Heifers / 1st time calving - getting the calf to feed

[Kathy Millar]

I always suffer from calf suckling anxiety! So I watch for peeing (not easy to see in rain or dark) as my vet says, if its comes out it must have gotten in. I rarely see a calf sucking so if I am really worried, I get the calf up and put it onto the mom. Another sign of a healthy calf is to watch it get up. It should stretch and often has a pee (not always!). So I am always happy when I see peeing and bowel movements in young animals. Sad life, isn't it :p

[Duncan MacIntyre]

If I am looking to see if a calf has sucked I look at the cow. It is not a bad idea to draw each teat to check that it is open and no mastitis if you can. Most Dexter calves will not manage to suck all 4 quarters evenly for quite a while, so it is often possible to see by differences in teat and size of quarter if the calf has had a fill. If you stand the calf up it often looks full if it is full, but occasionally a calf will fill itself up with air and look full but not have taken much milk on board. A big fill usually results in a big emptying, with meconium (first faeces, really foetal in origin) passed followed by the yellow cheesy faeces consistent with decent colostrum uptake. A new born calf which has suckled will usually go and lie down quietly or hide in rushed/long grass/whatever cover is available. They should be warm to touch, including ears, and the mouth should have a warm feel rather than cold and wet. The warm cosy feel is a big clue that all is well. I notice my calves born outside are usually hiding in cover for the first 2 or 3 and sometimes 4 days, easily approached and caught to put tag in and check for white underneath, extra teats, testicles or not, polled or not. At that stage I think they behave much like young deer, hidden quietly between feeds, with mum always knowing exactly where they are though they may not tell you. Then there is a rapid change and they start to run about at great speed and if you have not caught and tagged and checked them by then forget it.

Duncan

[Inger]

We had just organised a lease with the neighbours Broomcroft. :D So yes it was all legitimate.

Duncan, I've found that if I don't weigh and eartag a calf within 24 hours, I need help catching the little horribles. :laugh: They do like to hide in the long grass though don't they. I've had them go through electric tapes to hide in the grass that the cows haven't eaten yet.

[carole]

Hi
The calf we had problems with at the beginning is doing exactly that Inger, every time I go and check them she is on the other side of the tape and I have to look in the general direction of where Mum is looking and hope I don't tread on her in the meantime

[happy hollidays]

We have just had our first lambs and I have used this posting as a guide for the lambs, altough I could see them feeding I didn't know if they were getting any colostrum, so I watched the other end! Thankyou. Do you mix sheep and Dexters or keep them seperate? When can you introduce the young ones to the cattle? We have a fox problem here and I am stabling the mums and babies overnight at present. Thank you in advance.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

We have North Ronaldsay sheep and Dexters and frequently have them running together. It doesn't always work out that they are calving and lambing in the same field at the same time, but I don't make any effort to avoid that. At the moment we have two ewes with 3 week old lambs, one ewe still to lamb, two ewe hoggs which I hope will not lamb this year, a ram, bulling heifer, cow and month old calf all running together. On occasions our Fell pony will join them. At the moment the ram and the calf have great fun chasing each other, sometimes the lambs join in. Our Cairn terriers like to make friends through the rylock but they are never running in the same field! Our ram runs with the ewes all the time, and they lamb usually in the second week of April, though they are a bit late this year.

On the fox front we have been lucky till recently on Bute not havin any, but in the last few years some do-gooder has introduced foxes, probably urban trapped and taken here in vans, and released. About 30 have been killed in the last two years, but there are still more out there. I am really a wildlife enthusiast, but have to say I strongly disaprove of moving wildlife about for a lot of different reasons. Even the current project of rescuing hedgehogs from the Western Isles where they were introduced and began to wipe out the seabirds by eating the eggs is I think wrong headed. If necessary to preserve the sea birds get rid of the hedgehogs, but not mass release in other areas - who knows what damage may be done by doing this sort of thing.

Duncan

Duncan

[Kathy Millar]

I often put my Dexters in with my Shetland ewes and lambs but only when the lambs are good and agile (a week?). I was afraid to do the same with the rams (I have 8 at present), but the other week I got tired of moving so many fences so dumped two groups together (1 26 month steer and 4 heifers of varying ages). The paddock is only 1 acre but they all seem to find enough room to keep in their separate groups HOWEVER...one day I glanced across the field and saw one of the rams lying down and really enjoying a face licking by one of the heifers :D :D You just never know.

[jeanthomas]

My dexters and shetland sheep have often shared the same field. However, at the moment I have such an evil ram (playful I am told) that I dare not turn him out with the cows. The last time I did he was trying to jump on the cows and what scares me most is if he goes head to head with our friendly, almost teddy bear like bull, I have a sneaky feeling the ram will win. He spends a huge amount of time in the pigsty (his home) sharpening his horns on the concrete wall. They are so sharp I find it worrying and am actually wondering if it is possible to cut/file the ends of his horns off? Dont panic Duncan I would speak to my vet first! someone suggested putting wine corks on the ends but....... ??? ???

[Duncan MacIntyre]

With advice and help from someone who knows where the sensitive tissue is likely to reach, it should be perfectly possible to remove a fair bit from the tip of each of a large ram's horns. This would not involve any pain or bloodshed although he may well resent the interference. The tip could be sawn off, and the edge of the cut end rasped to a round shape. However this will save no one, man or beast, from the damage of a full charge. If he really is aggressive regard him as seriously dangerous and potentially able to do serious damage to other animals or worse still to humans who he takes umbrage at.

Duncan

[Sylvia]

Hello Jean, I've had a little bit of experience with Shetland rams and I can't see any point in keeping one who is not trustworthy. One of the first 2 ram lambs we bought was overly interested in people and we were told 'he's only being friendly' by the experts as the ram followed us closely round the paddock. When he got a bit bigger he knocked my husband over. I didn't think twice, he went. The other of that pair liked to murder fenceposts and fences but was gentlemanly in other respects. I currently have 3 mature rams and a couple of Shetland wethers in the field with the cows and young calves. I have seen Barley standing like a statue while 3 or 4 calves licked, poked and generally messed about with him. I've also seen a Dexter mum give one of the poor innocent rams a good thump because he happened to be close to her calf. I don't take liberties with the rams (or our placid Dexter bull) but there are some people who suggest that it is normal for Shetland rams to be stroppy. It has not been our experience.

[Kathy Millar]

I echo Slyvia's comments. I've had my Shetlands for over 6 years now and will not keep any aggressive ram but most rams have been very well behaved. Won't sell any aggressive rams, either. I have found that they will exhibit bad behaviour early on so they can go into the freezer or sold for meat with no problem. I always tell new Shetland owners, NEVER permit the ram to approach you, you initiate contact. Same goes with bulls, I suspect. No playing. Sometimes it is difficult to train the owner......

PS A friend had a Dorper ram and boy, was he ever mean. He was also big! Very scary to have around

[Inger]

I put any ram I'm not sure of, on a long line. Then we can go into a paddock without fear and know that we can get passed the ram without him reaching us. Once I've used him as long as I need for breeding, he can go in the freezer. I don't like selling any ram that has shown bolshy tendencies. The same goes for roosters. People don't want nasty ones.