Stepping into the heart of spring at Ogilvie Stock Ranch, the second and third weeks of lambing and calving season have been nothing short of a whirlwind – new life, long days, and the special connections with animals. Each day brings with it an air of anticipation, challenges to overcome, and the joy of witnessing the first wobbly steps of our newest arrivals. Through this post, I invite you to join me behind the scenes during these weeks, sharing the triumphs, the unexpected turns, and the invaluable lessons learned on the ranch during lambing and calving season.

Day 8

We had three calves today. One at around 2am in the morning, one at approximately 8am and another during evening chores around 4pm. 

The cow that calved at around 8am was not very cooperative and wouldn’t follow her calf to the barn.  Thankfully, the weather is starting to warm up so we left her on the straw in the pasture that she was in.  We will bring her into the barnyard to tag and process her calf in a couple days once she settles down a bit.

We usually leave the newborn calves with their mothers close to the barn for the first 48 hours so that we can make sure that they are doing well. Then we turn them out into a larger pasture with the other older calves.  Today, we turned the first group out into the larger field after getting some straw ready for them and feeding hay.  We will now walk through this pasture at least once per day and make sure we check each calf. This pasture is great as it gives them more space to stay clean, dry and reduce the risk of passing sickness between the calves. 

Day 9

Ever witnessed a miracle in the making?  Today marked the first embryo transfer calf born at Ogilvie Stock Ranch!  Our first ET calf is a thick bull calf. It’s going to be so much fun watching him grow and mature. Diving deep into the realm of genetics not only fuels my passion but also paves the way for enhancing our herd’s quality. It’s all about growth, innovation, and a whole lot of heart. We then had another calf arrive later in the afternoon. 

Day 10 and 11 

The cows have decided to take a bit of a break in calving. A total of 3 calves over these two days. Maybe they are waiting for the warmer weather! We had a great family supper of tacos and spaghetti with meat sauce. I don’t often make two different meals at once but since calving was quiet, it was the perfect time to use up some ground beef and have leftovers for when calving is busy.

Day 12

One calf was born early in the morning and I found it on my morning check. I went and got my dad and we tried to bring the cow and calf in with the side by side and with the sleigh, but the young cow was too nervous. We decided to wait until daylight and then the cow followed better. We put them in the barn so the calf could warm up and be out of the wind. Since the calf hadn’t had any colostrum yet,  we decided to give him a bottle of colostrum just to make sure he had a good start.

We always keep a few packages of dried colostrum on hand during calving for times like this. The cow was a bit nervous to work with and the calf just needed a bit of incentive to get nursing. This colostrum gave him the energy he needed to get going and he was nursing on his mother within 30 minutes. 

Day 13 and 14

The boys had a fun morning bowling with their school on the 13th and we had a total of 4 calves between these two days. When we got home, it was a special afternoon as the boys show heifer started to calve. The boys were able to watch a beautiful heifer calf be born and we moved them into the barn. The boys can’t wait to get a halter on her and get her ready for show! 

Day 15

Lambing Season Begins! At the morning check, we found the first set of lambs for 2024. The boys were very excited and they helped pack them into the barn and get them settled in their pen. We had a total of 4 calves and 2 sets of twin lambs.

Day 16

Some days like to keep us on our toes and today was one of those days. In the afternoon, we had a first year calver and our second recipient cow calving. So we were keeping a close eye on both of them.

The boys and I decided to watch our recipient cow calve and my parents kept an eye on the first year calver. We hadn’t seen the feet yet on the recipient cow but we knew the tips of the toes were there. Every time we went to look closer, she would get up so we kept out distance. She was making good progress so my thought was that when we saw the majority of calf out, one of us would go and take the sac off its face. William went down and started to help pull the feet, but he yelled at me that he couldn’t find the head… then, “Mom, I see the tail, its backwards!”

When a calf comes backwards, it is important to get it out quickly once the legs are there because the cord could break and the calf could take in too much fluid inside the cow and die. I then started running down to help William pull the calf while telling him to pull it quickly! As soon as I got there, he had it out and we worked on putting it in the recovery position and poking its nose with some straw to get it shaking its head and coughing. 

