COW BIRTHING WHAT YOU MUST KNOW

Cow birthing--or "calving," as it is primarily known as--can be an anxious and highly anticipated time for any farm or ranch, large or small, especially one where calving season is defined, or if you have a small herd of only one to five cows in your care. One thing that should be stressed when dealing with calving out cows is to be patient. Waiting for a cow or heifer to calve is just like watching for a pot of water to boil.

A cow or heifer's gestation period--another word for length of pregnancy--is around 285 days long. During that time, from the point where the sperm from the bull penetrates and fuses with the ovum or egg of the cow, initiating cell division into a blastocyst then to an embryo which grows into a calf fetus, the living being inside the uterus of the cow is constantly growing and developing until it reaches a point where it cannot grow anymore because the uterus of the cow can only stretch so far. It is at that point where the labour of the cow begins. Little to many know that it is actually the offspring inside the mother's womb that is responsible for the initiation of the onset of labour, not the mother herself. Stress signals from the calf travel through the umbilical cord to the placenta all the way to the cow's brain and ovaries where different chemicals and hormones are released to ready for the birth of the calf, from the release of the cervical plug, to the initial uterine contractions to get the calf into the normal position for birthing. The first stages of calving occur in a cow hours before the actual event of calving takes place. This is where you need to keep an eye out for signs that calving is imminent.

What are the signs to look for in a cow or heifer about to calve?

Her udder may initially start filling out with colostrum--the first milk for a calf--but the teats themselves may not become engorged until birth is quite imminent. Her vulva will also be engorging with blood making it look a bit swollen, her sides will be sinking in in front of her thurls (this is the smooth part of the pelvis) and there may be some mucous coming out from her vulva. She'll get fidgety and start looking for a place to calve. When her udder is full, she's about 3-7 days from calving. However some cows or heifers won't show any freshening until the day they are about to calve; still others may have a full bag for weeks before they drop a calf. When her sides sink in, she's around 1-3 days from calving. When there is discharge from her vulva being the clear, non-sticky, stringy stuff, she's usually less than a day away from calving. However if the discharge is more sticky and thick, this is just the mucus plug being removed, which occurs about a week or so before calving. When you see that water bag, which is a yellowish sac hanging down from her vulva, it's pretty obvious she's in labor and it's just a matter of minutes before the feet and head of the calf begin to show.

The annoying thing about heifers is that you just never know when she's going to "pop." She could be showing all the signs that she's any day from dropping a calf and not do anything for two or three solid weeks! Or it would be the exact opposite: she'll show absolutely no signs but all of a sudden there's a calf on the ground that she's making it obvious it is hers. A lot of cows may be the same way, so it's always best to be prepared for the unexpected.

How does a cow give birth anyway?

As mentioned above, the initial signs are her pacing around and being quite fidgety. A lot of cows will get themselves away from the herd and look for a private place to give birth in peace. She'll be acting quite uncomfortable, laying down then getting up, then laying down again after a few minutes before getting up again. Suddenly she'll just up and stop what she's doing and look like she's straining to urinate or defecate, but it's most likely she's feeling the uterine contractions coming on more stronger than ever. You will see a thick mucus discharge from her vulva, soon followed by the water sac. The uterine muscular contractions are responsible for the birthing process, as well as gravity itself. Muscular contractions come and go once every 5 to 10 seconds, especially when she's in her second stage of labour--which involves pushing out the calf.

Soon after the water sac appears you should be able to see feet sticking out. The feet will have yellowish tips to them, which is totally normal for a birthing calf. They should have the bottoms pointing downwards, indicating that the calf is coming front first--which is the correct way for a calf to be born. You should also see that both feet are coming out; if there's just one you might want to consider assisting the cow as soon as possible. Soon after the fore feet and the first part of the legs show, the nose, muzzle and head soon follow, followed by the shoulders. After the shoulders the rest pop out easily. However trouble can still arise at this point if the calf's hips get locked in the cow's pelvis. If the hips don't get locked, before you know it you'll have a new baby calf on the ground. Congratulations!!

What do I need to do to prepare for calving?

Now that you have some idea of how a cow gives birth, it's time for you to know what should--and shouldn't--be done in preparation before, during and after a cow calves.

It really all depends on what breed your cows are and what time of year they are calving. If you have cows calving during the winter months where snow and cold are a regular item, you will need to have some form of shelter in the form of a calving barn and a shed or two--more if you've got over 10 head of cows to calve out--to provide a place for the newborn calves to go to to keep warm. A thick bed of straw will also help immensely here as well. With that you will need to purchase enough straw bales to last you the calving season, if not the whole winter period. A calving barn is ideal because it not only takes the cows and to-be-born or just-born calves out of the cold, but you as well, especially if you have to assist a birthing cow.

