We are almost halfway through calving right now so I know how you feel.
Sometimes you just have to go outside and yell at a tree, kick a turd or catch a 20 minute nap, whatever it takes to retain your sanity and keep things in harmony with your misses.
We have been doing the afternoon feeding for years and 99% of our calves are born during the day.
The exception to this is the period 1-3 days after a full moon.
I could offer a few guesses as to why the moon messes things up but guesses is all they would be.
1 day after the last full moon we had 11 calves hit the ground in 24 hours, only 3 were in the dark.
Now they are back to normal with 0 night calves this past week.
For the cow that seems not interested in her new calf you can try what we discovered by accident that seems to work 9 out of 10 times for us.
Mix up some powdered colostrum, maybe half a cup and pour it on the calf head to tail.
Not sure if it is the smell of it that attracts the cows to it but it takes no time at all for the cows to come over and take a lick of it off the calf, one lick then they stick their nose up in the air then twist their lips and tongue just like a bull checking for a cow in heat.
After doing this they will start licking down the calf, at times we have had 3-4 cows at the same time licking down the same calf.
If the real momma is not in on the comotion, jealousy or all the attention will soon have her bowling her way in to claim her calf and give it the attention it needs.
Good luck to you and your better half with the new one on the way, right now that is priority number one.
If you have a decent set of cows they will handle most of the things you perceive as problems just fine on there own, on average we pull 2 or 3 a year out of 100+ and even then 1 or 2 of those probably could have delivered without assistance.
We all do the best we can but fact of life when you have livestock you will have dead stock regardless of how diligent you are.
Hang in there and before you know it they will be out to pasture.
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Today's Featured Article - Good As New - by Bill Goodwin. In the summer of 1995, my father, Russ Goodwin, and I acquired the 1945 Farmall B that my grandfather used as an overseer on a farm in Waynesboro, Georgia. After my grandfather’s death in 1955, J.P. Rollins, son of the landowner, used the tractor. In the winter 1985, while in his possession the engine block cracked and was unrepairable. He had told my father
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