Author Topic: All calves safely delivered (Read 3484 times)

Factotum · « **on:** May 31, 2014, 10:00:58 pm »

All the 2014 Shetland calves have arrived - the first one was born at the end of April, and the last one - number 13 - arrived this afternoon. Great relief that it's all over, and the cows and calves are doing OK.

We've had 6 heifer and 7 bull calves this year- all the boys are ringed except the latest arrival - a nice looking red and white bull with only a little Boris & Rasmie. A bit tempted to keep him entire & see if anyone wants him for breeding.

We've had a good range of colours this year - amongst the usual black and whites, one heifer (Eilidh) is mostly red - both parents are black & white, but her maternal grandsire was red & white. 2 of the other heifers (Eshne and Eithrig) are going to be grey and white - like their dams, and the new calves are a wonderful 'salt & pepper' colouration. Another heifer (Elsa) is new colour for us - at the moment she's golden brown complete with some darker patterning - she looks very different to the calves we know will be black as they are the usual muddy brown. Will have to wait and see what happens to her coat over the next few months.

Will try to post some pictures sometime soon.

Just love this time of year - the calves are running around at amazing speed, chasing anything and everything, whilst their respective dams munch on the grass and then call loudly that it's time for tea... The proud sire looks over the fence from the next field - though I expect his thoughts are not about how nice his calves look, rather how long he will have to wait before he can do his 'duty' - I think he finds the company of the steers from last year a bit dull compared to the females across the fence!

Sue

Rosemary · « **Reply #1 on:** June 01, 2014, 03:42:45 pm »

Congratulations

Great calving - aren't Shetlands just the best?

I'm looking for a good 2013 born Shetland bull free of Boris and Rasmie to use next summer.

Factotum · « **Reply #2 on:** June 01, 2014, 05:43:43 pm »

Yes, Shetlands are wonderful - the mums are very good - even the first timers- though more than a little noisy when they think the calves should be drinking and the calves just want to doze in the sun and seem able to ignore the bellowing.

Re the bull - We didn't keep any of the 2013s whole, so only steers here.

Tavish, our bull, is a 2012 so I expect he's outside your criteria. Hope you find something you like. We've used young bulls, Petroni was 20 months when he arrived on our holding, Viking was 15 months and Tavish only 13 months. Both Viking and Tavish were un-proven before joining us here - and their calves have turned out fine. Always a small risk going with a young un-tried bull that he may be firing blanks - but so far it's worked for us.

Sue

shygirl · « **Reply #3 on:** June 07, 2014, 05:13:48 pm »

great news that they have all arrived safely. does the bull live with them all year round or is he separated so you can control when they calf?

Mammyshaz · « **Reply #4 on:** June 07, 2014, 05:54:39 pm »

A lucky number 13. Glad they have arrived safely

Factotum · « **Reply #5 on:** June 07, 2014, 10:40:58 pm »

Re the bull: He has moved about a bit since he's been here. He arrived in July 2013 - spent 6 weeks with 9 cows (and their new calves). Once he'd done his work, we moved him to another field where 4 heifers and a steer were staying. This group stayed together over the winter - outside as the weather was very mild.

The in-calf cows and their 2013 born calves had open access to our cattle shed and a couple of fields nearby. Couldn't keep the bull with this group as the heifer calves were too young to be put in calf - though not too young to be bulling - usually start at about 4-6 months.

As calving time approached, we moved the in-calf heifers into the same field as the cows, and moved the steers born in 2013 into the field with the bull & the older steer. We have found steers can be a bit over enthusiastic with new born calves - nothing malicious, but too exuberant - so it's safer to have them out of the way once calving is due to start. The heifers born in 2013 were left with the more mature females -awaiting the right time to join the bull, once they have reached 15 months of age.

Sounds a bit complicated, but it works for us.

Tavish, the bull, has always had company - OK at the moment it's an all male party, but shortly he will get access to the cows and then the 2013 heifers. Once he's done we'll need to find a new home for him as we are keeping his daughters.

All 13 calves are doing well, bouncing about and chasing anything and everything. Birds are good fun and rabbits are quite a curiosity. Looking up the fields, we can see groups of tiny calves charging around, with their little tails waving high in the breeze - before they suddenly stop and have another lie down. The cows seem fine, getting back some condition eating the new grass.

Never a dull moment...

Sue

shygirl · « **Reply #6 on:** June 08, 2014, 12:52:38 am »

thats great, thanks for sharing.
what age should i take my heifer calf out of reach of the bull? - she is 2 months old atm.

Factotum · « **Reply #7 on:** June 08, 2014, 08:13:23 am »

That's one of those 'how long is piece of string' questions.

One of our heifers, Bonnie, born March 2010, started bulling in July 2010 - at about 4 months old.

That year, we got the vet to jag the young heifers with Estrumate - which stops any unwanted pregnancy. A simple injection and then keep an eye for bulling within 3 weeks. Works well, with no long term bad effects on the heifers fertility or ability to hold a calf to term. So if you were to be unlucky and a youngster gets 'got', you could consider that option.

The urge to mate is very strong, even in very young heifers, so you will have to keep an eye on things if you leave the heifer with the bull after she's about 3 months old, as there are reports of Shetlands calving before their 1st birthday.

Hope this helps

Sue

Rosemary · « **Reply #8 on:** June 08, 2014, 09:56:13 am »

When we were on Shetland a couple of years ago, almost every croft had at least one 15-18 month old heifer with a calf at foot - and often continental crosses.

When we got our original heifers at 6 months, we had them jagged with Estrumate because they had been running with their sire, alongside their mothers.

Our vet says Estrumate is very effective if given between 10 and 100 days of pregnancy and has no long term effects. Brings them into season and they will slip any calf they are carrying. We had our 2013 heifer jagged a month ago when we brought the cows home from our rented grazing (where the bull is).