BIG calf birthweights

bert

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
n.yorks
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Biggest we have had, born yesterday morning with the help of the jack, he was very tight but the cow cleansed and got up straight away, calf took 24 hours to stand on his own.

Weighed the calf this afternoon and he is 67kg, would he have been more at birth?

Obviously this is not a good thing and prefer smaller ones that slip out but can't really do anything but watch when the cow go's well over the gestation period, lose weight and pile it all into the calf for the last two weeks.

What's the biggest calf you have had born?
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
We had one last back end 68kg on the bridge the next day BRB out off a Hereford cross cow, no big problem for us or the cow
 
Quite a lot points at cow nutrition in mid pregnancy being a big factor in calf birth weight. Cows kept in poorer nutrition in mid pregnancy produce bigger calves regardless of how they are fed later on.

60kg is the biggest we have had, she calved herself and it got up and suckled like any other. Thankfully we've not had any like that for a good while, they were almost always out of thin cows. Fatter cows never seem to do such stupid things.
 

bert

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
n.yorks
Quite a lot points at cow nutrition in mid pregnancy being a big factor in calf birth weight. Cows kept in poorer nutrition in mid pregnancy produce bigger calves regardless of how they are fed later on.

60kg is the biggest we have had, she calved herself and it got up and suckled like any other. Thankfully we've not had any like that for a good while, they were almost always out of thin cows. Fatter cows never seem to do such stupid things.
Interesting, mid pregnancy would have been add lib maize, silage and a bit of fodder beet so a fair bit I would say, came off grass looking well, weaned last years calf at Christmas. I think its just due to going well over her gestation period.
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Not too unusual then?
It is for us I don't think we have had one that big before but I am not sure, He was big enough for us to think "he is a bloody great thing" and go to all the bother of walking him over to the weigh crush. we don't usually bother to weigh the calves.
The cow took it in her stride she is a bloody great cow though and would be up round 900kg
 

bert

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
n.yorks
It is for us I don't think we have had one that big before but I am not sure, He was big enough for us to think "he is a bloody great thing" and go to all the bother of walking him over to the weigh crush. we don't usually bother to weigh the calves.
The cow took it in her stride she is a bloody great cow though and would be up round 900kg
This is the first time I have weighed a calf, brought the lamb way over in the forklift bucket. Think this cow will be around the 650-700kg mark, maybe a bit more when she gets a bit of condition back.
 

bert

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
n.yorks
And the show calf folk who say that if a calf comes out easy calved it'll never be the "right" kind of good calf. Morons.
Had a look at both Charolias bulls birth weights, the bull it came from weighted 46kg at birth, and the other 41kg, the lighter one does through smaller easier calving calf's. Not sure how accurate these birth weights are of stock bulls, who is going to check if they knock it down a kilo or 2?
 
Interesting, mid pregnancy would have been add lib maize, silage and a bit of fodder beet so a fair bit I would say, came off grass looking well, weaned last years calf at Christmas. I think its just due to going well over her gestation period.

I was meaning purely from a nutritional aspect, your cow sounds to have been well done, and probably doesn't fit into that category. A long gestation probably won't have helped.
Thought calves grow the most in the last 7 weeks

They do but the number of placental cotyledons is affected by nutrition in mid pregnancy, if the cow is using more than she is taking in, more cotyledons develop, leading to bigger calves, often another expense of cow condition.
 

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