Hi I'm Mike, today we head out early and help calves be born and we take a look at
the technology behind calving as we go new school and old school on our Wyoming Life.
Welcome to our Wyoming life, its 4am here on the ranch and that's when my day starts
now days.
Over the past month or so we have been calving our heifers and now as they wind down we are
all set for the cows to going into labor and bringing their babies into the world.
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Heifers are first time moms, and they require quite a bit of monitoring during the month
or so that they have been calving, they are inexperienced in the process and sometimes
they don't even know that they have had a calf and that why we keep a really close
eye on them.
We have to make sure they accept their calves, that they take care of them and that they
are able to have them safely in the first place.
With the heifers winding down, things get a little bit easier but by no means is the
struggle of calving over.
We still have over 150 cows to go, and now begins a long calving season on the ranch.
Cows still need someone to watch over them, we make sure calves are born safely and are
healthy.
We tag babies so that we can help keep track of who has calved and who hasn't, and we
are able to reunite lost calves with their moms.
Calving the cows, is an all day long process.
They don't clock out for me at 5 and I sleep when I can, checking them every few hours.
Our first years here, were tough.
I didn't have a clue about cows, the calving process, how cows would react to getting their
calves tagged and most importantly we didn't know the early warning signs of trouble.
Believe it or not I got this book, Beef Cattle for Dummies, and started learning everything
that I could about cows and soon I felt more confident and sure in my abilities.
But as with anything there is always room for improvement and one thing that hasn't
really been incorporated well into ranching is technology, and I get it, there's the
old romantic notion of following your cows on horseback through the hills and valleys.
Sleeping under the stars, falling asleep on your bedroll listening to the cows lull you
sleep.
It's cool but its also a business and just as in the late 1800's and the repeating
rifle was huge new technology and helped protect herds all across the west, now new technology
is emerging for ranchers and cows and calving.
As we get ready to head out this morning we are going to use some of that technology here
on the ranch, we've got thermal imagine, spotlights and tools that help make things
a lot easier, but just like ranchers in the past century, it all still comes down to knowing
your cows, and knowing what to look for.
It is dark out here, without lights you wouldn't be able to see but a few feet ahead of you,
no street lights to light our way, no glowing sign from the holiday inn to light up the
country side.
On the bright side, so to speak, it's a great place to go star gazing, but its horrible
conditions to try to find a single cow, somewhere in about 400 acres.
She's out there and tonight its our job to find her.
Luckily, we have to tools to do it.
Most of our night checks are done in the John Deere Gator, its got an enclosed cab, not
only to protect us from the weather but also from an angry mom, or to make a good place
to get a calf in and warming up if we have to take him or her back to the barn.
On top of the gator is a spotlight, this is a Go Light radio-controlled spotlight, it's
got a 200,000-candlepower bulb and will shine out about 300 yards on a clear night.
It features 370-degree rotation as well as tilt and it invaluable for searching for calves
or cows at night.
Using the remote from inside the gator I can aim it exactly where I need it.
The only problem being, where you aim it is all you see.
You have to keep moving the spot light constantly to find what you are looking for and that's
where one of our newest, most expensive and most important pieces of equipment comes in
and helps out.
This is a FLIR thermal imager, it's a Scout III.
This one sells currently for about 1400$ and there are versions that are less expensive.
We look at it as investment in the ranch, if you save two calves with this device, its
paid for itself, which it already has.
This unit features different settings for viewing heat and we can switch it on the fly,
depending on current conditions.
Some setting work better in snow, some in fog and others work better in even warmer
weather.
The best way for us to use it is to find a high vantage point and scan the pasture.
Most cows will hang out together at night but a cow that is in labor or recently calved
will tend to separate herself from the herd.
Sometimes even hiding to have her calf.
The higher we are above the pasture the better and one a small hill we can take a look across
400 acres at one time.
Looking for any hotspots out in the field.
Just like this one.
This small dot is something that is giving off heat, its located about 2000 feet away
from where we are at this time or a third of a mile.
And I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that is a cow in labor.
Heading that way, we can use the Flir Thermal imager to keep our bearings until we are able
to get a spotlight on the cow.
This is number 65, she's 7 years old and this will be her 6th calf that she has had
on the ranch.
By checking our records, I know that she has never had any calving problems or complications
and with the sun beginning to rise, apparently her labor isn't too intense because she
heads back towards the cows and the rest of the herd.
