When to worry - Calf

[HillLuing]

This is more for the hill boys and those that calve in Glens etc!

We took on an old Glen this year for our cows. It is really long and pretty narrow (300m across). Full off bogs, wind bushes and a few burns with some fairly steep inclines

Have had a batch of 19 Heifers with calves down there for 2 weeks since they were a week old.

On Thursday we put the last Heifer that calved down there with her good sized Bullock which was born on Monday (17th).

Yesterday we found him lying in some deep reeds at other end of the Glen from all the cows so we lifted him and shifted him to where the cows are! Checked last night and he was missing again with cows back at other end of Glen!

No sign of him again this morning and his mother is just lying with the others near the feed trailer


How long would you wait without seeing the calf before you started to worry about it???

Cheers

 

[HillLuing]

.

 

[bruce9001]

What breed is it

 

[Weasel]

Hill cows tend to hide their calf for a few days, if there's nothing visibly wrong and the cow looks like it's been sooked then itl be fine. She will know exactly where it is. Bluegrays and luings are good at this

 

[HillLuing]

It's an AA x Lim Calve

 

[GTB]

If you're happy that the calf has suckled and isn't scouring then it's probably nothing to worry about. As said, they often hide their calves for a few days. If however the cow has large teats and the calf can't get hold of them get her in the crush and put him on to suckle asap.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

If he hasn't appeared by tea time I'd be looking for him

 

[kill]

Walk off in different directions from the said cow as she will soon show signs of interest when your getting close. I love playing the hot/cold game with freshly calved sucklers in a rushy padock as when your warm/hot to the area the calf is the cow will normally be right with you or showing signs of being concerned and very often like children they give the game away by the odd misplaced stare.

 

[GTB]

Once had a cow with twins but she only ever had one with her. I only knew she had two because I'd tagged one (a heifer) and the following day she had an un-tagged bull calf. This went on for over a week.

 

[Muck Spreader]

Did she have a good relationship with the calf before letting them out? I take it the calf was Ok when you found it on Thursday been fed, no temp or scour? I pair of binoculars at feeding time often tells you all you need to know.

 

[HillLuing]

Happy News!

Found calve right under some of the heaviest bit of gorse bushes in the whole Glen!
Was cold and hungry so managed to pull it out and take to the cow!
She went berserk, and mothered it right away...

Has obviously gotten lost and she couldn't find it and had given up, hence why she wasn't looking for it

Up into a nice flat green field with some other young calves now [emoji38][emoji16][emoji38][emoji16]

Took 3 of us almost 4 hours to find it

 

[czechmate]

Happy News!

Found calve right under some of the heaviest bit of gorse bushes in the whole Glen!
Was cold and hungry so managed to pull it out and take to the cow!
She went berserk, and mothered it right away...

Has obviously gotten lost and she couldn't find it and had given up, hence why she wasn't looking for it

Up into a nice flat green field with some other young calves now [emoji38][emoji16][emoji38][emoji16]

Took 3 of us almost 4 hours to find it

She gave up?!
You want some pure limmies.

 

[HillLuing]

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] yeah she is a very very laid back AAx Heifer

 

[bobk]

She gave up?!
You want some pure limmies.

Why?

 

[czechmate]

Why?

Haven't known one give up

 

[Wishful Thinker]

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] yeah she is a very very laid back AAx Heifer

Great result but be careful we had a cow do similar before and continued it until calf drowned in river. Thought was just one of those things but nearly had a repeat the following year had to cull her over the head of it.

 

[Weasel]

Once had a cow with twins but she only ever had one with her. I only knew she had two because I'd tagged one (a heifer) and the following day she had an un-tagged bull calf. This went on for over a week.

Haha bet you thought you were seeing things