Tagging Calves is Dangerous Work

We check pregnant cows every day and tag the new calves with the number of their mothers. Checking the cows several times a day is important because some cows have difficulties calving and need assistance. This video documents three different tagging episodes. The tagger is Raul Quintana, a young man with the speed, strength, and coordination for the job. I am 67 and only tag when I have an assistant.
Tagging the calf with its mother's number is very helpful when sorting out herds of cows and calves. The tagging also allows us to link the calf to its genetic heritage and help us evaluate the calf's mother and father as productive animals.
Calves that have bad conformation or disposition or don't grow indicate mothers that should be culled and bulls that should not be used to breed.




Angus bulls are seldom aggressive. However, Angus cows are often aggressive when they have young calves.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• tagging
• calves
• cows
• cattle
• farming
• hollin
• farms
• ranching
• dangerous
• work

[jimmyteg]

You tag your calves exactly the same way i do!

Had a few close calls over the years but only once have i had a cow trample me. She was an otherwise quiet charolais, turned my back and she came straight over the top of me. Managed to grab my stick and beat her off. Ended up with a bruised testicle and a black eye. I just wish the eurocrats who have these ideas about tagging could be given some field experience, maybe then they could see how dangerous it is.

[Hollinfarms]

My son Matthew was tagging a calf and the mother hit him so hard he was knocked out and when he woke up his pants had split down the seams. He couldn't see clearly and had to get a friend to drive him home. He had been so concentrated on the calf, that he didn't notice the mother charging him.

[Hollinfarms]

The calf tags are repeated because a mother has a calf nearly every year. The calf tags are smaller than cow tags and a different color. When female calves are about a year old, we re-tag the ones that we want to keep for breeding cows. If the calf was born in 2006 and was the 48th calf, the new "cow" tag would be 6048.

[Hollinfarms]

I recieved this email comment from a friend at Slow Foods DC

"In your intro you miss an opportunity to make a very valuable point

you say that you tag calfs according to the number of its mother

however you don't make the point that that link is the first

step in traceability to ensure the quality of the meat we then get. i 've learned that what seems basic or obvious to you (the farmer/rancher)

is not to non-agrarian folk

connecting the dots is helpful.

[Redlinesixtynine]

Be careful, I always try and process the calves while Mom has her head stuck in the hay feeder, or something else. Bulls can be a little tuffer,because I use the elastics on them. I know you only have to count to 2,but it has to be done right. One great idea I did see,was a fella who welded a 3pt hitch to his round bale feeder. When he had a cow who was overly protective, he hitched up the feeder ,and backed it over the calf,and that way he could process the calf without Mama harassing him.

[Moroccan4lifeone]

better drop that kid before its too late son mama's coming lol

[hellacoolyea]

Very nice video.

You better run from the Co

and That cow talking smack SMACK IT IN DA fACE!

[CNHfarmers]

Lol I have had to run for my life several times before!!!!!!!!! lol

[Zeamus634]

That is dangerous work. How much do those calves weigh?

[loneless]

We have a maternity barn where most of our cows give birth at, but some times we'll get some that we missed in our close-up pens. We usually carry a stick/broom to ward off any mad mothers (they're all first time mothers, lactation=0 holstein heifers mostly, and they can be mean) and we use a wheel barrow to carry them back. Once in the barn we have several gates to seperate the mothers/calfs while we tag. We use RFID buttons and a male/female tag in one ear going up in order.

[hogdude1234]

Tag...weigh calf...cut cord to one inch, dip in iodine....give Calf Guard orally....sometimes Fast Track... calves are good to go till weaning. calf guard is a scours vaccine. Try doing all that with stupid cows....you will get hurt...take any stupid cows to the sale barn...you may lose some good ones but you will get rid of all the bad ones for sure...then you can do all you need and the cow will sniff you ear or hat and you will not even have to think about getting hurt.

[folkstreamer]

Two years ago, my son Matt was tagging calves alone. He wasn't paying attention, and the mother butted him in the head and knocked him unconscious. When he came to his new blue jeans where split along the seams -- we don't know why but we think because of the force of the blow. He could not see well (he describes his vision as like looking at a negative) and had to get a friend to drive him home. He doesn't go out alone now and regularly visits a chiropractor to re align his spine.