A New Addition to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm

At the end of yesterday's post, we were wishing that Rosie's calf would come late so that her torn teat would have time to heal.  Tricia took her phone to our veterinarian today and showed him the picture that was in the blog from yesterday.  He said that there is nothing really more that we can do other than what we've already done.  He said that he thinks it will heal up in about a week and our primary concern is if the tear ripped the teat so bad that the milk would not flow.  Anyway, we were hoping that her calving would be delayed.

Well...

Tricia went out to the pasture to find Rosie in labor, moaning with feet sticking out of her.

She finally stood up because the chickens like to gather around and peck at the calf's hooves.  While Rosie was in labor, the rest of the heard is looking on with not much interest.

Almost there...

PLOP!  And out on the ground the calf dropped.  Rosie licked the calf to clean everything up and Daisy came to welcome the newcomer.  Later Rosie ate the placenta.  It's a weird thing that cows do.

This was an interesting photo.  We've never captured this before - a photo of the sire and the dam. The calf was a strong little thing, standing up in no time flat.  Then the calf's father showed up and started head-butting as if to say, "a chip off the old block."  Rosie looked on, tired after delivery.

Tricia checked to see what we had.  She lifted the leg to see what type of 'equipment' it had.  Oh well - It's a boy.  We always hope for heifers as bulls aren't worth very much.  But oh well, we'll have fresh milk soon.

The calf was up in no time trotting around Rosie.  This seems to be one of the strongest calves we've had.

He began searching for a teat and he began nursing on the one that was torn!  He suckled for a while and then Rosie kicked him off.  He looked for another one and sucked the rich colostrum to give him antibodies and strength he'll need to thrive.

He is definitely a cute little fellow.  We have gotten in a habit of not naming the bulls.  I don't know if we'll continue that.  Maybe we'll call him, "Alphonse."  He looks like an Alphonse.

This afternoon he was very curious, coming up to me and then scurrying away quickly.

Both momma and baby are healthy and the miracle of new birth continues to astound us.  The boys came out and looked at the new calf.  It is always neat to see new babies.  We love living on a little farm where we get to see stuff like this!

Rosie is making colostrum now, but in a few days her milk will come in.

We're happy about the calf, but still a bit concerned about Rosie's torn teat.  It will certainly be interesting to see how things unfold.