Stop Motion Animation of a Nursing Baby Calf

I had cow with her calf penned off separate from the rest to herd. The calf had gotten injured a few weeks back and I was keeping it and his mother by themselves until the baby calf was able to keep up with the cow in the pasture.

The cow is super tame and doesn’t mind at all if you walk beside or touch the calf. So I had the opportunity to film the two together and get right next to the action. It was the perfect time to try out stop motion animation for a video.

Stop motion animation is were you take a whole bunch of photos and then play them back super fast to add movement. It is the same way the old Gumby claymation was done. The difference is they keep the camera still and moved the clay figures around. I kept moving the camera for different angles and took pictures as fast as I could.  My subject matter was moving. I was just trying to keep up.

This little video is about 30 seconds long and it took 85 photos to produce. I never adjusted the zoom on the camera. It was on the widest setting. The effect of me getting closer with the camera and backing up is what makes to appear that it zooms in and out. 

My digital camera was set for a bust of photos, but I was still clicking and shooting as fast as possible. The camera would process the photos and the view screen would be black. I never really knew for sure what pictures I was taking. The final outcome was a complete surprise.

Video using stop motion of nursing baby calf taken the first of May 2012

There is a limited amount of feeder cattle for sale in Texas

Post tags: feeder cattle, cattle for sale

Recent droughts have limited the amount of feeder cattle for sale in Texas and through out the Western States.  For the first time in the past few years, I don't have one suckling feeder calf that I'm bottle raising. The limited supply of feeder cattle for sale has driven up the price above what I'm willing to pay for a suckling feeder calf.

This lack of cattle for sale as caused a major change in my feeder cattle ranching. I now have more time on my hands. I no longer have to rush home before dark to make sure the suckling feeder calves have a bottle. There is no problem staying busy with the absence of feeder cattle to care for and I still have several 4 to 5 month old feeder calves that I'm feeding out. I just don't have any on a bottle.

I have been taking advantage of the lack of cattle for sale and catching up on some fence building. The days have been nice with temperatures not so hot, and the evenings have been a great time to be out repairing  fence. There are a few difficult stretches that are completely covered with brush that I have been putting off for years that need to be redone. Now that I have the extra time, I am using it wisely to do so.

I have been in need of fencing off area to place the baled hay next to one of hay pastures. It has needed to be done years ago, but when there a high amount of cattle for sale I was busy buying them up. It sure will be good to finely get a baled hay area fenced off.

Don't get me wrong you can still find feeder cattle for sale here in Texas. The cattle supply is smaller but it is still there. It is just that with the current price of cattle for sale, I am being very selective. Picky if you will. If I am to pay $250 to $300 for suckling feeder cattle, then I going to make darn sure those cattle are worth it.

I don't feel that the price for feeder cattle is really all that high. In fact, I fell that there is room for it to go up. The price should be fare for the buyer and the seller. The only reason I am using caution at this time is because I feel the price of cattle for sale could be unstable and there could be a chance that the price of feeder cattle will drop in the near future. It may not. We have only seen current feeder cattle pricing at this level for about 6 short months. I am going to need to see the cattle for sales pricing continue to stay at the current level for at least the next 6 months before I am truly comfortable with it.

That is not saying that I will not buy feeder cattle if the right opportunities come around. I certainly  will. As I said before I am just going to be picky until I am certain the price of feeder cattle is stable. I plan to continue on working on the much needed projects around the place. I have plenty of cattle and mama cows calving, so I could have a new bottle calf any day anyway.

I took a few pictures yesterday of a week old calf and his mama as long as a few of the feeder calves.

   

Cow foaming at the mouth

Technorati Tags: cowboys,cattle ranching,cow foaming at the mouth

Here is one of the questions I received by email today. I thought it was interesting enough to share in a blog post about a cow foaming at the mouth. It is not something you see everyday, but is not uncommon.

Message:

Hello,
This really isn't about a calf, but it's still a question I wish to have answered. To begin, I check my herd (they are calving) twice a day, morning and evenings and do round checks to ensure the entire herd is there, and all is well. Last night I did the same, counted every one and all was fine, this morning I went out to the herd and found one of my cows dead, frosted over, but she was highly foamed over at the mouth and I'm wondering as to what may be her cause of death? As well as if it could affect the rest of my herd? Much thanks if you can be of any help. Have a nice day

Reply:


There are several reasons a cow would be foaming at the mouth and does not have to be an indication of the cow being ill. When calves nurse they will foam from the mouth wither on a cow or by hand. It aids in digestion. When I feed my herds range meal cakes (cubes) they will start to foam at the mouth. Some will slobber a mouth full of foam down their sides as they lick themselves waiting for me to put the range cubes out.

Now there are several reasons that a cow foaming at the mouth will indicate a problem or illness.

If a cow is suffering from wooden tongue (fungus making the tongue hard as wood) she will have excessive foaming or slobbering from the mouth. Not the case here. Wooden tongue takes along time to kill the cow, basically she starves to death by not being able to pull grass or hay in her mouth with her tongue.

If a cow is overheated, Not likely. The question stated she was frosted over.

If a cow has fever, it can cause her to foam at the mouth. She will not die overnight from fever, but it could be possible she had fever which would suggest infection.

The cow could have bloated. The bloat would have killed her overnight, but I think you have noticed.

If the cow choked, she would have foamed at the mouth. If the blockage was down the wind pipe, then she would have just foamed at the mouth and died showing no other signs.

Now there are infections that bloom up in less than a hour. If bacteria get in the lungs, heart, or brain and blooms, it can kill a cow  in 30 minutes. Blackleg. The blackleg bacteria can happen anywhere in the body. It is known as blackleg because that was the easiest way to tell. One leg will swell up and a calf or cow will be dead in few hours or longer. If the blackleg infection was inside, you wouldn't noticed any swelling.

Vaccines are not 100% but if you are not already vaccinating for blackleg you should.

I would say the cow either choked or had blackleg (or a similar bacteria). If you found the cow sitting up with it’s legs under it, then chances are it choked. If her legs where straight out then it could be either.