops off pretty sharply,” says Windeyer. “We want them to get that first really good dose of colostrum.” While timing is important, colostrum quality also needs to be sufficient. “It’s not always that thicker is better and thinner is worse when you look at it,” explains Windeyer. Producers can use a Brix refractometer to measure colostrum quality, which provides a relative estimate of the concentration of the antibody IgG. “A Brix refractometer is commonly used in dairy herds, but we looked at it Ribey likes the calves to nurse within a couple hours of being born. Emily Croft photo
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