Cattlemen battle cold, wet conditions for calving

Jeff Smith has to make his rounds on foot because the mud on the path to his pasture is more than his truck can handle. Every three hours, he checks his herd of 27 heifers for signs of new life and struggling soon-to-be moms. When problems arise, Smith stays and helps - sometimes spending most of his night in a cold, wet field.
Smith, like several other cattlemen in McPherson County, is in the midst of calving season. A multi-week, sometimes multi-month, period where heifers- first-time mothers- and cows- seasoned mothers- give birth to their new calves.
The wet and cold can be hard on mothers and babies so it’s up to Smith to create suitable conditions and a helping hand, when needed.
Bringing calves into the world is time-intensive and sometimes stressful but the results — a healthy, active calf — are well worth all the work for Smith and the hundreds of other cattlemen in the state who are and will bring new calves into the world.
“I’ve been doing this for about 20 years now. I actually enjoy doing this more than I do the rest of my farming,” Smith said.

Keeping Watch
Smith and his wife Holly, who works full-time as a veterinarian in Hutchinson, are responsible for helping the couple’s 120-some cows and heifers deliver their calves.  The Smiths can go some days with no new calves and find three new calves in the pasture the next.
Once calving season begins, the couple shares the duties of checking the herd every three hours or so.
“We have to know who is calving, which one to watch,” said Jeff, who estimates his calving season will last about two months.
When the weather is wet, like it has been for most of the Smith’s calving season this year, the couple lays straw in the pasture housing the heifers to provide a dry and somewhat warm space for the mothers to give birth.
One of the most important duties of producers during calving season, Holly said, is ensuring that heifers have a dry place to have their calves. Allowing calves to lay in mud and wet increases the calves’ chances of contracting an umbilical infection.
If the new mother can feed and dry her calf in the first few hours, the calf has a good chance of surviving the cold and wet. If the Smiths find a heifer that isn’t cleaning, warming and feeding its calf, Jeff said, the couple will take the calf from its mother and provide it a meal and warm bed. The structure of a calves coat allows them to stay warm in even the coldest conditions, as long as their coat stays dry.
“Getting that first warm meal of colostrum is essential,” Holly said of the protein and antibody-rich milk that comes from the mother cows. “If (the calves) don’t get it in the first six hours after birth they just won’t be as healthy.”
The Smiths also practice the Sandhills Calving system, which entails moving the herd to a new section of pasture each week. The practice helps reduce the spread of disease and research shows it helps improve bonding between mother and baby.
The Smiths run both registered and commercial Herefords, which means the weight and birthdate of each calf is recorded and kept on record. The calves are tattooed and receive ear tags with identification numbers.
The Smiths’ detailed record keeping allows them to map the lineage of each animal and helps them track the outcomes of genetic pairings.
Jeff admits helping to bring new calves into the world still excites him and makes the long, cold nights more tolerable.
“It’s fun to watch and see the outcomes of my pairings,” Smith said. “I can see what works and what didn’t work like I expected.”

Playing Mother
The calves born on Smith’s farm will stay with their mothers till the fall when they are weaned, many of them staying on the Smith farm for the duration of their life.
Smith’s cows — those that have had at least one calf — know the demands of motherhood and have few problems delivering and caring for their newborns. But each year, Smith has a heifer that just doesn’t take to motherhood. When that happens, Jeff and Holly have to be there to step in a become the surrogate parent.
“Some heifers just have problems adjusting to motherhood,” Jeff said.
The Smiths do everything they can to save sick or injured calves but with about 125 new calves expected, the Smiths know they will lose a few to illness and injury. Improvements in vaccinations and calving techniques have greatly reduced cattlemen’s loss rates, Holly said.

Getting out the Cold
As of Jan. 1, roughly 1.55 million cows and heifers had delivered calves. February and March are some of the most common for calving. Rough winters, like the one cattlemen are experiencing now, will have many thinking about delaying their calving period next year.
But some producers, like Dale Baerg, have opted to move their heifers’ due date to the spring. After delivering calves in the cold and snow, Baerg made the decision to turn his bulls out later in the year, therefore pushing back the due date for his heifers to March.
“I got tired of pulling calves out of snow drifts,” Baerg said. “If you do get a blizzard or cold snap in March, it’s pretty short and usually not as severe.”
Cattlemen can move their calving season to a warmer months with little effort. Moving calving season forward does take time. Baerg’s move to a March calving season has helped improve the success rate for Baerg’s 30-head mixed-breed herd.
“Last year we batted a thousand,” Baerg said.