Contents:
Calving Time | Nutrition Tips for Your Cow Herd | Prevention of Calf Scours | Cattlemen's Calendar | SIPAC 2000 Series - Forages - Beef Cattle - Forestry | Beef Winter Meeting/IBCA District Meeting

Calving time is always an exciting and busy time of the year. Preparing for the upcoming season now is important! Purdue Extension Veterinarian Larry Horstman offers some helpful advice for knowing when and how to assist your cows at calving time.

It has been estimated that 50% of calf losses are due to a difficult birth and that 50% of these losses are preventable. According to Horstman, prevention involves understanding the normal birth process (parturition) and being able to use proper techniques to assist the cow at calving time.

A key factor in knowing when to intervene is PROGRESS. Cattle must be observed carefully and frequently to determine the stage of parturition and how well the cow is progressing through the delivery process. Consult your veterinarian promptly if you have concerns. Consider the following guidelines. Intervention is necessary when:

• The cow remains in Stage 1 for more than 6 hours and does not initiate abdominal straining.
• The cow has been in Stage 2 for 2 - 3 hours.
• The "water sack" is seen hanging from the vulva for more than 2 hours.

If assistance is required, the cow or heifer should be restrained in a clean, dry area. Once the cow is restrained, use soap and water to clean the anus and vulva area. Your hands and arms also need to be washed and lubricated (Crisco, Vaseline or soap work well).

If the cow is dilated, determine the position of the calf by feeling for the feet, head and/ or tail. You will be able to feel three joints in the front leg and only two in the hind leg. The calf must be positioned properly before pulling. A calf coming with its hind legs first, cannot be turned around and must be delivered in that position.

When using obstetrical chains or straps to assist in delivery, be sure to loop the chain above the fetlock (1^st joint above the hoof) and half hitch it below the fetlock. Pull on one leg at a time to help facilitate the passage of the calf's shoulders through the pelvis. Rotating the calf 1/8 to 1/4 turn after the shoulders pass through the pelvis will help to avoid "hip lock". Be sure to work with the cow as she contracts. A calf jack may be helpful, however, it can cause injury to the cow and/or calf if used improperly. Don't deliver the calf too quickly or with excessive traction. This may result in a prolapsed uterus and injury/death to the cow or calf.

Once the calf has been delivered, clear the nose and throat of mucus and stimulate the calf to breathe by rubbing briskly or slapping the calf and by tickling the nasal passage with a piece of straw. If there appears to be a large amount of fluid in the lungs, suspend the calf by the back legs for 10 - 15 seconds to aid in draining the fluids. Doxapram or strong coffee can be used to stimulate a calf that is slow to respond.

Winter has Arrived!

Nutrition Tips for Your Cow Herd

As I am preparing this article, the weather forecast is calling for our coldest weather of the season, temperatures in the teens and wind chill in the single digits. A vivid reminder that, yes winter has arrived in Indiana. Following are some things cattle producers might need to consider during the next few months:

1) Energy needs increase as temperature decreases - The lower critical temperature (LCT) is the temperature (including wind chill factor) at which a cow requires additional energy to simply maintain her current body weight and condition. The lower critical temperature for cattle varies with hair coat and body condition (BC).

Below the LCT, cows will lose weight unless additional energy supplementation is provided. How much energy should you supplement?

2) Parasite Control - With the shortage of forage this past summer and fall, grazing cattle may be carrying a higher than normal level of internal parasites. Additionally, lice problems will become more apparent as the winter progresses. Your veterinarian can assist you in determining if you have a parasite problem and can recommend products that are effective and easy to apply.

3) Hay supplies and quality - This year's drought has forced many producers to dip into winter hay supplies early. Get an inventory of available supplies and get a handle on the quality by forage testing now! With this information in hand, measures can be implemented to extend limited forage supplies.

At the SIPAC Farm in Dubois, we were surprised at the poor quality of our hay this year. Much of the hay tested below 70 Relative Feed Value (RFV) with crude protein around 8%. At this quality, intake is depressed such that mature cows cannot consume enough hay to meet their energy and protein needs. In this situation, the options are to blend this poor quality hay with a higher quality hay or provide energy (corn or corn silage) and a protein supplement.

