Weaned the 2012 crop today

[domsmith]

I have taken advantage of this dry spell to wean all the cows. In my system i keep the calves on the cows until feb/march. then turn the cows out and keep the calves inside.
we should calve april/may.
It a good chance for me to see all the calves together and see what i have to sell for the year! i can see already my poor silage and a bad summer, are going to mean these calves will be with me longer than i wanted.

so its going to be a noisey night, and i wonder where i will find the cows in the morning. there is always a certain amount of chaos.

dom

[Broomcroft]

Good luck with that dom. I weaned my lot at Christmas, what a row, even though they were 9-10 months' old. Due to calve starting tomorrow, all inside though, fingers crossed. I wish I had a calving camera.

[domsmith]

Sleepless night was not the worst of it.

went out to the cows wednesday morning, saw a black shape stretched down alongside a fence, on quite a steep bank. went over and its a bl**dy cow. she must have slipped down the banking, and as she slipped her foot became stuck in the stock netting.
she was hanging by her back leg, from the fencing facing down a slope. when i cut the wire she slipped down about 5 feet to rest on a tree stump.

she cannot get up, the leg appears intact, but it must have been damaged. Using brut strength and ignorance i managed to get her to a flat area to hopefully recover.

she is down a gulley probably 50 ft down no tractor access, or hope of recovery other than walking out.

couldnt sleep last night, evey time i close my eyes i see her foot stuck in that wire!

joys of livestock

dom

[Broomcroft]

Oh yikes, keep us posted dom.

[Ryesdexters]

Good luck with that dom. I weaned my lot at Christmas, what a row, even though they were 9-10 months' old. Due to calve starting tomorrow, all inside though, fingers crossed. I wish I had a calving camera.

I use our kids video baby monitor. Works a treat :0)

[domsmith]

Gave up with the cow on saturday morning. called out a neighbour with a suitable firearm to dispatch her.
if i could have got her back to base we could have given her time, but where she was was just terrible.

never mind

dominic

[Broomcroft]

Ah bad luck dom. Best thing for her though no doubt.