Welcoming Luna! Our New Baby Heifer

Our alarm clock went off early Tuesday morning, and we went out to the barn to do the morning milking and chores.  The entire area was lit up brightly due to a full moon.  Tricia remarked to me how big and beautiful the moon was, surrounded by clouds like a halo, casting everything in a brilliant glow.  It immediately came to my mind that this full moon might induce an early delivery! Daisy's due date was November 3rd, but we've always heard the old wives tale that, even in humans, the full moon causes babies to be born.  We both wondered if this would be the case...

Full Moon on October 27, 2015

I received a call from Tricia as I was leaving work later that afternoon that Daisy had indeed had her baby!  Does that prove the full moon theory?  I'm not sure. Daisy's delivery is just anecdotal evidence, and if you search on the Internet, you can find studies that show some correlation, but many university studies say that the moon's stage doesn't have anything to do with the date of birth.  I don't know, but the moon affects the tide and many other things.  The body is made of 80% water. I'm not convinced that the moon doesn't have some effect on labor and delivery.  

When I got home, I walked out to the pasture and saw Daisy being very protective and mooing lowly. What do you have there, Daisy girl?

Moooo!

Well, looky here.  It's a baby.  A cute little brown calf, still wet, laying in the grass!

Daisy's Baby

First things first.  Is it a little heifer or a little bull?  I curiously lifted the back leg as Daisy comes close, mooing and telling me to leave her baby alone.  Immediately I see four little teats, proving that Daisy's baby is a HEIFER!  Daisy's previous babies were all bulls - Romeo, Stryker, and Bully.  It's high time for a little girl from ol' Daisy Lou.  So far this year, Rosie gave us Clarabelle - a heifer, Daisy gave us this little heifer and Amy will be calving around December 31.  We're 2 out of 3 so far, and we're hoping for all girls from our 3 Jersey milk cows.

It's a GIRL

Daisy continued to lick on her little calf, cleaning her up.  She was being very motherly.  We think that she was born around 2 pm that afternoon, and from what I could tell, I don't think she's been up yet.  It looked like she wanted to just lay in the grass and sleep.

The spit bath

I always get involved when maybe I shouldn't, but I lifted her up and she wobbled on spindly legs, very weakly...

A Shaky Start

And then she plopped back down.  The curious hens came to welcome her to the neighborhood and hopefully convince her to stand.  She appeared to ignore their encouragement as well as mine.  For some reason she just appeared a little weak.

Welcome to the Barnyard, little one

We were prepared for this from past experience, especially with Clarabelle, and had a product called Nursemate ASAP.  It is concentrated colostrum and is supposed to get the calves up and nursing faster.

Red Bull for the heifer

I unscrewed the cap, opened her mouth and pressed the plunger down slowly while it was on her tongue.  She immediately began sucking and licking and swallowing - all good signs.

Let's get you started, little girl

It started misting, so I moved some fresh hay bedding into the stall in the barn where Clarabelle usually stays.  I didn't want Daisy and her little calf out in the weather, so I evicted Clarabelle from her stall and went to get the new inhabitants. As she wasn't up to walking yet, I had to carry the heifer to the barn, and I was followed very closely by a big protective momma!  I sat the calf in the hay, closed the gate and left them alone for a while.

Daisy is not real happy with me

Tricia and I went back to the barn after we ate supper and noticed that Daisy had delivered the placenta/afterbirth in the stall. 

Delivery of the placenta

As the cows always do, they promptly eat it, chewing and slurping loudly.  Many think it is done in order to get rid of it so it doesn't attract predators who would endanger the newborn calf.  The placenta is also full of nutrients/antibodies, so it could be for health reasons as well.  In fact, people at my office told me that they are marketing placenta in pill form for humans to take as a supplement for this very reason.

To see the cow chowing down on the placenta is not a pretty sight.  Daisy actually started choking on it, and we thought we were going to have to do the Heimlich maneuver on her, if we could figure out how to do that on a cow.  Fortunately, she eventually dislodged it and then started the process all over again. 

Lovely

Now back to prettier sights!  Daisy's little girl is a beautiful light brown, honey color with big ears, big brown eyes and long eyelashes.  She is cute.  Still kind of weak, though, even after taking the Nursemate ASAP.  We tried to help her get up, but she's a lazy little thing and was content to just sit there in the hay.

Pretty little heifer

There's no time to sit, though.  The clock is ticking.  It is very important that the calf gets colostrum within the first 6 -12 hours.  The colostrum gives the calf nutrients as well as passive immunity from the antibodies contained within.  The gut closes after 12 hours and disables the calf from absorbing the antibodies in the colostrum.  We went to work encouraging her, but we were having little success. 

Where is it?

She did have a strong sucking reflex on my finger, though, and so we went and retrieved the big bottle/nipple.  I milked out some colostrum into the bottle.  A cow that has just delivered doesn't make a whole lot of colostrum.  Her milk hasn't come in yet. While her bag is swollen, it is not full of milk yet.  I filled the bottle about half full with everything I could get out of Daisy's teats, put the nipple on the bottle, and offered it to the little heifer.  BINGO!  She took to it immediately, sucking the bottle dry.

Drinking the colostrum from her momma!

She perked up immediately, wagging her little tail as she drank the colostrum. Happy and satisfied, we put them back in the stall and turned off the lights in the barn.  As Tricia and I walked back to the house, we realized that we hadn't named her yet, so we went inside and, along with Benjamin, started brainstorming good names.  Blue Belle?  Hazel?  Bessie?  Lulu?  Then Tricia came up with the perfect name:

LUNA, appropriate since she was born on the full moon.  Welcome to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm, Luna!