Oklahoma Snow Storm 2021

Oklahoma saw one of the worst cold spells in history in February of 2021! Temperatures were below freezing for more than 10 days straight. That is not normal for Oklahoma. Social media was plastered with photos of people rescuing their animals in the snow. It was no different for us.

We already had several babies on the ground but when the storm hit we had to put one on the floorboards of the pickup to warm it up and dry it off. Then a couple days later we had two calves in the house over night. I ended up sleeping on the couch in case the calves got up and started wandering. We had them blocked off in the back entry so they couldn’t go far. I woke to them stumbling around at about 2 AM. I made up a bottle and fed them and went back to sleep. We were able to move them back out with their mommas the next day.

Here was the problem, they didn’t smell like their mommas any more so we had a hard time getting the momma cows to take them. Orphan-No-More calf claimer powder to the rescue! If you have never heard of this powder, it has been a life saver for us! We run the momma cow into the chute and sprinkle a little on her nose (it smells awful by the way) but they lick the powder off their nose and they obviously like the taste. We then sprinkle the powder down the calf’s back and stick the calf under her nose; she licks the calf and gets her scent back on the calf. We then let the calf nurse a little while the cow is still in the chute, this also helps with getting the scent of the cow on the calf. We have never had problems with using Orphan-No-More, it has worked for us every time.

I am happy to report that we didn’t lose any calves during the cold spell. We had 6 calves at the coldest point and 15 so far this spring. We have a small operation but it keeps us busy enough. We still have a few more cows to calve and 4 heifers, we have them up by the house where we can keep a good eye on them.

Hopefully you didn’t suffer too much during the cold spell. Some lost electricity and some lost water. We even had friends and neighbors that lost both. Things are starting to thaw out now. It was 54 degrees yesterday and it’s supposed to get to 48 today. That should melt a lot of the snow. Now we get to deal with boot sucking mud in the lots for the next few days!