OT/9 lives

I've got two calves here that must have'em,but they've just about exhausted them. One wouldn't suck the cow,had the vet out back in April to rehydrate him. I tube fed him for 7 weeks,then weaned him and put him back out on pasture. We had two and a half inches of rain back three weeks or so ago and a whole bunch of slop ran out of the feedlot and he got down in it. When I found him,all I could see was his head,and that was sinking. I dragged him out and when I pulled him around a wooden corner post,I tore a big gouge down his spine on some barbed wire around the post. I got him in a pen and nursed him back to health. He got under a gate about two weeks ago and was out in the yard eating grass,so I put him back out in the pasture,skinny as a rail,but alive.
Then there was the other one. Born about 5 days before that one. The mother abandoned her. She was pretty dehydrated by the time I realized she wasn't being fed,but I nursed her back to health. I penned her in the barn with the other one and she did great. I pail broke her so I didn't have to use a bottle. Weaned her and put her out on pasture when I put the other one out.
Day before yesterday,the cows all huddled up in the barn in the heat,knocked her down in the manure and layed on her. Ground her head right in to the crap. I dragged her out,took her in the barn and got her to stand up. I'd thought she'd go right for the water,but she went for the grain. A while later she was still in it,so I took it away so she didn't get acidosis. Thought I'd dodged the bullet,but yesterday morning,she was sprawled out,looked dead. Got her tipped up and have been tubing milk replacer in to her. Gave her a shot of Micotil. She's still hanging on,but in this heat,I got the other one back in with her before something happens to HIM again.
Sometimes you just wonder why you didn't have sense enough to shoot them in the first place?

Yeah, but bu the time you've invested all that time and trouble, it's hard to let go! Nonfarmers wouldn't understand. I'm still fighting with that baler I should have replaced two years ago... Any knotter specialists around here?

I think it is because farming is twined with optimism. You hope it will rain, you hope it doesn't rain, you hope the calves will turn out right. Gotta have hope.

Yep,I feel like I let that heifer calf down. Her mama walked off on her and I was all she had. Been telling her if she lives,I'll keep her around for a cow instead of sending her off to slaughter. Don't know if she's getting the message or not.

There's not a whole bunch of knotter specialists that I know of anymore. Since round balers came along,most of'em have died off.

These are the times you think of the people you once thought were nuts, because they had a calf in a box on the back porch, or on a rug on the kitchen floor, you just can't give up on them, so you - just don't give up. Keep it close to home, babied for a while, they'll make it. There was someone a few months ago that bought 2 calves with shipping fever or? We never heard what becamee of them. I like to hear good news now and then... good luck.

I know more about old International #45 knotters than I ever wanted to, and that ain't much. The best illustration of how they are supposed to work is in the old John Deere "OPeration & Care of Farm Machinery" books. The old ones show a binder knotter, but they all basically work the same. Lots of things to go wrong, and sometimes they still miss a knot now and then even under the best of conditions. Specifically what is it doing?

Thats when i get the mama cow and calf in the lot and keep at it till the mama will take the calf. Sometimes ya got to get more stubborn then the cow.

I think you are trying to wean them a little early. When I had to bottle/bucket feed a calf I always did it for at least two months. Then I would only wean it if it was eating sweet feed real good. Then I would never put them back in with full size cattle. A young calf like that can not get enough grass to grow right. I would pin several together and feed them a 15-18% protein feed plus good hay. When they where 300-400 lbs I might switch them out to pasture but even then I would creep feed them.

Remember that you don"t wean the other calves off the cow at seven weeks. The hand feed calves have the same feed needs but without a cow to help out. You need to be helping out these young calves longer or get them up and going. Then take them to the sale barn. Good beef calves will bring $175-250 around here at a week old.

they've always been more trouble than their worth, to me.