Keeping an eye out for droopy calves

This one made it, and is standing on his own now. Good to see him nursing again. He was missing at head count a couple of days ago, when the cows walked up to the manger with their calves, to feed. Found him sprawled out on the snow under a tall bitter-brush. After couple days of tubing him with 2 quarts of Re-sorb to keep him hydrated and a shot of LA200 to bust his immune system the little guy is up and walking. But will need to keep an eye on orange-tag-number 83's calf. He has scours pretty bad now too, looking puny, but still up and walking, Will have to watch them all. February, scours season is here.

Don't know why it is but whenever a heavy snow or rain storm blows into the Valley our cows calve. The calves do OK if the cow has enough sense to drop in a dry, wind protected part of the sagebrush field; away from ditches, and near good brush cover, but if she doesn't keep her wits about her and drops her calf near the ditch bank or out in the open the calve could have trouble getting a start at life. Drowning happens when storm water raises up stock water ditches. Ditch banks are slippery slopes for brand new wobbly legs to negotiate. Frozen ears and tails mark below freezing temperatures on a calf.

But if the calf makes it past the birthing trauma, stands and gets a good warm drink of milk from mom, he should do well. The next concern is keeping their stomachs healthy. Sometimes a calf gets a bug but can fight it off with just a short squirty bout of scours, sometimes scours take the calf. Got to keep a good eye on droopy calves.

Early spring will come to our Sierra Nevada pastures bringing a 20-40 degree change from cold clear nights to bright sun warmed days and pneumonia can hit an animal. And again if the calf is healthy it should be able to handle the temperature changes but if a bug does settle into a calf's lungs you treat it early and keep vaccinations on schedule, everything should work out fine. Sometimes it doesn't. A calf can go down and after agonizing days of care and still never get back up.

In summer our animals grow fat fast eating a mixed green salad of clover, dandelions and grasses soon reaching about 700 pounds, making them easy to wean from their mothers. She needs a rest. These calves, now classified as steers or heifers, get used to eating hay from a manger. In our manger there are two steers from last year. Eating as much green hay as they want and enjoying a good mineral mix salt lick every now and then.

These two big black steers will continue to spring and summer over on the ranch then make a trip this fall to become holiday steaks. Will get around to telling that story, but today this little guy, just over a week old is finally up and walking around again. So just going to enjoy the satisfaction of watching him nurse under the morning's warming sun. Today is a good day to be alive.

Marie Johnson is a Carson Valley rancher. Her column appears each month in The Record-Courier.