A Tough Day for Luna

Springtime means lots of babies around the farm.  We have two bull calves born less than six months ago, 51 two-week old chicks, the triplet goats born on March 3rd.  We've also posted about Luna, our Jersey heifer who was expecting her first calf.  In fact, just the other day we were posting about how it was going to be any day now that she would calve.

Well, she never went into labor.  Her udder was swollen and dripping milk.  Her vulva was swollen.  However, things just didn't seem right.  She stopped eating and became lethargic.  Tricia had intuition that things weren't quite right.  Yesterday morning Luna was laying on the ground groaning, but no baby was coming.

Tricia called our veterinarian to come do a "farm call."  He arrived quickly since his office is only a mile away.  Luna was worn out.  Dr. Fontenot was concerned about her.  He quickly began pulling the calf.  The calf was positioned correctly with the front legs poised to come out first, but the calf's head and neck was turned at an awkward angle and our veterinarian had to re-position the calf's head to deliver it.

Unfortunately, Luna's little calf was dead.  It was very strange in that the calf was a 100% registered Jersey and it was mostly white.  It was a little bull calf.  All of our calves this year have been bulls.  Tragically, this little fellow is dead.  We buried him in the garden.  Although very sad, our attention turned to Luna.

When I got home last night, Luna was in trouble.  She was down way out in the pasture and could not get up.  I brought a bucket of alfalfa and a drench syringe full of molasses diluted with water.  Pretty soon, we had Luna up and walking back to the barn.  I was able to milk her out and we saved the colostrum that would have gone to her calf and we froze it.  It is always good to have some colostrum frozen as "insurance" should you have a calf that didn't get any from the momma.  It is crucial that the calf gets it.

This morning before daybreak, I went out and checked on Luna.  She was down and groaning and was unable to get up.  I moved her to the sitting up position and was able to get her standing and eating some feed and hay.  Things are 'touch and go' with her right now, but I think she's made a good turn for the better today and I was able to milk her again this evening.

We will continue to observe her.  Sadly, we didn't get a calf, but if we can keep Luna healthy, at least we've got fresh milk.