Saturday, March 9, 2013

The calving nursery.

Most of my readers have been to a hospital nursery with human babies. Have you ever thought of the similarities between what you know as a nursery and a calving nursery.

The only differences seem to be a calving nursery is very mobile and not as sanitary.

Sometimes this is the nursery . . .


or sometimes this . . .

and once in awhile even this.


We help deliver the calves and help the mamas stay comfortable. A good cow can do it on her own, however if one is in need of assistance, we like to do this in the barn. However if she can't get there, we will help her where ever she is.

We identify all calves with a tag.  This allows us to make sure missing calves are reunited and data can be collected to improve the herd.  We also document all vaccines and medications by their identification numbers.  We are unable to use the cute matching wrist bracelets as they would end up muddy, they are also not easy to read from a distance.




We also collect weights and sexes on all calves born. The scale is a little different than the one at the hospital.

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