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Every year at the start of the calving period, there are a few items that should be bought and used as new.
These are the small items that get most use during calving time and no calving kit is complete without them.
While the more robust items such as the calving jack can be easily washed, disinfected, lubricated and stored from year to year, the smaller items such as calving ropes and stomach tubes should be replaced regularly.
Outlined are five items to purchase this spring.
1. Gloves and lubricant
Purchase a new box of long-sleeved and latex gloves. There may well be gloves already on farm, but if the box has been opened for a while, they may not be as sterile as you might want.
Therefore, purchase a box of new gloves and keep them in a dry, clean place in the calving shed. When examining the cow, always wear a long-sleeved glove.
When assisting the delivery of a calf, long-sleeved gloves do not offer much grip. Wearing a latex or nitrile glove over the long-sleeved one will give greater traction.
Along with gloves, invest in a new bottle of lubricant. Don’t rely on lube carried over from last year, as this may not be sterile any longer.
Don’t use washing up liquid at calving if you run out, as this product is an irritant.
2. A new stomach tube
Every year, buy a new stomach tube, or more than one for large herds, as keeping a tube clean from year to year is difficult.
Always use the new tube to feed colostrum to newborn calves. Mark the new tube with a permanent marker for use on newborn calves only.
Use an older tube, provided there is no cuts or nicks to the pipe, for treating sick calves only. Do not use the same stomach tube for newborn calves and animals that had issues with scour or crypto.
If necessary, purchase a second stomach tube solely for using on sick calves. Again, mark this tube with a permanent marker for its intended use.
3. Two sets of red and blue ropes
Calving ropes can become frayed and hard with age and use. Using such ropes will cause irritation to the cow and are abrasive to the animal’s internal body tissue.
Therefore, buy two sets of new ropes. The second set can be used as a backup or if there is another cow calving and the first set has not been cleaned in time.
Alternatively, keep one set of ropes in the calving shed and the other set in the slatted house, in case a cow calves early and there is no time to move her to a straw bed.
Always opt for the red and blue ropes. This way, the ropes can be co-ordinated to a specific leg, for example the red rope to the right leg and blue to the left.
This should mean there is no chance of attaching a leg and rope to the wrong side of the ratchet on the calving jack.
Also, if you drop the coloured ropes on the straw bed in the calving box, they are much easier to spot.
4. Colostrum and electrolytes
Having a few packets of colostrum and electrolytes is a good idea. There will always be a weak calf born late at night with a dam that has little milk available.
Alternatively, these items come in handy early in the calving pattern, when there are fewer cows to milk out and freeze colostrum.
5. Naval dip and spray
Invest in a few bottles of iodine or antiseptic products for treating a newborn calf’s naval. Again, having a couple of bottles means one can be stored in the calving shed, with the other bottle in the slatted house for calves born before they can be moved to straw bedding.
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