5" of Snow + 5 Calves = 1 Busy Day

good morning we are on our way out to take a look at a cap that was just born here within the last few minutes in fact if you were watching on the webcam which is available on our website you would have been able to watch this calf being born now this is really close to the house which tells us that it's a really comfortable mom thanks for joining me once again it's the 30 and 30 right here on our life 30 blogs in the 30 days my name is Mike and we're in for a problem may be a busy day we never know we've got some weather on the way we're expected rain and snow today 5 to 6 inches of rain here overnight here is a little baby calf we're rolling up on right now mom is number 159 and she's a pretty comfortable mom with us you can see that the calf is still pretty slimy there now this is the number one reason why we work with our cows as much as we do is the fact that they're comfortable with us around them we want them to be as comfortable as possible with us so that we can get out and do work on calves Tagg calves see what we've got for calves hey mama okay so we've got a boy here and he's trying to nurse on the Gator let's give her back to mom hey you go get your mom there you go so number 159 good job you had yourself a little boy he's gonna get himself a bite to eat this morning and that's pretty much it that's pretty much it that is as easy as it gets here on the ranch the the big thing we like to to concentrate on because it's easy to to forget is that 90% of births that take place out here are simple there's no problem to them we don't even have to intervene we can just come along later tag the calf and be done that's the way we want it to happen of course that's not the way it always happens so we can of course hope for the best and always plan for the worst and get hurt information put in here calf [Music] ball [Music] birth weights seemed about right that's all there is to it and we create an animal that's pretty much it we're going to go ahead and take a drive around and see what's going on with anybody else get the cows fed this morning we also have the lick and the mineral that we purchased yesterday at the feed store we're gonna get some of that out today for these girls we have going on today today we have another guest coming into the farmhouse this guest will actually be staying for a little while as her and her family are coming up from Alabama as she is a nurse and she will be helping out at the at our local hospital here for the next few months so rather than stay in a hotel she got a hold of us and asked about the farm house she was not a subscriber although her husband was which was kind of funny and we are gonna have those guys moving in today and doing a little you know a little something for the community and letting some people stay in the farmhouse at a reduced rate so that that she can do her job and and help us out here in Campbell County so that should be a lot of fun we've got a busy day ahead of us stick around alright we're back we're out checking the cows and I do believe we may have found something else going on over here there's a cow that's hidden right over this embankment I just got a glimpse of ER she's red Angus looks like she has also had a cab this morning so we're gonna swing over this way and take care of her and her calf as well number 97 here is in the process of eating her afterbirth which is a predatory defense mechanism it's okay and we've got ourselves another little heifer here good mom good girl and again we'll leave them alone and let them do their bonding and add a calf [Music] [Applause] [Music] well it looks like our weather moved in a little bit early on us we've got snow coming down I'm sure some of those new calves are cold but first what we're going to do is we're going to jump in the skid steer here and get this cake off the back of the truck before it gets wet we're going to get it put away inside the shop then we'll run out and get these magnesium liquor barrels put out for the cows so that they can start chomping down on those so let's jump in the Bobcat and get that done [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] all right the Bobcat can live in here for a little bit I don't care probably close the door okay Bobcat can live in here for a little bit we're gonna run out with the pickup before the ground gets too soggy and drop off those liquor barrels okay like I told you yesterday I think it was yesterday these liquor barrels will help the cows by providing some of that mineral it's called magnesium which helps them produce milk and hopefully leads for a little bit more healthy calves so that's kind of our plan there the snow is just starting to stick it's still 37 degrees outside but the ground is cold this snow is really cold it's melting in a lot of places but it's also just like I said just started to stick so hopefully I don't think we haven't it will have any problem but we're gonna take this out up and over the hill or at least out of the first little triangle pasture here and that way some cows can still go out and get this stuff so here we go our calves are still looking good I went out and checked them just not too long ago there might be another cow that's in the process of doing something we're gonna have to keep a really close eye on her one of the problems that I can see already is that I still haven't found number one yet this morning her mom went and stashed her again somewhere and we haven't found them yet so I'm going to have to go out and take a look around and see if I can find her right here we're gonna drive right by his little number two hanging out in the cold and mom so once we