Who are all waiting for breakfast, and I'm nothing if not a good server, so we roll out
a couple bales of hay for cows to get their morning meal out of the way.
We are expecting temperatures into the 50's today, lows at night are still dipping into
the teens, but once the sun shows up, man, it feels good.
Another piece of technology we have at our disposal is the MooCall.
This thing is truly cool and could help you out with your prize cow or a cow or heifer
you have in the barn waiting to calve.
The moo call device costs about 300 bucks and includes your first year of service, additional
years of service cost about 120 bucks, and here's how it works.
Cows are crappy poker players, they all have tells, not when they are holding a good hand,
but when they are in labor and over time you can learn to spot them from a long way away.
The moocall takes one of the cows tells and translates it into digital signals, and that
tell, comes from the cow's tail.
When cows are in labor, they are going to swish their tails around, and the closer they
get to having a calf, the more they are going to do it.
By strapping the moocall to your cow's tail, it will measure the movement and look for
that sweet spot, indicating looming birth.
When it gets those signals, it texts your phone.
That's right, you get a text, a butt dial from a cow, telling you that you had better
get out and check on her.
Its amazing and it works really well, we haven't had a chance to use it yet this year but last
year we used it and it worked great and we look forward to using it this year as well.
With the cows fed, and an hour or so gone by we can now head back out to check on number
65 and see what she is doing.
We know she's going to have a calf today, the question is when.
But how do we know she's going to have a calf and just doesn't want some alone time.
The tells I told you about are easy to see once you know what you are looking for, and
some you can spot from across the pasture and the easiest to see is the tail position.
Not only does a cow hold her tail up to give birth but her pelvic ligaments are going to
loosen preparing to give birth.
Another tell is mucus and discharge, the closer they are the more there will be.
Another indication of labor, it little feet, calves are born front feet first, their nose
will normally slip out after their feet and wedged between their legs and the rest of
their body to follow.
When we see feet, we expect to have a calf within the hour and if we don't, then we
have trouble, either a stuck or breech calf.
Our girl number 65 is close and we going to give her a bit of privacy and check another
cow, just down the hill, who looks like she snuck under the radar and had her calf here
with in the last hour or so.
Looking back at the Flir footage from this morning, we can actually see where she was,
I looked right over her but there she is, that little dot.
Luckily, she looks like she had her calf just fine.
This is one of Gracie's cows, and the calf gets a pink ear tag, Graces color.
I've had some people ask how I can keep the cows so calm when I mess with their calves,
I don't know the exact answer.
These cows are very used to me being up close and personal with them.
When I feed, I get out of the tractor and am right up with them as I cut net wrap off
the bales.
I walk through them while they are eating and I guess they trust me.
They know I'm not there to hurt anyone or anyone's calf, but they also know that I
am the boss, when its time to sort or move cows, they know when I say go, they go and
they can argue but they will lose.
So, its 95% trust 5% fear, that's my guess anyway.
With Graces calf tagged and ready to go, we can go back to 65 and take a look and see
what is going on there.
We are getting close and now it's nothing but a waiting game because she has been in
labor for so long, we are going to keep a pretty close eye on her and wait for this
calf to be born.
Eventually though the time is coming close as toes emerge, in an effort to gain herself
some privacy she is going to leave us and we are going to back off.
Giving her some space but keeping her in sight.
When she lays down, then its go time and we can swoop in, not taking all the credit, but
hey we are here.
This little boy makes the 23-calf born this year on the ranch, and as each calf is born,
the future of the ranch is carried along with them.
We do this not only for the love of animals, but for the love of our family, to be able
to offer them the life that we have lived, the lessons we have learned and experiences
we have been through.
Ranching and farming is all about a legacy, and using technology, learning new ways to
do things is a part of a legacy that I hope that I can pass on, but as with any technology,
you can't forget the ways that our grandparents and parents did it.
When the electricity goes out we still reach for candles and imagine what would happen
if you didn't know how to light it.
Reading cows signals, knowing their behavior, and what is normal and what is not is sometimes
the best tool you can have in your tool box, that and common sense, and the ability to
walk on your own.
Thanks for coming out with me today, subscribe and join us as we continue to explore the
ranch life and escape the ordinary, 3 times per week right here.
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if you like what you see.
I'll talk to you in the comments and until next time, have a great week and thanks for
joining us, in our Wyoming life.
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