This semester I'm taking a beef cattle management class. Instead of having a lab for this class, we are responsible for doing various jobs around the college farm: processing feedlot calves, selecting replacement heifers, and calving out the college cows. When I first learned of this lack of a lab I was rather relieved. I have five other classes this semester and all of them have labs. Right now, though, I'm rather wishing that we had a real lab for beef cattle management.
You might think that calving out the college cows is no big deal. As long as you pick the right times, you don't have to go out in the cold (my group couldn't have gotten the warm week...no...) too late at night. Well, unfortunately there are these amazing people here called farm staff who get to have the day shifts. That means that college students check the cows every three hours on weekends and from 5 pm to 7:30 am on weekdays. The way the weekday shifts worked out, it was easiest for my group to take one night for each pair of students (we don't need 9 people there every time). Tonight is my night, along with two other students (for safety reasons, we never check cows alone). The whole group already did chores and processing at 5 pm. My small group has now done the 8 pm and 11 pm check. At 5 o'clock we brought in 202A because we figure she'll calve tonight. So far, nothing from her. Nothing seemed to be happening at 8 o'clock. At 11 o'clock we were surprised by the appearance of a new calf in the last pen that we checked. We still have 2 am, 5 am, and 7:30 am to go. Hopefully there are no more surprises.
Finding a calf in the pen is the worst possible situation for several reasons:
- We have to bring every calf into the barn for one night, regardless of weather. It's so much easier if the calf is just born in the barn.
- Calm cows can become shockingly aggressive as soon as their calves are born. During my group's weekend shift a couple of weeks ago we had two cows with serious attitudes (401P and 401S). These cows are not only difficult to get into the barn, but they are dangerous to deal with. I don't really feel like running for my life at 2 in the morning.
- When it's cold out, calves that have just been born can freeze very easily. I can only imagine the misery of lying out in the cold, wet from just being born, as your ears, tail, and feet freeze.
- Late at night, we just want to get the check over with and get back to bed. Moving a cow and calf to the barn just makes the shift longer and the sleeping time shorter.
I just realized that I have not been quite right in my assessment of what the worst possible situation could be. The worst situation is having a cow that has problems calving. Pulling a calf takes a lot of effort and energy, not to mention time. Not to mention that a difficult birth can leave a farmer with a dead calf, a dead cow, or both.
Now that I've finished complaining (for now), I want to talk about what I've learned so far from calving duty.
- I've learned to tell when cows are going to calve soon. I'm not an expert, but I notice that I'm picking up on the signs quicker now when we check the pens.
- I've learned to give calves injections properly. Back home I get to fill the syringes and hand them to Dad and watch as he does it. Now I can go out and just give the new calves what they need.
- I've learned to use two different kinds of ear taggers. I didn't even know there were two kinds of ear tagger before this. I just knew about the kind we have.
- I've learned that calving is a lot of routine work; we walk through pens, replenish water and hay for the cows in the barn, clean the barn once a day, process calves, and move cows to the correct pens. It only really gets exciting at 2 in the morning (of course).
- I've halfway learned to castrate a bull calf. I've understood the fundamentals for years and have been putting the rubber ring on the rubber ringer for years and handing it to Dad. But now, when we process the calves, those of us with little calving experience have to do the hard stuff while our classmates with more experience supervise us. Maybe by the end of this week I will have actually succeeded in getting the rubber ring in place without having one of the guys take over.
- I've learned that newborn calves are feisty. Dad always made processing look so easy. He just lays the calf down, does what he needs to and lets the calf go. Here, we generally have three people holding the calf down whilst one or two others try to dodge flailing hooves to needle, ear tag, and castrate these calves. I got kicked in the hip on the weekend shift trying to ear tag one calf. It's a good thing I had my wallet in my pocket. This afternoon a bull calf that seemed particularly determined to remain a bull got his little hoof within an inch of my face. How on earth does Dad keep his calves so calm?
- I've learned that rubber boots are not made for winter. I would wear my winter boots, but I discovered yesterday that there is a significant hole in one of them, so I wear thick socks and my regular rubber boots. Unfortunately, the place where I live has no mudroom for me to put my dirty boots until the next shift, so I must keep them on the covered deck outside. By the time I leave for my next shift, they are frozen solid. Not only do they do nothing to keep my feet warm, but there is absolutely no give in them. It makes walking pretty interesting.
It's only 12:30 am now, but I'm not a night owl, so I think I'd better call it quits before my blog turns into some sort of sleepy rambling. Already, I'm struggling to think of the proper words. Here's hoping the rest of the night will be uneventful and that I will be able to catch a few winks.
To the farmers who do this on a regular basis, I salute you. Dad, I expect to learn your techniques when I come home for Reading Week.
Some of our calves at home.
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