early morning calving cks have begun

[CAB]

We have some cows up close and have started the 10-2-6 regular cks. Thought it would be fun to see how many planeteers do it the old fashioned way like me, physically get up and go out to walk through cows thereby losing approximately 2 hours/night of sleep until I get so tired that I can quickly get back to sleep, and how many of you are smarter than me and have adapted some sort of technology to be able to get a peek @ old Bessy from the comfort of your bed?
  This getting up in the middle of the night seems to get harder and harder as the years go by or I'm just getting so much softer.

 

[willow]

We do it the good old fashioned way also.  We don't have a huge herd so it doesn't take long, but the not being able to get back to sleep is the killer part!  Good luck.

 

[herfluvr]

old fashioned way by i take turns with the hubby.  Love calving our small herd!

 

[SWMO]

Still doing the calving the old fashioned way.  Getting up and checking.  It does seem to be getting harder as the birthdays go by.  I can't bring myself to say getting older :

The rewards for the sleepless nights is seeing a bunch of bouncing babies running through the pasture on a warm spring day with their concerned mommas close behind!

 

[oldwood]

We did it that way for ever. It seems like most of our calves are born either late evening or early morning, so unless something is out of the ordinary. we check just before bed and at daylight.

 

[Cowboy]

Brent, I always suspected that you were a softy -- now I am sure!!! hehehehe (clapping)

I have been one of those late night owls all my life any way, but we do things a tad different here. I like to feed the cows at the bunk about a half hour before dark, they come to eat, eat thier fill, go get a drink, and lay down to ruminate. This takes them a good amount of time, and don't seem to go into calving mode until thy have chewed thier cud for several hours.

My vast majority of calves will come right after daylight it seems. Maybe get one or two mid-day, and on rare occasions, late afternoon. Never in 20 years have I had a  calf come from 10 at night 4 in the morning. Maybe it is because I have told the cows that if they don't co=operate, the sale barn is only 25 miles from here!! hehehe

Works for me. I have been known to go out around 1 AM to take a look, but not every two hours unless there is one trying already. I have slept in my chair a few times! I tend to stay up late any way for breeding these donors early in the morning hours, so it is just one more extension I guess.


Small herd, all broke to lead, honestly -- just a bunch of spoiled brats who tend to be more human than bovine!

Good luck to all !

Terry

 

[BN 32]

I am with you just glad only have a small group that is all close together.

 

[Freddy]

We have fed late at night and I do think it helps and have done it over 30 years ,I definitel think it works but when it is below zero we might check every hour ,but i'm getting older and thinking about atleast moving to 1st of March instead of first Feb... Hard to hire p-eople to do this , one guy wanted enough pay that I thought I'D BETTER DO THAT JOB IF IT PAID THAT GOOOD ....

 

[CAB]

We have fed late at night and I do think it helps and have done it over 30 years ,I definitel think it works but when it is below zero we might check every hour ,but i'm getting older and thinking about atleast moving to 1st of March instead of first Feb... Hard to hire p-eople to do this , one guy wanted enough pay that I thought I'D BETTER DO THAT JOB IF IT PAID THAT GOOOD ....

Jamie I was thinking about moving calving to the first of May.

Terry I'm getting softer by th minute. If I didn't go ck those old girls, They'd nail me for sure. Those club calf bulls come with a price, sleepless nights!!!

 

[Aussie]

I have got very slack as I have got older 10pm and 5am unless there is a "specail one" then I wake up and lay in bed for an hour before I give in and get up. CAB if you set up a camera I will do the night shift for you because it will be daytime here you are 16 hours behind us.  (lol)

 

[VJ]

I used to do several late night checks until I moved calving to end of March. Now I just do it once unless there isn't anything looking real close. I have a pretty small herd of mature cows and know their calving habits pretty well. If they calve at night it is warn enough that they will be ok until morning.

 

[rtmcc]

We have a camera in the barn set up to see two pens.  Normally thats enough, except this week.  Started friday morning with 6 due in the next 6 days.  Got the first one about 11:00 PM last night.  Seams most of ours come between 10:00PM and 4:00 AM.  I suppose because I let them out to eat in the morning for a while and then early evening.  Actually works good for us because I am home and can help if need be over night.  If they come during the day they more than likely are on their own.  Hopefully get one more done tonight.

