When everyone saw the Facebook post about the twin calves
that were born before the first snow storm, there was a huge amount of enthusiasm.
There were comments like great, how cute, and a bonus! Many times ranchers say the same things about twins with a huge amount of sarcasm. WHY? You might ask. Well, you see cows typically only want to take care of 1 baby. There are exceptions to every rule, but cows are not taught to treat all their children the same and there usually becomes a favorite. We have seen sets of twins once and never see the second one again because the cow takes it away and hides it. And sadly someone besides a cow finds it too and has it for lunch.
There were comments like great, how cute, and a bonus! Many times ranchers say the same things about twins with a huge amount of sarcasm. WHY? You might ask. Well, you see cows typically only want to take care of 1 baby. There are exceptions to every rule, but cows are not taught to treat all their children the same and there usually becomes a favorite. We have seen sets of twins once and never see the second one again because the cow takes it away and hides it. And sadly someone besides a cow finds it too and has it for lunch.
If we find a set of twins in our cow herd, we pick one of
them up and take it to the barn to be cared for in a couple of different
ways. These twins had been taken
care of pretty well, but one was visibly colder and wetter than the other
one. We took him.
He got a quick ride home on the back of the pickup in the
calf sled. The dogs watched over
him.
When we got home, we put a calf coat on him. Left him in the calf sled, out of the wind,
and in the sunshine. It was a nice day it the temperature reached 50 F, so he was warmed up in no time.
We had a heifer give birth to a still born calf a few days
earlier. She still had milk in her
udder, so we decided to try to make a foster mother out of her. Foster
parents are great, but in humans it is their choice, this heifer did not say
pick me! We said you look like the best
candidate. Now we had to convince her
that she will make a good mama.
This heifer actually acted like she liked the calf, but did
not want to let him nurse. We put
her in a squeeze chute to contain her and helped him get some dinner. My
Farmer even sat by the calf helping him keep his balance in the awkward
position of nursing in the chute.
See he can be sweet!
That evening the same thing, she wasn’t going to let him
nurse. We put her in the chute and this
time she still kicked him. Poor little guy! We put a “flank rope” on her. This rope kept her from kicking the calf and
he could get his belly full for the night.
See he can be sweet!
Again the next morning, she talked to the calf like he was
hers, but if he went near the udder she kicked and butted him. Back in the chute again, but she didn’t kick
when he nursed. I didn’t have to put on
the flank rope. (Whew, I hate putting my hands and head close to kicking feet.)
Then there was a miracle! I walked into the barn and saw...success!!!
And again that afternoon!
He was getting pretty active and she thought about kicking him a couple of times, but decided she better not.
Of course, his brother is doing fabulous out with his mama in the pasture. I put a purple tag in him (different that the other calves), so I could check on him easier. They are doing wonderful and she is taking excellent care of him.
We were lucky that both of these calves were bulls. When a heifer calf is born twin to a bull calf, she has a 95% chance of being sterile due to the increased level of testosterone in the uterus during gestation.
-A Kansas Farm Mom
Then there was a miracle! I walked into the barn and saw...success!!!
And again that afternoon!
Of course, his brother is doing fabulous out with his mama in the pasture. I put a purple tag in him (different that the other calves), so I could check on him easier. They are doing wonderful and she is taking excellent care of him.
We were lucky that both of these calves were bulls. When a heifer calf is born twin to a bull calf, she has a 95% chance of being sterile due to the increased level of testosterone in the uterus during gestation.
-A Kansas Farm Mom
You are at the other side of our farming operation. You are the cow-calf side. We are a feeder side of farming. I always knew there was much for you to do before we ever see our 500 pound feeders. I love to hear about it. We have sheep on our farm and see babies during the Spring. We also end up with orphans and try to foster them out too. I remember hold a Mama sheep against the fence while a baby would fill up. Same deal only different species.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are enjoying my posts! Yes we all deal with the same things. My babies are just a bit bigger to try to handle. :)
DeleteVery good post!! Glad both babies are doing well and each have a mama to call their own.
ReplyDeleteThanks! The foster mama is almost more protective of her baby than anyone else in the pasture now. I guess she has decided that she does want to be a mom after all. Yay!
DeleteWonderful explanation of what we do and success story! Twins can be exciting...but also more work. Wonderful when we can graft them to a mama that lost her baby!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Sometimes it is hard to capture everything you need to when you are busy with everything else. It just happened to work out and camera phones are great to catch just the right moment.
DeleteAwesome story. We only had twins once and it was not a positive outcome. The first twin was deformed somehow and could not be born. The vet tried & tried to help her but it was of no use. That calf and the twin both died (the first twin in all probability was already gone) The birth was so hard on the mama cow that we lost all three of them that night. So happy to hear the heifer accepted the calf, I know that type of bonding is very hit & miss. Congrats! (visiting from Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop)
ReplyDelete~Taylor-Made Ranch~
Wolfe City, Texas
www.taylormaderanch.com/blog
Thanks! Twins can be so tricky if the cow has trouble with delivery.
DeleteWe had a cow that was actually pregnant with triplets once. I brought her home when she was trying to prolapse. It turned out that one of the fetuses was dead and I think she was trying to abort it. She stayed bred a few more weeks and gave birth to 2 live calves and 1 mumified fetus. The cow would only take care of one of the twins and refused to let the other one nurse even if she was penned with it separately. I learned my lesson with her and just take care of the second twin instead of taking the chance of the calf becoming coyote bait or starving to death.
Thanks for the verification. We are taking same steps. (3rd day) mother still pushing and kicking smaller calf away. In 3 hours, we will use the head gate method again if baby does not get to milk. Hope she takes baby soon on this rainy day. Larger calf in separate pen until smaller calf feeds.
ReplyDeleteI have only tried leaving both twins on a cow once that favored one over the other. Even though we tried to pen her separately with the individual calves. She ended up starving the weaker calf. Good luck trying to get her to take the second one. In my experience, it is easier to bottle feed the weaker calf. Let me know how things turn out, maybe you'll try something I haven't thought of.
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