During calving season we spend a lot of our time driving around through our cows looking for signs of cows in labor and looking for new calves. A cow that is in labor will kick at the air, walk funny, lift its tail up and generally just look agitated. Once you start to see the body language of a cow in labor you can spot it from a half mile away. There are also certain behaviors that we watch for like laying down, focused grooming of the calf and defensive postures when we get close. These behaviors tell us that the cow might have recently had a calf.
If one of the cows takes too long during labor then it is our job to help deliver the calf. If you want to know more about that look it up on YouTube. I have a lot better things to do with your time and mine than describe that process...
After a cow in labor, our next priority is any new baby calves. Once a cow has had her baby we give them some distance and note the number of the mother. It is important to make sure that the calves are healthy, they are nursing and mother claims them. If they are not nursing sometimes we have to take the cow and and calf and teach the calf how to nurse by putting the cow in the chute and showing the calf how to latch on. Who would have thought this would be so difficult...?
If everything is good with the Momma cow and baby calf, then the first thing we do is put an ear tag in the calf's ear. We tag the calves with matching numbers of the cows. That way we know that the cows are paired with the right calf. We also need this later for sorting cows and calves to go to different pastures. If the calf is a bull, we attach a castration band to turn the bull into a steer.
There are a couple reasons why we castrate our bulls on the ranch. Bulls can be very aggressive and can seriously injure people and other cattle. Additionally, the higher levels of testosterone in a bull causes their meat to be tougher and have less fat content. The tastiest beef is usually the beef that has a nice mix of fat to protein. The industry term for this is marbling. So between having calmer animals and higher quality beef, turning bulls into steers is a no brainier.
The most cowboy part of the experience comes when we are tagging/castrating the calf. A good Momma cow does not like you messing with her baby. This is a good thing because it means the cow has claimed her baby and is protective but it can make your life a little interesting sometimes. The art of tagging/castrating a calf is doing it quickly and not getting run over by a mad Momma.
When you spend this much time with your cattle you start to know them. You start to see the personality traits of each one of them. They also get used to you and start to tame down around you. The best thing about having cattle is helping bring new life into this world and helping it to grow. It's also satisfying to think that we are producing food for the people on this planet and helping to sustain life here on this world.
- *OB/GYN, Baby Sitter and Lactation Consultant Ryan
P.S. - A word to the wise: If your wife is in the middle of child labor, whatever you do, under no circumstances, do play Push it by Salt and Pepper... Yes, It sounds like it would be hilarious in your head but it is a mistake. Trust me.
*I'm not really an OB/GYN...
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