4) Stretching short hay supplies - In years like this, when hay prices are high and concentrate prices are low, significant savings in feed can be achieved by substituting concentrate feeds for hay.

If your planning to extend hay supplies with additional corn, consider that hay intake will likely not decrease simply by feeding extra corn. A recent study conducted at Purdue indicated that feeding 6 - 8 lbs. of corn daily did lower consumption of high quality hay by 3 - 6 pounds. When low quality hay was offered, the additional 6 - 8 lbs. of corn only decreased hay intake by about 1 pound.

To effectively stretch short hay supplies with concentrate feeds, the amount of hay fed needs to be physically limited. In a separate Purdue study, cows were fed in three groups. The first group was offered hay free-choice with no additional grain supplementation. The remaining 2 groups of cows were limit fed hay to either 1.0% of their body weight (about 13 lbs. as-fed) or 0.5% of their body weight (about 6.5 lbs. as-fed) on a dry matter basis. Cows fed the 1.0% of hay were supplemented with 5.5 lbs. of ground corn and 0.5 lb. of soybean meal (SBM) daily. Cows receiving the lower level of hay were provided 9 lbs. of ground corn and 1.0 lb. of SBM. Performance of limit fed cows and their nursing calves was equal to or better than that of the cows offered free-choice hay with no grain or protein supplementation.

5) Sort by body condition for winter feeding - Critically evaluate the body condition of cows in the herd. The goal is to have all cows be at least a body condition of 5-6 by calving time.

Sorting into groups provides the opportunity to deliver higher quality feed or additional concentrate feeds to cows that need to gain condition. Feed savings can be realized for cows that simply need to maintain.

Spring calving cows are in a critical stage of production with calving fast approaching. Thin cows give birth to weak calves, milk poorly and have difficulty rebreeding on time. It's far better to get cows into proper body flesh condition ahead of calving than being forced to play "catch-up" later.

For fall calving cows, most should have cycled and be rebred by now. However, cold temperatures and heavy milk production will require high quality feed to prevent weight and condition losses. A creep area with high quality hay and concentrate feed should be made available for fall born calves, otherwise weaning weights are likely to suffer.

Prevention of Calf Scours

1) Maternal vaccination protocols. Proper timing of vaccination is important. Vaccines must be given to the cows at the correct time to get good immunity through the mother's colostrum. Remember too, the vaccine will do no good if the calf does not ingest adequate colostrum. Calves need to receive 2 quarts of colostrum by 6 hours and 2 more quarts by 12 hours.

2) Maintain cow body condition. A 4-state study conducted on 555 herds showed calves from cows that lost body condition during the last 60-90 days before calving, had significantly higher calf death losses due to scours than the cows that maintained body condition. Much of this was attributed to decreased birth weight and vigor in the calves. Another point to remember is a cow losing body condition during late gestation produces lower quality colostrum and does not milk as well as a cow in proper condition (5.5 - 6 body condition for cows and 6.5 - 7 for heifers). Cows that are losing condition will also tend to have more fertility problems.

3) Do not bring new animals into the herd at calving time. Anytime you bring in new animals, you run the risk of bringing in new disease pathogens. A calf's immune system is extremely naive with its only protection from the mother's colostrum. The colostrum a calf receives contains antibodies to protect from the diseases native to your herd, not new pathogens from animals foreign to the herd.

4) Calving heifers separate from cows. A heifer's immune system is not as "mature" as a cow's immune system, therefore, a heifer produces lower quality colostrum as compared to that of cows. Consequently, calves born to heifers tend to have less immunity than calves born to cows. A North Dakota study showed that farms where the cows and heifers calved in the same lot, had four times the amount of scours as compared to herds that calved cows and heifers in separate environments.

