01/19/06 Calving heifers

Calving Heifers Calving first-calf heifers can be interesting and innovative. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back to tell you want I mean. Getting that calf born, safely on the ground, and nursing its mother quickly can be a challenge with first calf heifers. Whether these first-time mommas are calved out in a range operation or calved with a little more observation and closer to facilities to use if they need help, calving these young cows can be interesting at time. Range operations rely on selecting heifers from cows that have always calved without assistance and mating them with bulls that have the genetics to produce smaller calves at birth. Cattlemen who keep their first-calf heifers in closer use those management techniques plus tailor systems of checking the heifers that meet their particular operation. Some places have video cameras that can view the calving area, some visually check the young cows by going through them on a horse, vehicle or the silly way I catch myself doing  walking. Well at least I get a horse if I need to take one to the corrals. A rancher in Montana I know had a window in his house that looked out at his lighted calving lot  now that's innovation. Whatever the operation, whatever the amount of planning and checking one other ingredient is needed to successfully calve out a bunch of first calf heifers and that's a big portion of luck. Good luck with the weather, quiet heifers that want to be good mothers, dodging some unforeseen health problem and being able to offer successful assistance in case of a calving complication is always a welcome partner. I'm Jeff Keane