Five tips to help calving go as smoothly as possible
It was quarter past midnight and I was gently warming colostrum on the stove. The Herefords had decided that it was time to give the dairy girls a run for their money in terms of tight calving intervals, with the first two calves landing within eight hours of each other.
The only issue was that we’d only just managed to get the second Hereford out of the slatted shed before the crúibíní appeared and all the movement had delayed her beestings.
Luckily, I had plenty saved from the dairy girls. Staring into the swirling gold of the colostrum, I reflected on how many late nights I’ve spent since childhood doing this.
The ancient Greeks held that repetition and perseverance were the real secrets of success.
One of their best-known stories revolves around weight-lifting and carrying calves, which is a technique many farmers can relate to at this time.
Apparently, their famous wrestler Milo started weight lifting as a young lad by lifting a baby calf every day. Obviously the calf got bigger and bigger every day until Milo was bench-pressing a bull.
Whatever Milo was capable of, a hefty Hereford calf is more than enough for me. By the time we had the colostrum and stomach tube ready to go, it took three of us to manage the task: two to hold the weight of the calf up and another to hold up the bottle with the colostrum.
I thought to myself, this is what ‘a real calf ’ feels like. I guess my heart will always carry a bit of Hereford bias, but what my brain really meant was that I’m well able to stomach-tube or carry light little dairy calves across yards by myself without calling on any additional muscle.
It made me consider that Milo’s weightlifting power might have to be called into question depending on whether the calf he started out with was a Jersey or a Belgian Blue.
The Greeks were right, though, about repetition and perseverance making us better at things.
Here are a few practical elements that have made the calving season a little bit easier here.
Electric blanket/ hot water bottle
There are few things worse in life than getting back into a chilly bed after doing a cold maternity ward check in the small hours.
Some prefer a human version of the electric blanket.
In theory, this works fine but under testing, the human version has been found to grumble about a farmer’s cold feet, cheeks, hands and even nose. The electric version eliminates this risk.
Digital thermometer
Do yourselves a favour and pick up one of these for €12 in the nearest chemist.
Make sure it is thoroughly cleaned and put back in a specific place. The second a calf or cow looks poorly, use the thermometer and you’ll know immediately if action needs to be taken.
Never let any human use it on themselves. Not because it’s not clean but because they will realise its usefulness and steal it for the house and not the farm.
Learn to stomach-tube a calf
When I think of the nights I spent trying to get calves to suck when I could have just stomach-tubed them and eliminated the fear and frustration that they weren’t getting the three litres they needed!
I like the Trusti-feeder with the green lid. I splashed out €67 on one online and then saw the same one for €27 in the local co-op.
But I find the red ones too stiff and the stomach-tubing bags look like a wrapper rejected from a euro-saver menu.
Keep one stomach tube for regular calves and one for sick calves. Clean and disinfect after each use — no matter how exhausted you are. Your future self will thank you.
Good-quality colostrum is crucial
I don’t care how many times “calf saver” or “survivor” are scrawled on a flashy bottle in the co-op. Nothing can beat getting 3L of good-quality colostrum into a calf within three hours of birth.
When we just had sucklers it was hard to make sure we had extra colostrum on hand, and getting some from other people can be tricky.
Bacteria can multiply on the surface of colostrum exposed to air. Ideally you want colostrum that was frozen immediately from a farmer that tests for Johnes.
Don’t forget the joy
Yes, you’ll be wrecked but watching new life take its first wobbly steps is a privilege and for me at least, never gets old.