We'll Call Her Betsy

On Monday morning the alarm went off at 6 am, and I headed out to the barn to feed chickens, open the nesting boxes, feed and milk goats, and feed the cows.  I got everything done and was in at 6:30.  Tricia and I normally start our day in the sun room with a cup of coffee while we read the Bible.  We're almost all the way through the Psalms and will start on Proverbs in the next day or so.

After reading, I headed out to check on water and glanced out in the middle of the pasture.  What was I looking at?  Immediately, I knew.  I ran inside to tell Tricia, and then I went out to the pasture to check on the new arrival!

Fresh from the Farm

LuLu was standing by her little one.  She must've calved overnight as she had already eaten the placenta and the calf was licked clean.  She stood lowing for her calf, being a protective momma as we admired her little one.

LuLu

One of the first things I do is lift a leg and check to see what type of 'equipment' the calf is blessed with.  Here we go.  There is no male apparatus and four teats are clearly visible.  It's a girl!  We narrowed down the names to Opal and Betsy and settled on Betsy.  Since she was born pretty close to the Fourth of July, we were thinking it would be a fitting tribute to name her after Betsy Ross.  Perhaps we can put a stars and stripes bandanna around her neck?

A little Jersey heifer

Betsy got up on wobbly legs and plopped right down in the grass again.  You can tell that the grass is mashed down right where they are standing, evidencing where she went into labor last night.

Before the day warmed up, I picked up Betsy and carried her to the shade on the southern side of the pasture by the barn.  LuLu followed very closely behind, requiring repeated assurances from me that her baby was fine and I'd be giving her back shortly.

There was  whole welcoming committee in the shade.  Tricia was there, the roosters and hens, Elsie and even an appearance by Nicky, Betsy's daddy.

After a little bit, LuLu sat down in the shade by her little one.  It was a long night for sure.

Little Betsy lay low in the grass, napping all day.  She's a cute little thing, there's no denying that.

It's important that we get some of LuLu's colostrum in Betsy quickly, so we're about to get her up and interested in nursing.  We'll show you some of that tomorrow.

I Can't See Me Lovin' Nobody But You...

"Imagine me and you, I do I think about you day and night, it's only right To think about the girl you love and hold her tight So happy together" -  The Turtles 1967

We've been talking a lot about the literal birds and the literal bees lately with us hatching out baby chicks and then putting out a swarm trap to catch a wild swarm of honeybees.  But today, we'll briefly talk about "the birds and the bees," if you know what I mean.

We have two cows and a heifer that need to get bred.  Nick, the Jersey bull, is just the guy to do it.  LuLu has been in milk for over a year and a half.  It is time to dry her off, but we want to get her, Rosie, and Elsie pregnant.  No dice, so far.  Elsie had a cyst on her ovary and the vet came and took care of that.  But up to this point, she's not been able to get pregnant.  We track the days, put the cows in heat with the bull, and...  They cycle again the following month.

Rosie had lots of mucus showing.  It was her time.  We put her in the bull pen with Nick.  He began courtship immediately.

Rosie was in standing heat.  It's a little embarrassing to photograph and show this, but we are 99% sure that Nick was successful in his endeavors.

We'll keep watching the calendar and for signs and we'll put Elsie and LuLu in the bull pen with Nick as the right time arises.  If they keep on coming in heat, we may have to assume that Nick is a defective bull with low sperm count.  If so, there's a neighbor down the road five miles or so away with a registered bull.  We may have to schedule a 'date night' and bring our three girls down there.

I can't see me lovin' nobody but you

For all my life

When you're with me, baby, the skies'll be blue

For all my life

And a Bull Comes 'A Courting

We currently have 1 cow (Rosie) and 2 heifers (Elsie & LuLu) on the pasture.  We have watched their activity of when they come in heat and marked it on the calendar.  At least we have for Elsie and Rosie.  They come in heat this week.  We don't really know when LuLu's cycle is.  Cows have a 21 day cycle.  It is important that you introduce a bull during this time for obvious reasons.

I called our neighbor that has a Jersey bull and asked if we could bring our 3 girls down to his place.  Unfortunately, he told me that he just sold his bull.  That's too bad for us.  It was only a short 7 minute drive to get to his home, unload the cows and have them bred.  We made some phone calls and it just so happens that some neighbors a little further down the road have a Jersey bull.  He was agreeable to allowing us to use him.  He told us we could pick him up from his farm and take him back to our place.

