CALF_News_December_2020_January_2021

32 CALF News • December 2020 | January 2021 • www.calfnews.net ’Tis the season! Are you one of those people who decorates for Christmas by Halloween? Or are you at the other end of the spectrum and more of a Christmas Eve decorator? Or somewhere in the middle? We don’t do a lot of decorating, but the decorating we do is definitely done in December. As we roll out of one calving season and get ready to launch in to the next, I thought it was an appropriate time to check the calving bag. We literally grew up on the four- wheeler, checking cows with my mom. My dad fed the cows, my mom calved them and took care of them. She taught us how to behave around cows. She taught us how to work cows. She taught us how to listen to them. She taught us to take care of them. I’m more than happy to work with cattle by myself; that way I can do it my way! My husband, Matt, is a man of many talents. Really, he’s quite talented at tons of things. But one thing he’s not good at is putting things back. It took me a couple of years to figure out that if I wanted to know where something was, I needed to have it in my pickup. Matt’s aunt suggested a bag like she has to carry the calving necessities. My mother-in-law gave me a backpack and it has been my “calving bag” ever since. I don’t always have the same four- wheeler, but I can take my backpack on anything. I love that I can throw it on and have everything I need with me at all times. I have put the fear of God into Matt about leaving my calving bag alone. Now, I have what I need when I need it. In my bag at all times are: tags, marker, tagger, chains and straps, handles for the chains or straps, sleeves, old towel (a blan- ket is in the pickup for the cold weather babies that need it), pen and paper (my official list is left in the pickup in case it’s raining), binoculars and baby powder. Every operation’s calving season recordkeeping is just a little different. For me, I make a spreadsheet with the cows’ numbers on it, then I have a column for the date they calve, the description of the calf, whether or not I got it tagged and a notes column. You could also put a column for the cow description. I’ve experimented with using my iPad or phone, but have gone back to paper and pen. It works for me and I’m happy with it. Whatever your system, just have one. Now you might be wondering, why do I carry baby powder? I have discov- ered, thanks to friend Brad McAllister, that baby powder is the absolute magic potion for successfully grafting a calf on to a cow. My goal is always a 100 percent live calving season, but normally it doesn’t happen. For whatever reason, we have some cows that need to adopt calves in order to stay in the herd. We’ve used the powders from the veterinarian; we’ve rubbed the dead calf on the live calf (never skinned one – don’t think I could stomach that); we’ve tried all the suggested remedies. But baby powder is the trick. I swear! I have a 100 percent adoption success rate when using baby powder. Simply put baby powder all over the calf and on the mom’s nose and face. The other trick is keeping them in a small pen. Of course, you must make sure the cow isn’t going to hurt the calf, but they need to be pretty close. I’ve had success in as few as two to three hours, and the longest was three days. This fall, I put the baby powder to the test. I had a cow that had lost a preemie calf.Walter, my 2-month-old bottle calf that my 3-year-old nephew named, was my to-be-adopted calf. It took 36 hours, y’all. 36 hours for this cow to take a 2-month-old calf! I’m so happy Walter has a mom and I don’t have to sell this cow. Seriously, try it the next time you lose a calf and need to adopt. Baby powder is cheap so don’t be stingy with it! Calving season is stressful enough without having to worry if you have the proper equipment ready and waiting. My backpack is easy to carry, easy to grab and has everything I need.  Secrets of a Calving Season ‘Go Bag’ By Kelsey Pagel Contributing Editor  tags  marker  tagger  chains/straps  sleeves  old towel  pen/paper  binoculars  baby powder