It was the two feet coming out of the rear end of our cow that stopped us in our tracks. We were in the middle of milking the goats. Elise had laid down. We thought she had gone back to bed. She hadn't. She was in labour.
Now this was a surprise to say the least. We had thought that her bright red fanny and her enlarged udders were something to do with her coming on heat for the first time. We have waited expectantly for this event for some months, although were not in a hurry to mate her, we just wanted to know what her biological rhythm was so we could plan artificial insemination later on in 2014.
However, the two feet coming out of her backside said that this plan had become irrelevant.
So how had this come to pass? How had our young heifer been brought to the brink of motherhood. For ages we mused on this, and arrived at the conclusion that she must have been 'got at' by the resident bull at the farm she was born at, just before she came here.
Once the feet were out, the rest followed quite effortlessly. By now Sara down the lane and her vet students had come to lend a hand. They were angels. I was in a fug so just watched. Lester was in an even bigger fug and went off to see to the other animals. We were both feeling a tad stunned. Seeing feet coming out of your supposedly virgin cow is not something that one's head can easily deal with.
Meanwhile, the river continues to rise.......we are at orange alert for the Adour.
11 comments:
River, not good.
But OMG Vera, the calf is just gorgeous!!!!!
You gonna have a Baileys now?
Jessica, run out of Baileys. Think it a good idea that I get some tomorrow. just to celebrate the birth of the calf. Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
So was the calf a female or male, how wonderful for you, you got 2 for the price of one. You have a beautiful calf there, now you have one more mouth to feed. Now you have to train your cow to be milked or you could get kicked. You have to touch your momma cow lots now to make sure she is not skittish. You should also touch the calf lots as your touching your cow, this is so the little calf does not sound an alarm or you may get a unhappy cow coming at you. In about 3 or 4 days you should start milking the cow. You will have to use some kind of stention or something to keep the cow in place or restrained, so the cow does not run away. I bet you never thought of that.
Now you have the task of getting up early to milk the cow and to milk her again in the evening. What type of feed do you feed your Elise, you will have to feed her a lot more now if you want lots of milk. What type of feed do you feed her, I suggest what we call Chop (means chopped up or ground grain). Also for best feed add flax seed ground with the other ground up grain.Keeps the cows very healthy and shining. The reason that we grind the grain is that otherwise the grain will go right through the cow and will not have given the cow the energy in the grain. You may know all this but I thought it would possibly help.
Oh, and never feed your cows anything other than grain or vegetable matter.
Hi Again Vera, sorry to bother you so much but I spelled Stanchion wrong in the last comment. Here is a link for reference: https://hambydairysupply.com/xcart/product.php?productid=1073&cat=170&page=1
Congratulations!
It's a beautiful calf!
What a lovely calf! Definitely a Bailey's moment :-)
May I suggest the name 'Marie' in honour of the Virgin Birth???
Beautiful calf...I think I am more of a cow person than a piggie person.
Well done Vera...., she's beautiful xx
Jessica, went down the lane to Sara's place and opened a bottle of champagne instead!
Horst, wow, and thanks for the info. She has been fed with special grain all through the winter, as well as home made hay, so she is in good condition. Still can't believe that she has had a calf!
Niall and Antoinette, had champagne instead!
Denise, good name, but have named her Bonny, because she is.
John, she is indeed!
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