If you are not calving in the middle of winter, but in more warmer months, you won't need the straw, but you will need some shelter, natural or otherwise, for cows to hide in to give birth in privacy and peace, and to get out of the hot sun. Ideally a clean pasture for them to calve on should be considered as well, and subsequent pastures to rotate and separate the pregnant cows from the new mothers their babies, or to place the new pairs in a fresh pasture.

Keep your large-animal veterinarian's phone number on speed-dial if you run into any problems that you cannot fix yourself. Keep a calving kit available for emergencies. Your veterinarian can give you a list of supplies to buy for your calving kit, but they should include the following:

• Calving chains with handles
• Obstetrical shoulder-length gloves
• Disposable latex gloves that fits your hands
• A bottle of oxytocin
• A calf-puller, winch is best (use with caution though)
• Birthing/Artificial insemination lubricant
• Syringes of varying volume
• Needles ranging from 14 to 18 gauge and length from 1 to 2 inches long.
• Halter and lead-rope
• 20-ft length of rope, be it a lariat or softer nylon/cotton rope

You will find that either a head-gate, a medina gate or a calving facility may help immensely if you have a cow that is having trouble giving birth. Note that this list is only for those cases where a cow is definitely having problems calving, not to be used on every cow all the time.

What should I do if my cow is giving birth?

The simple answer to this question is nothing. Let the cow do her thing and only interfere if she hasn't progressed in her labouring efforts after a couple of hours. This is very important and a crucial thing if you have beef cows that are naturally inclined to calve out on their own without any human assistance. Not so much for many dairy cows, however if you have put the proper bull on her you shouldn't have any problems either.

When you jump in to assist should be when she is trying to get the calf out of her and is not making any progress. If you have no idea what to do, phone your veterinarian as soon as possible. Don't be ashamed of getting your vet out of bed, because the life and health of your animal is more important than your or your vet's sleep!! Then the life-or-death decision can be made on how to get the calf out as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to preferably save both mom and baby.

Problems that arise from calving range from the head turned back, a leg turned back to a breach (tail-first) birth. The calf may be much too big to fit through the birth canal as well. If that happens, a surgical method called Cesarean section is performed to get the calf out quickly and save the cow (or heifer) as well.

If everything comes along normally, then there's nothing to worry about. A lot of the time it's just best to not interfere and let the cow do what she was made to do, from the onset of labour to the time she's raising the calf.

WE WILL STOP HERDSMEN IN ONDO-OPC

The Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, in Ondo State weekend directed its members to constitute themselves into vigilante groups in their respective zones in order to curb herdsmen attacks in the state.

The group also agreed to resolve the factional crisis rocking the Gani Adams and Fredrick Fasehun factions in the state in order to form a coalition against the invasion of herdsmen in the state.

Rising from a meeting held in Akure, the group expressed “worry over the incessant attacks by herdsmen in different parts of the state and asked Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to enact a law that would protect farmers against the activities of herdsmen in the state.”

The State Chairman and Secretary of the group, Victor Olayemi Egbeyemi and Olonimoyo Fesisogbo Pedro directed their members to meet with the community leaders, chiefs and security agencies in order to prevent breakdown of law and order.

Egbeyemi said: “OPC members should get prepared whether there is war or not.

The herdsmen kidnapped people in Ore, they attacked the wife of our member in Akure North, and people are fleeing their farms because of the activities of the herdsmen. Chief Olu Falae’s farm was burnt; we should rise up to defend our territories.

“We should not wait until they start to kill our people before we plan to defend them. We want to reorganize ourselves to defend the interest of Yoruba people.

Both Aare Adams and Dr Fasehun’s factions must work together in the interest of the people.”

The meeting asked members to be ready to defend the territories of Yoruba against the invasion of herdsmen who have constituted themselves into terror organization in different parts of the country.

Egbeyemi said: “It is high time the Adams and Fasehun factions come together in the state in the interest of the people as the issue before them is beyond the supremacy battle between the two groups.

“Both Adams and Fasehun are from the state and their supporters should come together in the interest of the people.”
He also called on traditional rulers to work with the OPC in order to identify indigenous herdsmen from invaders who constitute themselves as security threat.