get these dropped off I think what we'll have to do is go jump in the Gator and go and find a little Miss faith and and see where she's at and possibly reunite her with mom once again or at least take out some straw or something and get her get her covered up so she can stay warm as the temperature keeps on dropping here so but I think we'll try to find mom first that's usually a good plan find mom first and then go out looking for for calf so we'll be back in the Gator once we wrap this up also my my tenants my renters that are supposed to show up today I got a text from them they are not going to be here today so that gives us an extra day to get the house ready they're driving up from Alabama so they are running a little bit behind so I won't actually get to meet them until tomorrow so that actually helps up especially with this weather and stuff coming in so we're gonna get up here on the ridge the cows all look healthier than my my co-pilot here who's had a few rough days he did not socially distance that's the problem with him I want to make him a big sign I want to make a big sign and put it up on the highway that says I did not socially distant I don't know if that's in bad taste or not but I think it's funny anyway we're gonna get up here on this little Hut fire on the ridge and we're gonna dump out these lick barrels like I said it before they weigh about 250 pounds apiece so they're not light a little trick that I like to use is actually getting on an uphill a little bit not a major one I don't want to lose control the lick barrels but if I give myself just a little bit of a slope sometimes that'll help so let's go get cold [Music] I still want to be a rancher actually this really isn't it's 37 degrees I don't know why I'm complaining but it is cold this this snow this type of year time of year is is the type of snow that's like it's it's like little it should be rain right in a normal world this would be rain 36 degrees you think you'd have rain but obviously the the rain as it's coming down is passing through colder areas or colder pockets in the sky so turning the snow sleet whatever the heck this is and what it's really doing is just turning it into tiny little ice crystals those ice crystals sitting there like needles they're just like just like pounding into your skin so I can only imagine what a little calf we're getting to drive we're gonna chance to drive by number two here again I can only imagine how it feels to a little calf at least they have you know they have fur so imagine you know wearing probably the the warmest winter jacket that you can find and that would probably be more like being one of these calves but still we've been in a super warm winter jacket yeah not the best place in the world to hang out right the cow had a choice I'm sure she'd be in Tahiti too so and by the way if you're watching it if it's in Tahiti I hate you so thanks I'm just kidding I don't hate you I'm just really disappointed in you oh nice and toasty in here oh it's nice and toasty this little heater well you know still a small heater it's still kicking out the juice man it's it's it's nice and warm in here oh man it's almost like heaven let's uh let's go find 130 to start with we'll worry about her cap also we do have the thermal imager in here with us which may come in handy for this project so let's go find mom and then we'll look for what for the baby hey this one's act a little flighty this might be her yeah that's her see now she wants to move away from me so obviously she okay she's out here there's number 130 she's that the black one out there right there she does not have her cap with her hey where's your baby where's your baby go get your baby [Music] so basically what I want to do is put her together with her calf hopefully she knows where her cab is that's the that's the big thing and I'm kind of beginning to wonder about her ability as a mom the only time I really ever see her with her calf is at night or if I put her together with her calf to go find your calf don't make me do it for you do I have to do it all right looks like like we have to do it so what we're gonna do is we're gonna find kind of a my point here and today we will be using our FLIR thermal imager little dusty that's okay off the lens cap okay so there she goes she's on the move she knows something's going on she's looking so we are gonna help out and look as well the landscape okay so there she goes she's on the move she knows something's going on she's looking so we are gonna help out and look as well [Music] okay so here's our plan we have I've not really had any luck with finding faith with the thermal imager and part of the problem with that is that the snow blowing sideways falling whatever is obscuring the thermal imaging and we're not able to see through that cold snow we've driven around we've looked for it for quite a while we haven't found her the hope is well there's three things that can happen either she's gonna stand up on her own and her mom's gonna find her that way or a wool find her that way her mom is gonna go find her and she knows where she's at or that we're going to wait a little bit until the snow stops falling and then we'll be able to come back out with the thermal imager again and take a look without the obstruction of the snow within the thermal image so that's our plan we're just going to kind of back off here a little bit hopefully faith is in a spot where she's nice and warm which obviously I think she is because we can't find her so she's hunkered down somewhere we'll come back out in a few and and try again already temperature has dropped down to 26 degrees the snow has not really stopped in the