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 Extreme Veteran
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Location: Texas!! | Now I want to know about Hercules!! When you get time, of course! |
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 Expert
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Location: The best kept secret in TX | LOL I feel like every post that is OT the OP is guilty of lying until proven Innocent and truthful by most other posters...
Since when did we all move to DC and become government officials BAHAHA
but seriously.... |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
 
Location: In the Hills of Texas | Komet..I give you a lot of credit with staying focused and continuing telling your story. Not many could have done that.
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| Hercules and I go way back. Of course, we're talking about OUR calf puller, not yours. But still, the gist is the same, and what a phenomenal invention they are! You've made me really nostalgic with the post, my Dad is night calving every night until the end of April. I used to be his right hand, and so many babies we've helped into the world. I grew up on my family's small cow/calf beef operation. I can still hear, smell, and SEE everything in my mind. Oh, how I miss it! It's pretty easy to live your entire life for cows during spring calving, and it makes me a little bit teary eyed to be typing this and thinking about home!
Thanks for sharing. |
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BHW's Simon Cowell
Location: The Saudia Arabia of Wind Energy, Western Oklahoma | Of course he is lying about his work experience with dairy cows. I mean really, it is such a glamorous job. LOL |
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 Hawty & Nawty
Posts: 20424
| ksjackofalltrades - 2015-03-04 1:58 PM Of course he is lying about his work experience with dairy cows. I mean really, it is such a glamorous job. LOL
Took the words right out of my mouth. Too funny! |
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Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | ksjackofalltrades - 2015-03-03 3:58 PM Of course he is lying about his work experience with dairy cows. I mean really, it is such a glamorous job. LOL
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 Expert
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Location: SE Louisiana | classicpotatochip - 2015-03-03 3:49 PM
Hercules and I go way back. Of course, we're talking about OUR calf puller, not yours. But still, the gist is the same, and what a phenomenal invention they are! You've made me really nostalgic with the post, my Dad is night calving every night until the end of April. I used to be his right hand, and so many babies we've helped into the world. I grew up on my family's small cow/calf beef operation. I can still hear, smell, and SEE everything in my mind. Oh, how I miss it! It's pretty easy to live your entire life for cows during spring calving, and it makes me a little bit teary eyed to be typing this and thinking about home!
Thanks for sharing.
Well I had never seen one before... Never even heard of one. I was still pretty early on in my job here but I knew one thing for sure. I had NOT expected to get so many newborn calves. At this point I had pulled a lot of calves using a 2 ton come-a-long... Most of them with the cow in a head-gate. Or just using my meager muscles to get it done. I was never a very strong person so it wore me out to it without tools of some kind.
I don't remember how long I'd been doing this job when I hit a snag over on dairy#2 one night. I had a cow trying to calve and she was not making any headway. About my third trip around I decided to run her into the head-gate and check the situation out. I found the passageway blocked. I could feel what I thought to be a neck sideways in the canal and try as I might... I could not push it back far enough to reach past it. I decided to call the vet out. He showed up and seemed to be quite surprised to be called here to help with a calving. He quickly decided on the best way to deal with it and went to his truck, grabbed the end of a piece of cable sticking out of a box and pulled out a length of what he called "piano Wire"..He cut it off and used it to saw the head off the calf. When he got all the pieces of the calf out he reached back in and fished around and produced 2 more legs. A twin. That's why I couldn't push the first one back at all. Lesson learned. He then went back to his truck and pulled out 2 pieces of what looked like some kind of pipe and a big 'Y' shaped thing. He threaded all this stuff together to make one unit, grabbed a set of calf chains and proceed to use this thing to pull the calf. All by himself... with no effort.... When he got done I stood there with 2 dead bull calves on the ground but all I could do was stare at this...... thing.....
"what is that?" I asked him... "It's a Hercules Calf Puller" he told me.....
"Where do I get one?" I asked.... He told me the supply truck that comes around every week has them.
Folks, the next time that truck hit our place I was standing there waiting for it. I didn't know how much it would cost but I had $800 cash in hand and was prepared to pay that much. Turns out it was only $200 for the puller and $10 each for 2 calf chains.... BEST MONEY I EVER SPENT IN MY LIFE!!!!!!
That thing saved me SO many hours of back-breaking work over the next several months, not to mention the lives of both calves and cows saved. I never could figure out why an operation that size only provided us with a come-a-long.
Edited by komet. 2015-03-04 4:08 AM
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Wow...I don't know what to say other than that. I think it would have scared the $h!t out of me to have a cow with twin calves and cutting the one in pieces to get them out. |
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 BHW's Lance Armstrong 
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | Â I have worked on farms stacking hay, branding and casterating calves. Why do calves need to be pulled so much? I have seen it done several times. |
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Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-03 10:19 PM
 I have worked on farms stacking hay, branding and casterating calves. Why do calves need to be pulled so much? I have seen it done several times.
Not sure I can answer that one. I know it happens a lot more with dairy animals than it does with beef. I know I've walked around behind beef cows that were close to calving and been honestly amazed the calf hadn't just fallen out on it's own. Those things are HUGE in the hind-end. I never could figure out what was holding the calf in there!! Dairy cows are ..... ummm.. smaller back there...
