New Calves and freezing rain

[HuntForHorns]

I had a new calf born a couple days ago. With the freezing rain and wind expected Monday night I am a little worried. Would you cattle experts take the calf and cow and lock it in the barn until the bad weather is over or would you just trust the mother to keep it dry and warm?

[Kingfisher789]

Yes but seperate them so she don't accidentally lay or squish the calf.

[HuntForHorns]

Yes but seperate them so she don't accidentally lay or squish the calf.

Not sure what you mean separate them? How will it nurse?

[BURTONboy]

Put them in a protected area with plenty hay on the ground for her to eat and the calf to lay in. Thats about all you can do. At least you know the calf will be out of the wind and rain. If you have a heat lamp, that might work too. Just keep it away from the hay.

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[drwilliams]

I always let mother nature do its thing. Them animals are tough amd never spit the herd or a cow and calf off because of weather. Momma will do its thing. Keep oit plenty of hay for them cows and they will take care of the babies. I always had success with this and never lost one.

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[BLACKFINTURKEY]

I always let mother nature do its thing. Them animals are tough amd never spit the herd or a cow and calf off because of weather. Momma will do its thing. Keep oit plenty of hay for them cows and they will take care of the babies. I always had success with this and never lost one.

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I’m no expert but this is solid advice.

[DRSHUNTER]

I always let mother nature do its thing. Them animals are tough amd never spit the herd or a cow and calf off because of weather. Momma will do its thing. Keep oit plenty of hay for them cows and they will take care of the babies. I always had success with this and never lost one.

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Very true. The calves won’t usually get sick because the way God set up the first milk (colostrum) has tons of antibodies and everything needed to start off a calf nearly bulletproof.


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[brokeno]

They will be fine. When it's cold and wet they like to lay on hay to get off the cold wet ground. About the only time you may lose a baby is when it it born with below freezing temperatures They are pretty tough and and will be fine outdoors especially if a few days old.

[HuntForHorns]

Thanks for the advise. I have always left them alone and never lost one but this freezing rain had me worried. This is an older, more experienced cow so hopefully she will keep it alive.

[Silvey]

We lost a few in 1995, but it was below freezing for like 5 or 6 days. Calfs were like a week old. There pretty ruff critters.

[JPHunting]

We get some rough winter weather here and the old man's calves do ok. They're tough animals, do they have a tree to shelter under?

Freshly shorn sheep is another thing though.

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[Mohawkman]

If the get first milk you can’t hardly kill one of them. We don’t really have to worry about it in Texas. I had 5 hit the ground here the night it hit 18.