ROLLING HILLS, Alta. – After getting knocked around by angry mother cows a few times, Reinhart Stojke decided there had to be a better way to check newborn calves.
The better way was to design and build a special calf cage that he can attach to his tractor and set down around a calf so he can put in an ear tag, look for problems and check for horns.
“I tell the guys in the coffee shop it’s the RS Calf-O-Matic,” said the Rolling Hills farmer.
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Stojke works alone and worries about his safety around aggressive cows at calving time.
He used to hunker under a tractor or jump into a truck box when cows charged after him, but after a bad trampling left him black and blue, he decided to design the cage.
“A fellow wonders why he didn’t think of these things before,” he said.
Now he looks forward to calving and finds the work less dangerous.
The cage is steel bars welded to form a six-foot-high structure that is five feet square.
It is picked up by grips on the back of his tractor, allowing him to set the cage over a calf. The grips come from a bale feeder and he modeled the cage to fit.
He gets into the cage from the back of the tractor. A tool box containing calf straps, medicines and ear tags is attached to the top rung.
The cage is sturdy enough that if a protective mother butts against it, he and the calf stay safe.
With 65 calving cows, including five sets of twins this year, Stojke’s workload at calving time is heavy. He puts ear tags on every calf and with his cage is also able to approach older calves if they need doctoring.
Some designs of this type attach to the front of a tractor but he prefers his own design at the back.
He figures it cost $200 to make and is worth it for his safety.
Reinhart Stojke works inside the calf cage with a two-day-old Charolais. Without the cage, the cow would have been more of a threat during this procedure.
