Calving season is an extremely busy time of year. It's important to have the gear you need on hand to assist cows in calving – such as obstetric lubricants, calf pullers, and hip clamps, alongside accessories such as ropes and handles and gloves.
Make sure you get your Calving Gear sorted early and have a mobile “kit” to take out into the field with everything you might need. Include a notebook so you know what needs replacing. Our recommendations for calving can be found below, and don't forget your wet weather gear, a torch and spare batteries!
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Calf pullers are a humane and safe way to assist cows that are having difficulty when calving. They are designed to hang onto the cow whether standing or sitting, various sizes to suit breeds.
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Our high quality Disinfection Mats are now in high demand around the world for human use at entrances as a biosecurity measure.
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Range of lifters and hip clamps to aid with down cows. The Lifters offer support over a larger body area to reduce pressure points. Hip Clamps grip safely onto the pin (hip) bones, can be adjusted to fit, and be quickly released.
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Shoulder-length gloves offer full arm protection with high quality, excellent feel, and puncture resistance. The Sensigan and Maxogan gloves have an integrated neck strap for secure positioning during challenging procedures.
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Our Obsteric lube pressure pump allows exact placement of the lubricant, minimising waste and mess. You can pump prior to use then use the shoulder valve for controlled delivery
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Rehydrating cows and providing nutrients through rumen drenching can help minimize metabolic disorders and potential costs like vet treatments, increased labor, reduced milk production, and higher culling rates.
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Buckets with lids are helpful for storing kit hygienically and can also be used to pour water over a calf’s head to stimulate a gasp, when they are not breathing.
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Use our neck bands for quick and easy calf identification at birth. They can also be used for signifying treatment with antibiotics or sulphur drugs, and for marking different age, rearing or treatment groups.
View ProductTransition cows (3 weeks prior and 3 weeks post calving) are at a high risk of a number of metabolic disorders that can affect dairy farm profitability. The significant nutrient requirements for a rapidly growing calf and for the preparation of the udder for lactation often result in dairy cows being in a state of negative nutrient balance. Although many commercial balanced diets can help to minimise the negative nutrient balance, many dairy cows will still benefit from the oral administration of a fresh cow drench immediately after calving.
The classic method was to fill a wine bottle with whatever electrolyte fluid or starter drench that was required and put it down the cow's throat. Invariably, a third went down her throat, a third went into her lungs and a third went on the ground. For low volume (1-2 litres) you would use a Shoof Easy Drencher or Shoof Big Drencher which is much safer than a glass wine bottle which could break. A lot of the low volume 'starter drenches' or 'jump start' drenches get supplied in what looks like a plastic wine bottle for this reason. But many farmers and vets also make their own starter drench recipes up and would use these bottles to administer these.
A rumen drench pump on the other hand helps facilitate giving cows large volumes of oral fluids. These pumps have a metal tube (trocar) that goes down the throat and can be clipped onto the nose so the cow can't spit it out. It's very safe to use and almost impossible for it to go down the wrong way. The pump is attached to the tube and you can dose the cow in a very short period of time. Twenty litres of liquid might take a minute to administer. These pumps can also be used to help cattle suffering from bloating. Once the tube is in place, the gas is dispelled, and medication can be administered directly to the stomach via the pump.
Twenty litres might sound like a lot but cows stomach have a capacity for 150 litres so you can see how just 1-2 litres doesn't really go very far!
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