Preparing for Daisy's Baby

Daisy (on right) will be calving in about a week

Daisy is carrying a calf and her due date is November 3rd.  She is fatter than she's ever been.  We are watching her very closely.  She was born in 2007 and has given birth to 3 calves - all bulls!  She's never had a heifer, but we're hoping that she ends that streak.  She has never had any trouble while calving, but we still will watch her very closely as her due date approaches.  Things can go wrong, and we want to ensure that we are prepared and observant.

This afternoon it rained and it was welcomed.  It hadn't rained in about a month and in the past 24 hours it has rained 3 inches.  We were happy about it and the cows were too!  Daisy was so frisky. As fat as she is, she was running and jumping and kicking!  While I was watching her, I checked her closely to see how far along she is in her pregnancy.  I noted that her vagina was 'flabby' and swollen and this is a sign that things are moving along.  Her bag is just starting to swell slightly, but isn't all big, tight and full of colostrum yet, and that lets us know that we have a few days left to go.

We have a stall in the barn that we can put her in with lots of hay for her to eat, but also to provide dry bedding for her and her calf.  But we also do a few things to prepare for potential problems.  We have a tube of calcium paste that we can give her if she shows any signs of milk fever.  We also have some frozen colostrum ready to thaw and bottle feed the calf if for any reason, the calf can't nurse within 6-12 hours.  We always save some colostrum for future use by milking out some each time we have a momma cow deliver a calf and then we freeze it.

We will post as soon as she calves and of course, we're hoping for a little heifer as opposed to a bull.