Fall Calving Tips
Fall calving season is just getting underway. I’m Susan Allen stay tuned on today’s OpenRange for some new information from OklahomaState and the USDA regarding calving and when a rancher should offer assistance. Stage two in a cow-calf calving operations is the period of time from the first appearance of the water bag until a baby calf is on the ground. Traditionally most animal science programs have taught that stage II labor can last from two to four hours. New research both from the USDA experiment station in Montana and OklahomaStateUniversity show that simply isn’t the case especially with first calf heifer’s even mature cows. Montana’s USDA group found that average stage II labor testing thirty two, first calf heifers was under an hour at fifty-four point one minutes and for mature cows a stunning twenty-two point five minutes. With nearly identical findings OklahomaState timed thirty –two first calf heifers and they average d fifty-five minutes in stage two labor. What ranchers should take from both studies is that heifers in labor more than an hour or cows going over thirty minutes needed assistance. OSU’s recommendation is if the heifer is not making significant progress an hour after the water bag or feet appear she needs to be examined. They warns that if ranchers cannot safely deliver the calf. Call the vet, before you apply chains as it is critical that the cows cervix is fully dilated. For two great DVD’s on assisting cows at calving contact Oklahoma State Ag Communication Services, their link is at aginfo.net