I used to enjoy going out in the middle of the night and checking cows.  Until we had kids.  Loose enough sleep up with them as it is.  Need to get some sleep so the auctioneer at the sale barns doesn't lull me to sleep when I am supposed to be buying fed cattle!
I LOVE our camera setup and just being able to put my glasses on and stare at the TV for a minute and then rolling over and going back to sleep!

Five left to calve in this group and then two the end of March and we can start breeding!

Ron
<cowboy>

 

[jpcattle11]

We check at, 9, 12, 3, and 7. the old fashion way by walking or driving through the herd. It seems like a lot of work and lost sleep, until you save a calf or two, then it seems worth it. We calve about 300 cows each spring and i would say the late night checks make a huge difference in the number of calves we save. Weather it's by pulling them on time or just getting them out of the weather.     

 

[cpubarn]

I just have a few old county fair heifers to check...

Just got back from the 10pm check.  We just have a handful to watch, but 6 et calves due Tuesday, so we will see how much sleep I get.  I walk at 10-12pm and 5am, but do have a couple of little Panasonic cameras in the hog house I use for calving.  The 3 most likely candidates are in there now, tossed them a couple of chunks of hay, then I'll watch what they do.  If they just eat, then if I wake up my ipod is setting next to the bed and I can check on them without leaving bed, also works anywhere I can get wifi.  Don't have a Iphone to check on them  anywhere, but it works for me, the cameras allow my wife to check on them from work if I am hauling corn like I need to next week.

I'm quite sure that the cameras are worth it, at least the $100-300 I sent on these.

Happy Calving everyone!!!

 

[CAB]

Thanks for the support all. Misery loves company. As you can tell by looking @ the time of this post, I just got back in the house and am trying to get myself sleepy again. I find myself thinking of all of you Mom's out there that have gotten up during younger child rearing days to take care of our kids and have WAY more compassions than I had in my younger days.
  Ron that is what we have coming in March, ET calves. First one, due Tuesday. Steel Force on Josh Ramsey's Donor Libby.
  Aussie, thanks for your offer. You will be the first one to know when I get a camera set-up. You don't have to worry too much. I'm tighter than bark on a tree. I can almost make the Indian ride the buffalo on the Indian nickel by squeezing it so hard.

 

[Durham]

I spent a lot of my early life driving through winter pasture,  walking through sagebrush etc. with spotlight in hand. When I turned 40, I quit. Calving 103 heifers this year and go check in the morning and again in the afternoon. They are on cornstalks so we don't feed, but most calves tend to come in the early AM I think. After about 3 years of no heroics, you get the ones culled out that can't have a calf. And I sleep all night long (except when the guy down the road with 40 cows hits my window with his spotlight on his twice nightly checks) and found that once I quit bothering them, they really will get it done on their own. Cows get checked 6 days a week, not on Sunday, and it is a rare problem that arises there. Backwards calves usually can be delivered out of a mature cow, and last year had a cow deliver a breech calf without assistance. I am pretty disciplined on what I breed my shorthorn heifers to though.But I also think that a Shorthorn has more pelvic capacity than most any other breed out there. Our Angus cattle seem to average a little longer in active labor I'd say.
  I wish everyone a safe and rewarding calving season, even if you have to get up at 2AM. For most people, not a lot is much better than finding one that snuck out on you and is cleaned off and nursing with mama talking to it! Everyone stay safe.

 

[Okotoks]

I wish we could go all night without checking but the easier they calve the more likely they are to freeze in this frigid weather. We have wind chills of minus 37 this morning. Anything showing signs of calving heads to the barn but theres always some that surprise you . Last year our heifers bred to Matlock Red Sniper would lay down and calve between 2 hour checks. The forecast is for high wind chills for the next week! We moved our calving back from January and most of February to avoid these temperatures! Last year the end of April we had blizzards and lots of people lost a pile of spring born calves. Sometimes mother nature just has other plans and you do what you need you. (2 hour calving checks really bite)

 

[ruhtram]

We do it the old way! looking at making some improvements though.

 

[vc]

When we first started getting steers for the boys we got them off of a commercial ranch, the guy that ran the ranch calved all the heifers in a small pasture. He took his camp trailer parked it by the fence in a place that he could see all of the pasture. He said that way he could spot light the hole pasture and check the heifers with out getting out of bed. If he saw activity he would get dressed and go check. He would be in the trailer every night for a month, but he said the wife was OK with that since he was not waking her every hour or so throughout the night.

 

[flacowman]

our cattlemen magazine had an article about feeding right at dusk being related to daytime births, I'll try to find a link and post it