I’ve dealt with the breech births many times. Never tried to fish for feet with my back to the cow, but I’ll definitely be trying it the next time….. I would add to maybe reach back in after you get the calf out. Seems at my place, a lot of breeches are because it’s twins
As always...a great video. The detail only comes from experience. I would rather learn from experienced people, like Pat & Deb, than from dead calves. Following the calf's spine is a great tip.
Ranching and farming is not all fun and games. I agree 100% with you on not using chains or hay twine. This is stupendous teaching every apprentice should watch and learn from. That calf and mama are the bread and butter of the business.
I don’t even own cows and I enjoyed the video keep them up Pat!! When I’m out working the horses and I’m talking to someone about what I’m doing I’m always like well my old mate Pat said ….
I’m amazed. Pat, you are a wealth of knowledge. I have always wondered how you handle pulling a calf backwards or breech. I’m gonna watch this video 37 times if it takes it to make sure I have the information. Thank you for sharing this. You never see this kind of good stuff on youtube.
Tons of great information in this video! Watched a cowboy pull a bull calf out of a first time mama. Normal but tough birth. He also pulled downward with his pulling setup. Good trick getting a foal out of a cow. Thanks for this!
Great video! The only thing I would add is take a minute and reach back in the cow. With a good part of the breeches I’ve assisted with they are twins. For the most part the second calf has been in head up but it needs to come out ASAP also. Thanks and hello from southwest Colorado.
Lots of tricks to calving but your principles are very sound. Thanks for sharing. Big breach calf in a heifer can be tough to correct even with drugs to relax the uterus…too often ends in c-section or fetotomy. Early intervention is key. As my dad always said…If you see a cow with a kink in her tail and nothing showing check her yesterday!!
I just need to offer my profound thanks for all you do to improve animal welfare. I currently work for a large, high-producing intensively managed sheep ranch where the overwhelming majority of births are assisted due to the presence of twins or better. I hope you don't mind if we use this content to help educate our lambing season crew. Such a great practical approach to demonstrating proper technique. I watch your channel for the horsemanship and this was a lovely surprise!
@@PatnDebPuckett , we're about two hours away from Elkton. I work with the Wahl family in Curry county. It's been a very rewarding experience for me. Lambing happens indoors during March, the rest of the year we run a feedlot in that location housing our bonus " bummer" lambs( usually the single born lambs that we've grafted twins to the ewe) and the replacement ewe lambs before they go outside after breeding. Check out the ranch online! You guys would be more than welcome guests anytime you find yourselves in the area. Fair warning: we have string of " Japanese Quarter Horses" that we ride on the ranch, haha! I was disappointed at first, too.
Northen CA . Pulled a lot of calves myself and only encountered 2 or 3 breeches but probably 5-10% backward. (of the ones we assisted.) The backward arm was a goldnugget though.. You have shown where a cowboy ends and a cowMAN shines. FWIW I never used straps . Just Chains. Loop above the pastern joint, and half hitch below. The half hitch is essential to reduce the force on the legs when pulling.
Great video Pat, never tried going in backwards definitely looks to be a better approach. Also great idea taking the front feet of the cow down sure would of made things easier if I had of thought of doing that!! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us ,so appreciate!! All your videos are extremely helpful, I learn something every time I watch them!! Alberta🙂
I run Santa Gertrudis in southwest Louisiana and I work cows from a 4 wheeler a lot! 😁 They follow a magic sack of cubes really well. 🤣 We built excellent working pens with a great chute and life is so much easier now. Great info on dealing birthing difficulties. We do fall calving here.
Congratulations on your successful operation. Pat spent much of his career on the northern range on million acre ranches where the corrals are miles away.
Here are a few: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hooWEelRzW0.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gmUr-sHzBro.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TcKNUK09NcU.html
It's odd that you decided to show this particular video on a breech delivery, as a few days ago, I had to assist a very young mother cat delivering her first (of six kittens) that came out backwards (or breech, I didn't see the first few seconds) that got stuck before it's head came out... I, and Mom and kitten, got lucky and I was able to firmly pull it the rest of the way out after several tries, without any damage... I can imagine how a cowboy would feel (at least his first few times)... What an adrenalin maker!! Talk about a stressful few minutes wondering about all the things that could go wrong!! So far, everybody's fine...
@@BCVS777... Thank you... I estimated the mother was 9 mos old at time of delivery... Her birth canal was so tight that the kittens head was stuck inside behind the pelvic bone... It was a miracle I was able to pull with the right amount of tension and get her out without breaking her neck... She would have died if it took too much longer as her umbilical cord was crushed... Thank you for responding.
I’ve done quite a few breach births with cattle and sheep I found early on if you pull to quickly their stomach can rupture the diaphragm so I reach in in and pull the skin down so the stomach can come back as well
I pulled a dead calf one time. The cow had been kicked by a horse that was in the same pen and the kick killed the calf inside the mom. Man, that was WORK! It took me several hours to get the calf out. Mom lived, but I don't believe she ever calved again. Not a whole lotta fun in that deal.
Great video. If only the birth canal was as stable as your bucket! What you didn't cover was working with the cow as she is pushing. Those contractions are hard and you can feel like your arm is getting crushed. It is important to wait to pull until she is pushing to avoid internal tearing. We got sick of dealing with the cold (yes it gets miserable cold in the top of the Texas panhandle) and have gone to spring calving. We all like it better!!
Funny story. Got a call for a dystocia once where the guys had 2 feet out but it turns out it was 1 front leg from each twin. They were trying to pull them at the same time. They were good hands and were real embarrassed that they let that happen.
A National treasure right here!! Unfortunately, you'll have to die to get the recognition.. "I got yer six" (not sure what exactly means) but "sauvie?" 😉🤠
So do you push it back in facing her, then turn around and reenter the other way to get ahold of the feet? Or does it all happen reaching back behind you?
When you get the cow in a chute or lay her down in a pasture, you pull on the calf’s foot. If it’s alive, it will pull back. In other words, you’ll feel movement of some kind.
I had a nice herd of cows and had a few breech births and found that there is a nerve inside the cow a lot tlmes the cow will stop having labor the nerve if you take your nockel Rub the nerve that is inside the on tail head it will start the labor.
My dad is a vet and he had to cut up a lot of dead calves, lambs and goat kids to get them out of their mothers back in the day. Why does Pat remind me of my dad lol :)