Once it was doing okay, we went to the barnyard to help my parents who had now put the heifer in the squeeze to pull her calf.  We helped pull a healthy calf from the heifer.  Thankfully, we were able to assist both cows and we ended up with two healthy calves! The total for the day was 4 calves and 1 set of twin lambs. 

Day 17 

The morning started with processing the new calves and tagged the set of lambs from the prior day. Two cows were calving, so we went out into the pasture to watch them. The first cow calved on her own and the second was taking a while. We decided to give her a little bit of help and she had a BIG heifer calf. Another ewe lambed in the afternoon and had a single lamb. Total for the day was 2 calves and 1 single lamb. 

Day 18 

We found a set of twin lambs in the morning and a first year calver had a calf early in the morning so we put her in the barn. She was a bit nervous so the calf wasn’t getting nursing very quickly. We gave him a bottle of colostrum but by the afternoon he still wasn’t nursing on his mom. We decided to put his mom in the squeeze so that we could get him nursing on her without her moving around too much. He was strong and knew how to nurse, just couldn’t figure out where to nurse. It didn’t take long for him to get nursing on her once she was in the squeeze. One ewe lambed today and 3 cows calved. 

Day 19 

There was one new calf at the morning check but the rest of the morning and early afternoon was quiet. The calf that wasn’t wanting to nurse, finally decided to nurse on his own this morning after a little encouragement! The quieter morning gave me the a chance to catch up on some housework while the boys played in the sandbox. I love listening to the boys talk to each other in their sandbox through the open window. A true sign that spring is arriving. When we went down to do evening chores, a heifer started calving. The boys played outside while keeping an eye on her. She had a beautiful heifer calf. We then had a quick and easy supper to round out a quieter day. 

Day 20 

The boys and I had an eventful morning as we found three new calves on our morning check. With the calves born later in the day yesterday, and these calves, we had 9 calves to bring into the barnyard and process. It was a beautiful sunny day, so once we finished processing calves, the boys played outside. Total for the day – 4 calves and 2 sets of twin lambs 

Day 21

The boys and I found a new calf this morning with its mom and then found another calf wondering around the field by itself. We couldn’t find a cow that looked like she had calved and the calf looked small. So we went back to the cow that had calved with a calf, and that calf was also small and looked similar to this calf. We are now pretty sure the cow calved and licked the calf off and then left it and went to have a second calf in a different location.

We decided to take both calves into the barnyard to see if the cow would accept them both. However, she had decided that she only wanted one. The boys were quietly hoping they would be the case because they wanted a bottle calf to feed and play with. Needless to say, we now have a calf to feed! His name is Lost and his sister, who is on the cow, is now named Found.

The twins are a heifer calf and a bull calf, which means that the heifer will be sterile. This heifer calf is called a freemartin. When a cow has mixed-sex twins, the female (freemartin) calf often becomes infertile due to shared blood circulation with her male sibling in the womb. This fascinating twist of nature is not just a quirk but a window into the complex world of bovine genetics.

Interestingly enough, the cow was named Jasmine by the boys last year because she ended up having a breech calf last spring (only the tail coming) and we had to have Dr. Mitchell come up to help us get the back legs and pull the calf. It took Jasmine a couple days to get to her feet after the difficult birth. Yet, she must have recovered well, because this year she had a set of twins! No new calves today.

Favourite Item of the Week

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Calving Season Adventure

And just like that, we’re wrapping up weeks two and three of our calving and lambing season. It truly has been a whirlwind of emotion, from the easy births to those moments when things didn’t necessarily go as planned. Amidst the hustle, every new face that pops into the world here at Ogilvie Stock Ranch brings a smile to us. We’re not done yet! There are still more stories to share, more calves and lambs to arrive, and yes, probably a few more sleepless nights. But for now, we take a moment to breathe, reflect, and appreciate the journey thus far. Click here if you would like to read the Week 1 update. Stay tuned because this adventure is not over, and we can’t wait to share every step of it with you.