Most calves come on their own. Some don't. When a cow can't get her calf out you get a bell and a limited time to do something about it — and what you decided months ago, when you bred her, is most of what decides how it goes.
What causes trouble
- A calf that is too big for her. Birth weight against the size of her pelvis is by far the biggest factor. The sire is the big lever: a heavy-birth-weight bull on a small-framed cow is asking for it.
- First-calf heifers. A cow that has calved before has an easier time of it. A heifer’s first calf is the risky one, and the one to be careful picking a bull for.
- Bull calves are a little riskier than heifer calves, beyond just being heavier.
- The cow’s build. Frame, width through the pins and hip length all feed a hidden pelvic size you can’t measure directly. Brahman-influenced cows calve easier.
- Bad luck. A small share of calves come backwards, with a leg or the head back, or breech, whatever their size.
What you see
Her page shows what a rancher would see: two feet and a nose with no progress, only one foot, feet soles-up, nothing showing. You are not told how big the calf is — though big feet are a clue. The card also reminds you whether this is her first calf and what the sire’s calves have been like.
What you can do
- Pull the calf yourself. Free. Easy ones come fine. Hard ones usually come, with some risk to her. A calf that doesn’t fit won’t come at all — you’ll be told it’s not coming, and then it’s the vet or forcing it, which usually costs the calf and sometimes the cow.
- Call the vet. Costs coins to come out. Better odds across the board, and he’s the only one who can do a C-section, which is billed on top if it comes to that. A C-section means a long recovery and a knock to her fertility.
The clock
From the moment she’s in trouble you have a limited window (shown on the card). The longer she’s stuck, the worse the odds for the calf and the more it takes out of her. You have to be there to pull a calf. If the window closes without you, your away plan is applied: the vet comes (billed if you have the coins — he comes either way), or nobody does and she’s on her own. Set it under Account Settings → Calving; until you do, nobody comes.
Afterwards
Every calving is scored — unassisted, easy pull, hard pull, C-section, abnormal presentation — on the cow’s calving record and in her history. A bull’s page shows how his calves have been born, including on first-calf heifers. That record is how you pick a heifer bull. A cow that was hurt calving can’t be bred again until she has recovered; one that loses her calf still counts as having calved.