Today after church, we did just that.  Russ hooked up the cattle trailer to his truck and we made the ten minute drive, backed up to the chute and prepared to load him up.  After some cajoling, he was in the trailer heading to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  The bull is gentle, but he's not halter broken.  We got him unloaded into the pasture, but we're scratching our heads on how we're going to load him back up in the trailer when he's finished his work here as we don't have a corral or chute.  We'll cross that bridge when we get there.  We'll have to be real careful having him here, though.  Dairy bulls are a dangerous thing to have around.

We unloaded the fellow and he began checking our his new surroundings.  He's a young bull, but he's larger than our animals.  He very slowly walked around, taking it all in, scoping out the ladies.

Rosie, Elsie, and LuLu circled around him and he got acquainted with them.  There's no romance yet, but in a couple of days, things should start happening.  And if all is successful, we'll have late July/early August calves.

The friend who offered to let us use the old boy said, "We're glad he's able to serve a purpose.  He was kinda taking up space around here."  We're thankful to have him around and we'll be watching the courtship take place in the pasture.  We didn't even ask what his name was!  We might have to make up a name for him for the short time he's here.

An Update on Elsie

Elsie is our little Jersey heifer that Clarabelle has on April 7th.  Today she is three months old. She is a pretty little calf and is officially registered with the American Jersey Cattle Association.  At two weeks old, we dehorned her with an electric de-horning iron.  At 3 months old you cannot even tell at all where the horns were.

Elsie is the tamest calf, but we've worked with her methodically every night putting a breaking halter on her and tying her up to a post.  We brush her and gently talk to her.  Over time, she's come to trust us and is very gentle.  Elsie is the calf in the back with the halter on.  In front of her, with no halter, is LuLu.  She's Rosie's heifer.  We'll start working with her soon.

Elsie and LuLu are half sisters and are partners in crime.  They run around the barnyard helter-skelter, with their tails high in the air, chasing chickens with dust and feathers flying.  They kick their heels in the air mischievously kicking the barn with a loud "thwack" sound that echoes across the pasture.  

Elsie is a growing calf.  She drinks all of Clarabelle's milk and then proceeds to go and share Rosie's milk with LuLu.  LuLu better be careful or she won't get enough!  We weigh Elsie by using a measuring tape that converts inches in girth to pounds. 

At about a month, she was 31 1/2 inches in girth, or 92 lbs.

At two months, she was 175 lbs.

At three months, Elsie was 42" in girth, or 240 lbs!

We'll keep you updates with how things are going.  I guess the next milestone for her will be when we wean her. 

Rosie, You're on the Clock

Clarabelle, had her little heifer, Elsie, two months ago tomorrow.  She's a healthy little thing, for sure.  Elsie is our first heifer in several years.  For some reason we hit a spell where every baby was a boy!  So now, Rosie is on the clock.  To the best of our knowledge, her due date is June 18th.  Below you can see the daily procession in the evening as Clarabelle heads to the barn for feeding, followed by Elsie, and then Rosie bringing up the rear.

Speaking of rears, Rosie's rear is fat and her girth is wide.  She must have a big ol' baby in her.  Tricia and I were talking about the ol' girl.  Rosie is twelve years old and to the best of our recollection, she's given us seven calves. 

We gave her half a scoop of sweet feed in her stall in the barn.  We have a rule that you only get fed an appreciable amount when you're in milk.  Otherwise, you are on grass and hay.  After her feeding, we put her back outside the barn.  In this photo, you can see a couple things: #1 is that she is FAT! #2 is that she is beginning to bag up.  What you can't see in the photo is that on her back end, she is starting to have some mucous leak out.  All signs of calving coming soon.

Ol' Rosie has been a good momma cow for us.  Hopefully, she'll give us a heifer.  Regardless, it'll be fun to have two little calves frolicking out on the pasture, kicking up their heels and running with their tails high in the air!

SOON!

Talking With An Ol' Girl

Yesterday when the cows were eating in the yard, we noticed something.  Maybe you can too?  Rosie is in the background and Clarabelle is in the foreground.