last hour or so but we're gonna go back out and take a look around with this kind of weather a calf that's born you know I would probably say has pretty close to 50/50 shot maybe better you never know just there's so many different factors that could play into it you know depending on where the calf is born and all kinds of other stuff that could be a contributing factor to how the calf deals with the first even his few minutes of its life so I am going to we're going to go out we're in a drive around or take a look at the cows that are still out most of the cows are moving up into the barn which is a good thing it is kind of a bad thing though because if we have calves that are moving up as well things do get a little crowded cows tend to step on calves things like that can happen very easily so we want to make sure that that any calves that are in with these cows our safe so the only thing we can really do is count on mom to do that for us so we're going to definitely make sure that we account for all the calves while we're out here there's only three so far that we have to account for which makes it easy but we're going to definitely make sure everybody's okay so first of all we're gonna head in to a little pasture that we called a lot and we're gonna open up a gate that will allow the cows to head up into bigger barn it's a I think it's 40 by a hundred or something like that it's pretty good-sized barn that all the cows can hide out in in this kind of weather so let's get started there [Music] so we already see the 159 and her calf are hanging out here they're going to probably head up towards the barn we really do just need to make sure that [Music] mom is smart enough to keep that caps safe come on in guys well maybe they don't want to come in well I will leave them for the time being do whatever it is that they're gonna do and we will head back out to find our other two cows I know where one is and we're still looking for faith the number one calf softly let's get to it mom number 97 had her little heifer over here in this windbreak hide now so we're going to check and make sure that she's still in here and they are still in here windbreaks are used throughout the ranch we have three or four of these throughout the entire ranch and just a great place for moms to go and hide from the weather they can get out of the wind and take their new calves in and a good place for a good mom to hide with her calf all right so that's two calves down we know we have one more to find and that is number one her name is faith we're gonna go out look for her last we saw her mom was hiding out in another windbreak on the other side of this past year so we're gonna head down there and see if she's still there well we didn't find the Hut number number one but we did find a brand new calf so we are going to get this calf tagged and logged and yet her or him taken care of before we go and find number one so here's a little calf there's mom a little bit cranky stop moving hey it's okay mom Hey - dang get your head out from underneath the Gator now a windbreak is a great place for mom to have her calf calf is protected but we still have the issue we're trying to find number one all right temperatures down to 21 degrees now we're gonna go out and look for faith again I've got an extra set of eyes with me and hopefully we'll be able to find her before dark is our big our big fear at this point and get her reunited back with mom so head out give her another try are you cold [Music] [Music] okay we haven't had any luck I lost my glove there's okay we haven't had any luck yet with finding faith but honestly I'm not really too worried if she's bedded down somewhere she's obviously got a lot of snow on top first snow does act as insulation so my hope is that she'll be okay for a little while mom will get full of milk end-up is starting to go look for hopefully that situation is going to rectify itself I do have right now it is 743 p.m. I have two more cow cows that are in labor this one back here we're gonna swing back and take a look at really quick she is she has feet already out we're waiting for her to finish pushing and then we have another cow down this way about a half a mile and she is having her calf as well I drove by her and it looked like she was it wasn't too far off either so we were gonna head back down this way Aaron actually ran back to the shop or to the house but for now it's just you and me and as as nightfall rolls in here we're gonna try to keep going and keep doing as much as we can and make sure that we do have healthy calves on the ground now we spent hours looking for a faith today and we didn't find her but like I said it wouldn't surprise me at all if she just popped back up tomorrow morning and everything was totally fine we had a calf at one time that one storm was lost for 16 hours we couldn't find the calf and just like that poof there it was so while Aaron was out searching for faith I wouldn't grab the tractor and put out some hay for these cows that are down here on these windbreaks including this one one number 134 that is having her calf as we speak so we're going to swing around this way and and take a look and see what's going on so this calf is actually coming out as we speak you can see it right there it's sliding out come on girl you can do it you're almost done [Music] further keep going and the calf is out mom is gonna step on it okay it's a little bit of confusion here as they both move in to start cleaning this calf up we are going to leave them to do it make sure this cap is okay and we are gonna go down and check the other cow that's in the next wind break down and and having her cap so we're