I was pulling them because it was easier on the cow and calf both... Better to have it over quick than allow the cow to go through several hours of labor (which they can easily do) and risk losing the calf or sending the cow into milk fever by allowing her to wear herself out then milking her dry. Ideally you don't take all the milk on the first few milkings so the cow DOESN'T have a sudden, dramatic depletion of calcium, sending her into milk fever. (which can kill pretty quick) But with hired milkers you never know if they are paying attention. |
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Expert
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Location: SE Louisiana | kramerica - 2015-03-01 11:42 PM
I don't know a thing about dairy cows either but when I watch the Dr. Pol show those dairies he visits seem kinda dirty or all the way gross. Â Is that normal? Â Â
I'm not familiar with this show but I would say that yes, it is normal. The farmers pump a lot of high octane food through the cows and it has to come out somewhere, usually in large volumes and usually splattering when it hits the ground. It can be hard to keep up with in dry times but when you start adding rain into the picture it becomes a REAL mess. |
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Expert
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Location: SE Louisiana | TBone - 2015-03-02 8:54 AM
I also grew up on a small dairy farm. Â Us kids were left to the operations numerous times. Â But there was one time in particular that I forgot to turn on the milk tank agitator/cooler. Â Fortunately we caught it before the milk spoiled. Â The work on a dairy farm is endless and holds so much responsibility both for the animals in your care and the lively hood of many. Â I admire you Komet!Â
Fortunately that problem was spotted and fixed. Now the agitators are timed to run 2 or three times an hour automatically and they run full time when the cooling system itself is on and running. Milk can be allowed to take as long as 2 hours to cool below desired temps without causing problems, but once it's been cooled bacteria will form pretty quick if it is warmed up again because you are pumping warm milk on top of cold and the agitators are not on. |
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I'm a Cry Baby
Posts: 3781
Location: n.c. | A lot of times calves are pulled when it's a first time momma. And lots of times the bull servicing the cows have a head that's too big. That normally gets passed on to the calf. Hubby pulls alot of calves around here still for some of the older farmers and once he enlightens them on how to prevent it, all is good. |
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Expert
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Location: SE Louisiana | runningk - 2015-03-04 4:33 AM
A lot of times calves are pulled when it's a first time momma.  And lots of times the bull servicing the cows have a head that's too big.  That normally gets passed on to the calf.  Hubby pulls alot of calves around here still for some of the older farmers and once he enlightens them on  how to prevent it, all is good.Â
True here. I know all the companies that sell semen for A.I.ing cows have a gradient for "Calving Ease" on every bull. |
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  Queen Boobie 2
Posts: 7521
| komet. - 2015-03-04 4:48 AM
runningk - 2015-03-04 4:33 AM
A lot of times calves are pulled when it's a first time momma.  And lots of times the bull servicing the cows have a head that's too big.  That normally gets passed on to the calf.  Hubby pulls alot of calves around here still for some of the older farmers and once he enlightens them on  how to prevent it, all is good.Â
True here. I know all the companies that sell semen for A.I.ing cows have a gradient for "Calving Ease" on every bull.
Big heads and big shoulders, or just big darn calves ;)
The rating for bulls is called an EPD (Expected Progeny Difference) within the breed.
EPD figures are assigned for many heritable traits, calving ease, birthweight, weaning weight and others. If I have some first calf heifers, I am going to look at bulls with favorable calving ease EPD's.
If I have a bunch of great big cows that have had a few calves, I might look more for favorable weaning weight EPDs to get a heavier calf to market. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | When we bought replacment spring heifer's they were bred to a Longhorn bull so that they would have smaller calfs their first time out. But some time's the dairy bulls still threw to big of calfs for the older heifers and some still had to be pulled. |
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Queen Boobie 2
Posts: 7521
| Southtxponygirl - 2015-03-04 11:25 AM
When we bought replacment spring heifer's they were bred to a Longhorn bull so that they would have smaller calfs their first time out. But some time's the dairy bulls still threw to big of calfs for the older heifers and some still had to be pulled.
Calves from longhorn or corriente bulls typically shoot out and are no bigger than a tomcat ;)
Just teasing LOL, they are easy calving, though. |
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BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | Â Thanks Komet. I have learned about milk fever and pulling dairy calves. I once helped pull a Limosine calf. |
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 Party Gal
Posts: 3432
Location: fun meter pegged OK | The only reason to pull a calf should be because you have to not because you don't have the time to wait. Just because a cow goes into labor does not mean she is fully dilated and pulling to soon can cause damage to the cow and stress the calf. There are cattle breeds that are known for throwing those big calves and having to put them in hip lifters because of the nerve damage is not fun. Most of the time you end up having to put them down.
The industry has come along way when dealing with registered stock of affording us with the luxury of selecting calving ease bulls. We run Angus and our heifers are always exposed to what we call 1st calf heifer bulls (BEPD of 1.0 or less) whereas; our mature cows we run bulls of BEPD of 2.5+ |
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