It is early, yet, but we think we can see Clarabelle's bag just barely starting to "bloom."  Others say that cows "start bagging up."  It just means that their udder begins to swell, indicating that they'll be calving.  We aren't sure, but when a cow is dry, you can definitely tell.  Her bag is just beginning to get a little bit bigger.  

Now, we haven't had the veterinarian come out and palpate to tell us definitively, so this could be a false alarm.  But it excites us.  With both of the cows dried off, it has been a welcome break to not milk cows twice a day, every day, but we do miss the fresh milk.  A spring calf would be nice.  Getting to share some of the milk is nicer!  Clarabelle's bag is enlarging, but I see nothing from Rosie.  We're hoping that will be a little later.

So while both cows were together, I pulled them together for a little conference.  "Listen," I told them, "You've given us nothing but bull calves the past several pregnancies.  It is time for some heifers.  We want some girls!"  Rosie and Clarabelle looked at me with dull confusion.  They didn't understand a word I said.  I'm not really going to complain about bull calves, because our freezer is full of meat, but we are looking forward to a heifer!  Hopefully, we'll find out in a month or so.

A New Arrival On The Farm

Friday evening after I got home from work I gathered my bucket and rags and headed out to the barn to do the evening chores.  This consists of feeding chickens, goats, cows, closing up the nesting boxes in the hen house, putting out hay and then finally, milking Luna.  I got all this done and Rosie had still not showed up at the barn. 

This is uncharacteristic of her.  It scared me a little bit.  I had called Benjamin in the afternoon to check on her and he said she was in the pasture grazing.  But now it was four hours later.  What if she was calving and having difficulty?  I better go check on her.  I went inside and got my flashlight and headed out to the dark pasture.  I couldn't find her.  My pace quickened.  Finally I saw something...

Whoa!  A new calf.  And it is up!  Rosie was finishing up eating the placenta.  The calf had already been licked.  The best I can figure is that the calf was probably between 2 and 3 hours old.  I got them into the barn the very next morning so I could get a closer look.  Cute little booger!

Time to determine the sex.  The evening before, I had put my hand underneath and I think I felt the equipment that told me what I needed to know, but here's photo evidence.  Yep, that's a bull calf scrotum.  It's a boy.

In the above photo, there's something a little strange.  You can see four teats.  Just like a heifer.  Why does a bull calf have teats?  Well, all fetuses start out in the womb as a female.  The chest develops before hormones change the sex organs.  The teats on a bull are non-functional.

So another bull!  The last three born on the farm have all been bulls.  We always want heifers.  Maybe when Clarabelle calves later in the spring, she'll give us one.  This little guy is the offspring of a registered Jersey bull from Australia.

G'Day Mate!

He's a strong little fellow.  In no time at all, he had nursed on Rosie and had filled up on all the colostrum that Rosie produced to ensure that the bull got a great head start.

In a couple of days, Rosie's milk will freshen (come in) and she'll have enough milk to take care of her growing calf and our family.  A bull wasn't what we were looking for, but we'll be thankful for a healthy momma and calf and for all the fresh milk she'll be producing.  As far as a name, we haven't thought of one yet.  Since he's a bull we don't normally name them sentimental names since they are destined for the freezer once they are older.  If we did name him, it would be something with an "Australian-flair" since that's where the sire was from.

Ol' Rosie - Almost Time!

What are some things that catch your eye in the photo below?

The first thing, I'm sure, is that I've taken the photo facing into the morning sun.  You're not supposed to do that.  It gives the picture a hazy appearance.  The second thing is likely the muddy ground.  The cows are standing in ankle deep mud to eat their hay. They slosh through the mud and walk around the hay ring to eat.  What a mess!  The goats absolutely hate walking through water and mud, but they'll eventually get there.  As you can see, they are small enough to fit through the hay ring and they stand on the pallet I place underneath the bale to keep it out of the mud and water.  Behind the hay you can see the remnants of the water oak tree we took down this summer.  I'll eventually get that cut up and stacked.

What may be less evident from the photo is Rosie's girth.  She is very pregnant.  I think her due date is in four days.  We can feel her baby kicking in her belly every day.  Rosie's vulva is becoming 'flabby,' which is a sure sign of imminent calving.  We've also begun to see mucous discharge, but her bag hasn't really begun to 'bloom' yet.  We'll be keeping a sharp eye on her.  As usual we are praying for a heifer.  Our freezer is full of meat, so we don't really need a bull calf right now.  A heifer would be ideal.  We could either use her as a replacement or we could sell her and make some rare farm income.  One thing I'm a little concerned with is the deep mud due to all the rain we've had.  If it doesn't dry up soon (and that doesn't seem likely), a little calf will have its work cut out for her/him walking in all the mud.  We may have to keep them in the barn for a while until things dry out.

