daughter 's hefer

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Helped my daughter get her first hefer last year and bread it to our bull so she would have a calf old enough to take to our fair in Sept. Well time came yesterday day to have her calf and I waited to long to get it pulled hoping the hefer could get it done on her own. Lost the calf. Felling pretty bad that I let them down. Daughter has helped pull calves before with bad results. She handles it well and I think she is a better person knowing that things don"t always turn out for the best. Just wish I could have done a better job for her own animal.
 
If you raise livestock, you"re gonna" lose "em once in a whle.
I lost a three week old calf to coyotes and a 10 week old calf to "overeating disease" (clostridium perfringens C&D) I think. I should have shot any coyotes on the place but I vacinated the steer with 8 way twice.
I know that doesn"t do you any good but sometimes, inspite of our best efforts, we can"t save them all.
Sorry for your loss.
 
Once you see a foot out, you don't want to wait very long to get it out. Have had the fluid start drying out and then they are tough to pull out.
 
It is tough but it is teaching her the facts of life. Even in today's modern society things can still go wrong. I am sure she knows you did your best.

If there are any diaries in your area get a bull calf on the heifer to nurse her. Breed the heifer back and try again is what I would do.

I know many get rid of a heifer that loses the first calf but I always thought that was short sighted. You have a cow that is just one breeding cycle away from another calf. You start another heifer and it is more of a crap shot.

My Grand Dad always told me this when we lost one" If you did not have them you could not lose them" his meaning that if you own livestock losing some of them is "Normal".
 
When I got home from work she had a bag of water hanging out a little bigger than a soft ball. Two hours latter nothing had changed. Got her in the chute and could feel one foot not even really out but there. That's when we pulled it. Been fooling around with these cows for 20 plus years and still feel like I don't have a clue sometimes. Still learning.
 
Years ago (about 20) I had a Holstein heifer that my neighbors bull got to. I knew it was going to be a problem and came very close to selling her as a springer just to pass my bad fortune off on someone else.
Anyway I went checking on her and she was having problems. Called the Vet but really could not wait on her to get here so me and my wife went to work on her.
Long story short.................
I had the calf hanging upside down on a gate when the Vet got here trying to drain the poor calf's lungs but it did not make it.

My wife felt so bad for the calf she has not eaten any red meat since that day.
 
Sorry to hear that, I hope your daughter does ok. I can feel for her disappointment, I lost one last Tuesday under similar circumstances. That's part of the business.
 
It is always a tough call, when to intercede and when to let nature take its course. Then it is common for us to do the should have game, should have left her alone, should have pulled it sooner, should have been watching closer. The smaller the operation the greater the loss. Just completed the county fair with our Granddaughters. Goats, chickens, ducks and dog obedience. Your daughters probably already thinking about next years project. gobble
 
A friend's daughter raised the State 4-H Grand Champion duroc gilt a couple of years ago. Decided not to sell her, but to breed her instead. That winter, she had a pig get hung up in the birth canal and died. But she did produce 2 new gilts and a barrow. One of the gilts went on to become over-all Reserve Champion.

One thing is certain. Livestock farming teaches kids all about the circle of life.
 

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