Realities of Raising Cattle

In terms of cattle, dad had a rough past 24 hours. Remember that little calf in the previous post? The one that the mama left behind when she went to go get some food? Well, apparently something wasn't quite right with the little guy and it passed away yesterday.

This happens far more often than we would like. I know we have to look at our ranch as a business. But if there is a single person that looks at a newborn calf and doesn't have it pull on their heartstrings, then there is something wrong. I still take it hard when a calf I have had a personal connection with later dies. I might not take it as hard as I did as a kid, but it still is a little heartbreaking.

The heifer, as far as we can tell, was a good mother. Something just wasn't right with the calf and it wouldn't eat like it was supposed to. So, as we do at least once or twice every calving season, we "grafted" a calf onto the mother. We have older cows each year that have gotten bred but we will no longer be keeping them after they calve. They are cows that might be losing their teeth so it is hard for them to eat or they have some other sort of health issue partially due to their age. Those cows have served us well over the years, but they won't be ones we keep for another year. So, if one of our younger heifers loses a calf, we often take a calf off of the older cow and put it on the younger heifer.

This is the calf as it is introduced to its new mother.

Also, in the early morning hours, my dad was EXTREMELY nice and did not call me when he needed to pull a calf at 3 in the morning. We try to breed the first-calf heifers with a bull that will produce a smaller calf so it is easier for them to calve. Sometimes it doesn't quite work out that way though and they need help to get the calf out because it is so big. The little guy below was the one that was pulled. When I say "pulled" I literally mean "pulled." We have to connect a chain to their front legs and pull while the cow pushes. We try to let it occur as naturally as possible and just keep pressure applied so the cow's pushing is a little more effective.

Might be walking on my tippy-toes for a while ;-)

This calf is walking a little funny today. The cable has made his poor front feet pretty sore since he was so big and really hard to pull, but dad said it should clear up and the swelling will go down in the next few days.

So, even as we sadly said goodbye to one little calf, my dad helped another calf make its arrival into the world. It doesn't mean we don't get sad, it just means we have to put aside the sadness to help protect the lives of those calves still living.