5) Develop a Calf Flow Plan. Iowa State University beef specialists have developed a calf flow plan that they have used in problem herds. It is as follows:

Cows should go from the pre-calving area into the calving pen to calve. Once they have calved, pairs should be moved out within 24-48 hours to one of the post-calving areas. Any calves that are not healthy or calves that were born assisted and are still sluggish should go to the sick post-calving pen. Healthy pairs go to the healthy post-calving pen. Once the pairs have left the calving area, they should not return to the calving area. This does two things: 1) it isolates disease to one area of your farm and limits spread of disease and 2) it keeps the calving area from getting a high build-up of disease organisms which can challenge newborn calves.

6) A clean calving environment is important to prevent a build-up of scours-causing pathogens. Typically, we see a higher incidence of scours later in the season as a result of the build-up of these pathogens. It is important to clean out the calving area and put fresh bedding in periodically. It's true, calves have some protection from the colostrum they receive from the cow, however, if the environment contamination is high enough, the scour-causing "bugs" can still overcome the calf's immunity and cause the disease.

I heard Dr. Greg Kurtz from Hagerstown, IN speak at a meeting and he suggests that his clients have two calving areas. When about half of the cows have calved, he has the client move those cows that are yet to calve to the second (clean) lot. I thought that was a great idea.

7) Colostrum is absolutely essential. If we are going to prevent scours, the most important factor is getting adequate quantity and quality of colostrum into calves. We've waited over 9 months to get a calf on the ground, so make sure the calf nurses vigorously. If in doubt, milk the cow out!

If scours is a problem in your herd, prompt diagnosis and treatment will help to minimize calf losses. Consult your veterinarian for a diagnosis and recommended treatment program.

Cattlemen's Calendar

*January 12 (12:00 noon)
IQ + Beef Calf Sale
Boswell Auction at Boswell, IN

January 18 (9:00 a.m.)
IBEP Weighday
Feldun Purdue Ag Center
Bedford, IN

January 19 (1 p.m.) - Session 1
February 9 (1 p.m.) - Session 2
2000 Great Lakes Professional Cattle Feeding and Marketing Shortcourse
304 Marshall County Building
112 West Jefferson Street
Plymouth, IN
Contact Kern Hendrix for more information at (765) 494-4832

February 14 & 15
Great Lakes Grazing Conference
Shipshewana Auction Center
Shipshewana, IN
Contact Ed Heckman for more information at (765) 973-9281

February 15 (9:00 a.m.)
IBEP Weighday
Feldun Purdue Ag Center
Bedford, IN

June 22
Purdue Forage Day 2000
Animal Sciences Research and Education Center in West Lafayette, IN

* Note date correction.

SIPAC 2000 Series - Forages - Beef Cattle - Forestry

These topics will be presented as "Twilight Field Days" at the Southern Indiana Purdue Ag Center (SIPAC) Dubois, IN. For more information contact: Jim Peter, Dubois Co. Extension at (812) 482-1782.

January 15 (9:00 a.m.)
IQ + Beef Certification
Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab - services offered

March 14 (6:00 p.m.)
Heifer selection
Body condition scoring
Selecting a performance tested bull
How to sample for endophyte infected fescue
Deworming your herd
Fly control strategy for 2000

May 9 (6:00 p.m.)
Intensive grazing systems
Water systems for intensive grazing
Managing performance tested bulls on the farm
Grazing summer annuals

July 11 (6:00 p.m.)
Pasture aeration and renovation
Brown midrib sorghum utilization
Grazing forage corn
Fly control research report

September 12 (6:00 p.m.)
Marketing your farm timber
Intensive grazing revisited
Pre-weaning management
Fall calving discussion

November 9 (6:00 p.m.)
Body condition scoring your cows
Grouping cows for winter feeding
Winter strategies for cow groups
Hay analysis results for feeding
Fall calving cows

Beef Winter Meeting/IBCA District Meeting

6:30 p.m. - Winter Feeding Strategies
7:00 p.m. - Forages for Y2K
7:30 p.m. - Bull Breeding Soundness and Calving Management
8:00 p.m. - Calendars & IBEEF, IRM, IQ + Beef and IBEP Updates
8:30 p.m. - IBCA District Meeting

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