Calving Season Prep: What I Do Before the First Calf Hits the Ground

A practical walkthrough for getting ready, knowing what to watch for, and not panicking

It Starts Months Before

By the time calving season arrives, most of the important decisions have already been made. You picked the bull. You recorded the breeding dates. You made choices about genetics, timing, and which cows to breed. Now it's about being ready for what comes next.

I run spring calving at Howdy Hills, which means breeding happens in summer and fall and calves start showing up in the spring. By February I'm already paying closer attention to the bred cows, checking the calendar, and making sure everything is in place. If this is your first calving season, the biggest thing I can tell you is that most of the time it goes fine. But being prepared for the times it doesn't is what separates a stressful season from a manageable one.

Know Your Due Dates

This is the foundation of everything else. If you don't know when a cow is due, you don't know when to start watching her closely.

Cattle gestation averages about 283 days from breeding. In Howdy Ag, when you log a breeding event on a cow's record, the app calculates the expected due date automatically. I can pull up a list of every bred cow sorted by due date and see at a glance who's coming up next. That's the calving calendar, and I check it constantly starting in late winter.

If you're not using software for this, at minimum write down your breeding dates and count forward 283 days. Give yourself a two-week window on either side because cows don't read calendars. Some will go early, some will go late. But knowing the approximate window means you're watching the right cows at the right time instead of being surprised.

What to Watch For

As a cow gets close to her due date, she'll start showing signs. The udder will bag up and get tight. The vulva will swell and relax. The ligaments around the tailhead will soften and eventually feel like they've disappeared. She might separate herself from the herd, get restless, or stop eating.

None of these signs mean "right now." They mean "soon." A cow can bag up a week before she calves. The ligaments can soften days in advance. What you're looking for is the progression. When multiple signs are happening together and intensifying, you're getting close.

Active labor is usually pretty obvious. She'll be down and pushing, or standing and straining. Once you see active contractions, things should move along. A general rule is that you should see feet within about an hour of active pushing, and the calf should be on the ground within about two hours of the feet showing. If either of those timelines stretches significantly, that's when you need to assess whether she needs help.

When to Help and When to Wait

This is the hardest part for new cattle owners. The instinct is to get in there and do something. Usually, the right thing to do is nothing. Cows have been doing this without help for a very long time, and most births go smoothly without any intervention.

Dexters in particular are generally easy calvers. They're a smaller breed with proportionate calves, and complications are less common than in some of the larger breeds. That said, problems can still happen with any cow.

You should intervene if she's been actively pushing for an hour with no progress. If you can see feet but no nose (or a nose but no feet), that's a malpresentation and she's going to need help getting the calf repositioned. If there's a leg back or the calf is breech, that's vet territory unless you're experienced with calving assists.

If you do need to assist, OB chains or straps and steady, patient traction with the cow's contractions are the tools. A calf puller is the next step up if manual traction isn't enough. If you're in over your head, call your vet. There's no shame in it, and it's a lot better than losing a calf or a cow because you waited too long.

The single best piece of advice I got from an older cattleman is this. If you're not sure whether to intervene, give her 30 more minutes. If you're genuinely worried something is wrong, don't wait. Trust your gut, but err on the side of patience when things are progressing, even slowly.

Your Calving Kit

Have this put together and in one place before the first cow is due. Don't be digging through the barn at 2 AM looking for iodine.

Mine includes OB chains, a calf puller, iodine for dipping navels, clean towels, a good headlamp, ear tags with an applicator, and a calf sling with a scale for getting a birth weight right away. That's the emergency stuff, the things I might need at 2 AM when the feed store isn't open. Everything else I can pick up on a quick trip to town if the situation calls for it. I'd rather keep a lean kit of things that actually get used than a shelf full of products that expire before I ever need them.

You'll notice I don't keep colostrum replacer or other supplements on hand. I cull for good mothers. If a cow can't take care of her calf without intervention, she doesn't stay in my program. I'd rather build a herd that doesn't need a shelf full of products than one that depends on them. That's a personal choice and it's not right for everyone, especially if you're just getting started and don't have the depth in your herd to be that selective yet. If you want to keep colostrum replacer on hand for emergencies, check the expiration dates before the season starts and replace anything that's expired.

The First 24 to 48 Hours

Once the calf is on the ground, your job is to make sure a few things happen. But first, a word about the cow. A good mother is a protective mother, and some cows get aggressive after calving. This is especially true with first-calf heifers who don't know what just happened and are running on instinct. Don't assume the cow that was gentle yesterday is going to be gentle with a newborn at her side. Approach carefully, keep an eye on her body language, and have a plan to get out of the way if she comes at you. Getting between a cow and her calf is one of the most dangerous things you can do on a farm, and it catches people off guard every year.

The calf needs to be up and nursing within the first couple of hours. Colostrum, that thick first milk, is critical. It's how the calf gets its immune system jumpstarted, and the window for absorbing it effectively closes within about 24 hours. If the calf is up and nursing on its own, you're in good shape. If it's struggling to find the udder or the cow isn't cooperating, you may need to step in and help get that first feeding done.

Dip the navel with iodine as soon as you reasonably can. This helps prevent infection from entering through the umbilical stump. It takes two seconds and it matters.

Watch for signs that the calf is doing well over the next day or two. It should be nursing multiple times a day, getting up and moving around, and generally looking alert. A calf that's lying flat, not getting up, not nursing, or has a hunched, tucked-up appearance needs attention. Take a temperature if something looks off. Normal for a newborn calf is around 101 to 102.5 degrees.

Also watch the cow. Make sure she passes the placenta within about 12 hours. A retained placenta can lead to infection. If she hasn't cleaned by 24 hours, call your vet.

Record Everything

This is where the season ties back into the rest of your management. When a calf is born, I log it in Howdy Ag immediately. Date of birth, sex, dam, sire, color, any notes about the birth. If it's a registered animal, the registration details and genetic status from the parents are already in the system, so I know what the calf's expected carrier status is before it's even tested.

Having that record from day one means the calf's entire history starts building immediately. Health events, weight checks, and eventually its own breeding records or sale records all trace back to that first entry. And the breeding record on the dam closes out and ties to the calf, so you've got a complete picture of her production history over time.

If you're using a notebook, at minimum write down the date, the dam, the sire, the sex, and anything notable about the birth. You'll want that information later, and you'll be surprised how fast the details blur together when you've got multiple calves on the ground.

The Best Calving Seasons Are Boring

The goal isn't excitement. The goal is for every cow to calve on her own, every calf to get up and nurse, and for you to do nothing but watch and take notes. The prep work exists so that when something does go sideways, you're ready. But most of the time, if you've done your homework on genetics and management, the cows handle it themselves.

Get your kit together, know your due dates, and start watching. Spring is coming.