SOKOTO:A GOOD PLACE FOR RICE FARMING

Irrigation farming system has been identified as one of the sure methods for all year round rice production, the Executive Director, National Cereals Research Institute, Dr Samuel Agboire, has observed.
Dr Agboire, who disclosed this in Sokoto while delivering the keynote address at a two-day sensitisation workshop organised by AfricaRice with theme ‘Applying Innovation System Approach in Rice Value Chain Analysis and Development for Competitive Markets in Nigeria’, said Ttransforming Irrigation Management in Nigeria (TRIMING) was conceived to increase competitive advantage through collaboration in a venture that links producers, millers and marketers.



The executive director, who was represented by, Dr. Aliyu Umar, said Nigeria can produce high quality rice and rice based products that can withstand the test of time.
In his remarks, an official of the AfricaRice, Dr. Salim Ndindeng, said Sokoto State has less risk climate, which according to him, is suitable for rice farming.
‘‘Sokoto State is blessed with very good soil, a maximum of eight to nine metric tonnes can be gotten from a hectare. So, Sokoto is less risk farming state,’’ he said.

DAILY TRUST

AGRICULTURE IN NIGERIA, WHY YOU MUST INVEST

Nigeria should be an investor's delight with its abundant resources and large population. However the political situation in the country and the threats from the terrorist group makes it difficult for intending investors to take the plunge. However good knowledge of the country is very important. Several multi-national companies have been in Nigeria and continue to do business in Nigeria

The country has always had large American, British, French, Italian, Chinese, Turkish, Lebanese, Indian, Syrian and of recent South African Communities. There are also other nationals in large population in Nigeria. The return of democracy has revived foreign investment in Nigeria. In all the sectors from energy to telecoms, Information technology, manufacturing, Automobile and the health sector.

There is a lot of controversy in the oil and gas sector,it is a very complex sector to get into in Nigeria. Agriculture still remains a sector where you can't get it wrong in Nigeria.Food will always sell.There are several ways to get into agriculture in Nigeria viz;

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY: The Nigerian Population depends on cattle from the northern part of Nigeria and from countries that border the country to the north. This cattle are reared in the old Nomadic way, where the cattle has to be taken around even as far as to the southern part of the country to graze.

However the practices in other countries can be adopted here in Nigeria and in fact have been adopted. The case of the shonga farms in the north is an example.Where Namibian farmers were invited to Nigerian. They have since become a force to reckon with in the agricultural sector with the different groups of farmers which they have termed "syndicates". Some Governors in the northern part of the country have been looking outside, like some governors have been importing good breed of animals to be bred in their various states.

CROP FARMING: There are several crops being cultivated in Nigeria that are in high demand all over the world, e.g cassava, cashew and it's nuts, grape, oranges, mangos, walnuts, cocoa,bitter cola, teak trees for wood and so many others. Olam a produce processing company has been in Nigeria for some years,of recent they have invested In large scale rice cultivation and processing.

There is a large expanse of land ready for farming purposes in the south western part of Nigeria. There are several agriculture enthusiasts interested in collaborating with individuals


There are several investment opportunities in Nigeria.The agricultural sector remains very attractive for several reasons.The government is in full support of this sector and provides several incentives.There are several investment windows in this sector.

(TOPE ADESINA)

FARMING IN THE NORTHERN NIGERIA

Nigeria is located in the West African sub-region in African continent. She is blessed with abundant rain forest, savanna forest etc. with enough Sun shine and rain fall all the year round. She has two major seasons-rainy season and dry season. Then raining season starts from mid March to October, while dry season starts from October to March. These seasons are very good for cultivation.

The Northern Nigeria is predominantly savanna forest. The rainy season starts from May to October, while the dry season starts from October to April. The dry season is further sub-divided into two: the harmatan season that starts from November to February. This period is characterized with very cold and dry and cold weather. This is usually the time for harvesting farm produce.

The soil of this region is sandy loamy suitable for crops like groundnut, cotton, wheat, maize, cowpea, soya beans, sogium, guinecorn, millet etc. This soil is very easy to cultivate. There no trees to fall. Most of the trees there are shrubs. Tractors, animals and man can be to cultivate the soil. The grasses are tilled together with the so to act as manure to the crops. The soil is arable and very fertile which require small application of organic and inorganic manure.

These crops can be grown and processed for local, industrial and export uses. So investing in this region is relatively cheap as land and are available. Investment can be for industrial and export uses. This can double or triple your investment. There are irrigation facilities for all the year farming.

Finally, one can invest in agricultural machineries, hires, sales, and services.

(Okwuegbunam Francis)