going to swing down here and check this out she has no feet showing yet but I know that she is her she is in labor so we're gonna kind of just keep an eye on her in the meantime now we can go out and look for a Little Miss faith a little bit more [Music] see if we can just kind of do a few trips around the block here we're gonna head back down to number 134 who just had her cap down here this one break we're gonna get that calf tag there's three cows in that windbreak and all three of them have calves including number 130 who's missing her calves right now so there could be a chance for some confusion to happen in there kind of riled up would that happen so I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to go down get that cap tag now while I can't get it log to make sure that we're okay there they should be fine and that windbreak tonight I'm not too worried about it our focus then will shift onto number 61 who's down here and should be having her cap probably within the hour we're also going to continue the search for faith until until dark anyway at which time we'll probably end up having to hang it up just because we don't want to accidentally run over or something like that while we're out surging so we're going to get this done get that done and hopefully be done at least for a while all right this calf looks healthy it's up and moving mom's in the process of cleaning it off which puts us in the spot where we need to get a tag [Music] okay [Music] she needs to get that calf cleaned off as soon as possible temperatures down in the 20s like they are now could start to cause a problem so we want to leave them alone as much as possible and let her do her job nice thing is that we did just get that that hay out here which will make it a nice dry spot for them so all right we're up to five that was actually a pretty big pretty big bowl that just came out of herself Congrats mama [Music] so that one's tagged good to go number five will come back down we'll check them throughout the night make sure they're okay but I really don't see any problems with them being in the wind break having dry hay to lay in and of course mom it's right there with her or with him so I think we're gonna be okay we are now rolling up on number 61 who we know is in labor we're waiting for her to her have her calf I don't really know how far out she is I know that her the equivalent of her water has broken her her bag is broken so I'm guessing probably within within a half an hour to an hour we should be looking at some sort of activity for her so otherwise she seems to be just fine her tail is in our what I like to call the ejection position if you can see that her tail is if this other cow will get out of the way number sixty ones tail is in the ejection position being held up like that this other calf of course is following her around so we are going to leave her alone if we mess around with her too much she's not going to want to hang out in this windbreak and I would very much rather her have her calf inside that windbreak think what I'm gonna do is swing back to the house grab a quick bite to eat and then be back out it's now 8 o'clock so I'll let's wake you up I'll hook up with you when we come out take a look at number 61 we'll make sure that she has her cap okay and then for you we'll call it a night and and then we'll continue from there all righty we're heading back out to check on number 61 it's been a few minutes about a half an hour or so we're gonna head out make sure that she had her calf okay which I'm guessing she probably has by this point she's an older cow and I really don't see any problems with with her but we're gonna head out this way and just make sure that she's okay get her calf tag and log and then get back edit video and and do fall over again in just a few hours so we're not too far over here [Music] okay we're back in the windbreak and there's a brand new little calf it's already up which is a very good sign we're gonna swing in this way and get this new little one tagged for its mommy hey kiddo good job you made a new baby you did you made a new one it's a pretty one too yes it is yeah I know all right well here's what happens when you try to film and and tag a calf at the same time I actually tagged it backwards I don't know if you can see that but and it is a girl all right lots of who calves today we ended up having five calves today which is a pretty good day the storm moving in obviously I think the change in barometric pressure probably had a lot to do with it but it is that time it's time for calving so five in a day is not bad our record is actually 12 I think twelve calves in one day is our record we're looking to beat that this year and hopefully you'll be here with us make sure you subscribe follow us on Facebook and Instagram and check out the website are wearing life calm also once we find faith which I imagine will probably happen tomorrow we'll we will post it on Facebook and Instagram so make sure you're following us if you want an instant update on how faith is doing once we find her otherwise you can catch it to my end tomorrow morning's video as we continue the 30 on 30 all right here on our Wyoming life [Music] you you

Channel: Our Wyoming Life

Views: 174,556

Rating: 4.9378457 out of 5

Keywords: Ranch, cow, cows, horses, cowboy, gardening, farmers market, Wyoming, our Wyoming life, animals, animal videos, peacock, farming, planting, cattle, ranching, agriculture farming, ranch life, calving, snow, cold, calves, baby calves, cattle (animal), baby calves being born, calf birth

Id: 8jt9YDZwk8E

Length: 36min 48sec (2208 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 12 2020