Ranchers Wrap Up Fall Work
When working your cows, have you ever wondered why we do some of the things we do?
In the fall, the cows and their calves come home, off the pasture, and begin the part of the year that we feed them. That’s how it works up here in the North, but in the southern parts of the country, cattle may be on pasture all year long.
Regardless, whether the cows come home or stay in the pasture, there are a few things that are done with the cow to ensure their best health.
First, the cows are checked for signs of pregnancy. Some producers have their vet (like our own Dr. Jennifer Fischer from the Valley City Vet Clinic) preg-check, which is a manual method of checking for positive signs of pregnancy. With this method, producers can’t see the baby calf or know
which gender it may be.
Other producers choose to ultrasound their cows, which works just like it does for pregnant women. Dr. Fischer does both, but prefers to use the manual method while at the rancher’s place for a few reasons, not least of which includes transportation of an expensive machine and the need for electricity to operate it.
On the ultrasound, early pregnancy in a cow looks like what Dr. Fischer calls ‘buttons,’ the attachment points of the placenta. Later pregnancy can show the calf itself, and ultrasounding at that stage can even determine the gender of the calf!
Vita-Ferm, a mineral company, partnered with SDSU Extensionist Kalyn Waters to discuss the specifics of what happens during early bovine pregnancy.
Placental attachment and subsequent adhesion takes place around 19-22 days.
The really incredible part about days 20-22 is the baby: Fetal calves have a heartbeat by that same time period!
After their heart begins to beat, internal development and growth of their limbs takes place. One would think that the calf’s growth would skyrocket in this time period, but really, the third trimester is when 75% of the calf’s total weight gain and growth takes place, according to Extensionist Kalyn Waters.
To illustrate this, Waters shows a chart that she adapted from Moreira and Hansen (University of Florida, 2003): At two months of age, the unborn calf is the size of a mouse. A month later, it’s about the size of a rat. The month after that, it progresses to a small cat, and then a large cat, and finally at six months, the fetal calf is the size of a beagle. Then the growth takes off, and when the calf is born, it can be anywhere from 60-110 lbs. It will depend on the breed of the sire, which is also thought to be linked to calving ease, the rate of how difficult a calf’s birth is.
There are no epidurals during calving time on the range - all the herd’s ladies go through birth naturally, and they don’t seem to mind. Most range cows are more stressed when they are near to humans, and calving time is not a great time to stress out your cows. They know what to do and their bodies know how to do it; when left to their own devices, they are usually able to take care of the calf’s birth.
However, ranchers know when to help.
Cows can actually get epidurals, but if they are receiving that shot, that means something is wrong and they’re having trouble delivering the calf.
A general rule of thumb depends on the appearance of a few key birth features. First, the water sac. If you see it appear, then the calf is on its way! Some ranchers like to give their cows an hour after they see the water sac appear. If there is no further development, like seeing the calf’s feet, then the cow may need some help with the delivery.
After the feet appear, ranchers give it half an hour. If the calf has not made noticeable progress in that half-hour, it may be time to help. Those general rules of thumb apply mostly to cows who have had calves before; heifers take longer by about half an hour. Prematurely pulling calves can result in more harm than good if one doesn’t wait for those lengths of time. What they don’t tell you is that it is hard to wait that length of time! I’m usually more nervous than the cow during active birth, but a good way to avoid jumping the gun is to walk away. Go check the other pasture if you have another pasture of calving cows, or do some light cleaning, or play with the bottle calves. Anything to avoid staring at the cow (which makes her nervous) and obsessing over the birth (which makes you nervous).
As far as calving ease, producers and extension agents alike talk about it by breed. Something that affects calving ease the most is the shape of the calf, which is mostly breed-specific. Researchers have looked at a few different traits, like chest girth in Simmentals, or body length and rump width. While they haven’t proven anything, there are so many variables in calculating calving ease that they aren’t surprised at the relative lack of data generated. Even births from the same breed of bull can look different. It just depends on the weather, on the cow’s breed, age, state of nutrition, on the circumstances of the birth itself, and a very long list from there on out.
Checking for signs of pregnancy is the most exciting part of fall working, but a few other things are done to the cow while they’re in the chute.
The cow receives a dewormer, usually by pouring along the backline. This is to prevent irritating parasites on the outside of the cow, like mites, and also on the inside of the cow, like worms.
Younger cows are usually more susceptible to parasites, says a dairy expert from USDA Extension program DAIReXNET.
Then, the cow’s teeth may be checked. Since we can’t ask a cow to tell us her age ( politely, because she is a lady), we have to look at her front incisors to get an idea for how old she may be. A cow with all eight bottom incisors ( because cows don’t have top teeth like a horse) is probably four to five years old. Like all forms of aging, though, it is not precise because some cows grow teeth faster and some slowerbut the average is eight fully developed bottom front teeth, five years old.
Finally, the cow is evaluated by the rancher for body condition, and the record-keeping personnel either gives her a new ear tag or cleans up her old one. Clearly being able to read the cow’s tag leads to an easier time of identifying her later on in the year, like calving out on the range.
Fall working is an exciting time that leads to a good, healthy herd, along with beefed-up records. If you’ve just finished fall working, like most producers in our area, then you can breathe easy and enjoy feeding your cows.