Claiming Her Calf

Today on the farm I had a heifer who did not want to claim (accept) her calf after he was born. For some reason, the mama of the little guy in the back of my four wheeler was not interested in her baby.  This does not happen very often but it does happen. Today’s post is simply going to cover the process of getting them back together. (I’ve tried to keep these short but I could not keep this one to the usual one page).

The best way to get a cow to accept her calf is by first getting the pair into a calm, clean, quiet environment. The photo below shows the calf in a stall in the barn with “calf claim” sprinkled on his back.

Calf claim was invented by a couple of vets from Mt. Ayer, Iowa. The ingredients are “top secret” but smell a lot like dried molasses and brown sugar. (I haven’t tasted it so I don’t know). The product works by getting the cow to lick her baby. Anything that will get a cow to lick and imprint the scent of her calf will work. It’s just Calf Claim works better than anything I’ve ever used.

The next step in the process is to put the mama cow in the stall with the calf, stop taking pictures, and come back in an hour. To find a happy contented pair.

The cows at Pinhook Farm have one job and that is to deliver, raise, and wean a calf every year without assistance. Because of this a cow not claiming a calf can be grounds for culling (termination) from the herd in my operation. W80 is going to get a second chance. This was her first calf and she did come around quickly, so for today everything turned out all right.

Cover Crops

Today on the farm we started harrowing pastures where we fed the cows last winter. A harrow is a very simple implement with steel tines designed to break up dirt clods and manure. This photo was taken on a rye pasture. On the farm I use Rye, Winter wheat, and sometimes turnips as a cover crop on land that I raised corn for corn silage. Cover crops are very beneficial and serve 3 primary purposes in my operation. Most importantly they cover the bare ground (henceforth the name) left from chopping corn silage for the winter.

By doing this I: 1.)prevent wind erosion of the soil (think dust bowl), 2.) Preserve soil nutrients by preventing them from leaching into the ground water, and 3.) Provide the cows with a very nutritious winter feed source that they can harvest them selves.

Because I had taken the crop of silage off of this field I intentionally fed as many cows as possible on it last winter to put the nutrients back on the field. The golden rule of soil fertility is “If you take something off you have to put something back on” By managing this way I am able to save significantly on commercial fertilizer. As long as I can have a high enough stocking rate in the winter and I harrow the ground to break up and spread out the manure the only inputs I need is usually lime to balance the PH in the soil.

Rye is a wonderful grass hat is very high in protein and produced excellent gains. More than likely I will be able to graze this in about 30 days and then put this field back to corn for a second year. After this I will rotate this field back to alfalfa for 4 to 5 years and repeat the process again.

Calving Season - Day 1

3-14-10 1^st calf heifers started calving at Pinhook Farm, this means I will be going without sleep for the next 2 weeks. To pass the time in the wee hours of the morning I thought it would be interesting to share a daily photo diary of what happens during calving season on an Iowa cow farm. With each photo I’ll do my best to explain some aspect of production on my farm. If it does not bore everyone to death I’ll continue this project until our April session and you will all feel like seasoned farmers.

Heifer, this is a young female bovine that has not had her first calf. Both cows in this picture were still heifers at  7:30 this morning. Now they are first calf heifers.

The tags in their ears are for identification. The calves are tagged as soon as they are born. This is for my production records and your safety. This tag will stay with the calf all the way through slaughter. If there is any concern for the publics safety from animal born disease the National Animal Health Vets are able to trace back to the exact farm of concern if a good record keeping system is maintained.

The calves tags match their mothers ID. Red for boys, green for girls. The letter represents the year the cow was born. W is for 2008, the next numbers are simply serial numbers. Two years old and she has had her first baby. This is something I hope she continues to do for the next 10 to 12 years or longer.

Calving Season Has Started

Calving started today at the farm. To help prepare all of us for the april session I would like to share a daily photo journal of whats happening on the farm. I plan to keep it brief so just text me if you have questions.

Happy Trails,

Seth