Anyway, we'll keep you posted when Rosie goes into labor and delivers the newest arrival at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.

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!

A Discouraging Discovery on Amy's Undercarriage

The day after the Jeff Davis Parish Fair and Livestock Show, there was a Jackpot Show in the same arena.  A jackpot show is one in which you pay an entry fee to participate in and then cash awards are given to winners in addition to ribbons. Since Benjamin's heifer, Amy, was already there for the Fair, we left her one additional night, paid our entry fee and Benjamin participated in the show the next morning.  Amy (and Benjamin) did great, winning Reserve Champion and second place in Showmanship.  In the process, he won back most of his entry fee!

Benjamin and Amy with ribbons

Before the show took place, we gave her a good scrubbing, clipped her with the clippers and groomed her for the show.  We aren't professionals at this by any stretch.  We do the best we can, cleaning out her ears, washing her hooves and clip meticulously around all of her body with the clippers.  The livestock shows aren't why we have livestock.  We have the dairy cows for the milk!  Having the animals also teach Benjamin responsibility and work ethic.  We work really hard on that and hope that those lessons will take root and grow!

After we got her clean, we moved her out of the barn and into the grass so that she wouldn't dirty herself by laying down in poop.  Cows really don't care where they lay.

Giving Amy a good inspection before the show

Amy is pregnant and you can tell that she is getting a little wide.  Her due date isn't until December 31st, though.  While looking her over closely, we saw something that was very concerning to me on her undercarriage - okay, on her udder.  Her teats have scabs on them!

Scabs on her teats

Here is a close up shot.  What is causing this?  

That must hurt!

I'll tell you what is causing it.  It is Clarabelle, our little Jersey heifer that is almost four months old. The scabs are caused by Clarabelle's teeth.  Once she finishes nursing on her mother, Rosie (below), while we aren't looking, she goes and begins nursing on Amy and Amy's not even in milk yet.  You would think that Amy would kick her off, but she doesn't.  Clarabelle's nursing has caused not only scab injury to Amy's teats, but also caused Amy to begin prematurely producing milk three months before she delivers her calf.

Clarabelle nursing on her mother, Rosie.  After this she must go to Amy for more...

Here is a look at Amy's bag from the back end.  This will be Amy's first calf and her udder isn't supposed to be developed that much.  You can see that the back right udder has a little milk in it.  This is worrisome in that if this goes on, it can ruin Amy.  It could cause her to lose a quarter or two.  This very thing, in fact, happened to Daisy and she only has 3 working quarters. 

So what can we do?  Well, the first thing is that we have to separate Clarabelle from the other cows and never let her get around Amy.  We'll do that by keeping Clarabelle in a partitioned section and only allow her mom (Rosie) access to her at feeding time - once a day for 15 minutes.  We'll also keep a very close eye on Amy and ensure that she doesn't get an infection in her udder and that she quickly dries up.

This is a management issue and we'll just have to do a better job of managing our little herd.  We do keep close eye on them and while we've never witnessed Clarabelle trying to nurse on Amy, she must just be sneaky.  We will just have to ensure she never gets the opportunity to do it again.  Sometimes it can be like a rodeo getting all the cows where they are supposed to be.  This will just make things a little more difficult, but it is do-able.  We'll pray that Amy is unaffected by Clarabelle's gluttony. We'll know for sure in about two and a half months. 

Clarabelle At Two Weeks Old

So we wanted to give an update on Clarabelle, Rosie's little heifer that is two weeks old.  While she had a rough start, she has come on really strong in the last 10 or so days.  She has had no problems finding where Rosie's 'milk spigots are and is drinking plenty of milk.  She's growing and is a very spunky little thing.

When we try to get her in the barn at night, she plays games, running away from us with her tail high in the air, dodging us as we try to direct her into the corral.  She is perfectly healthy and we are happy and thankful that things seem to be normal now.

Clarabelle at two weeks old

She follows her mom out into the pasture and normally finds a comfortable place to lie down in the soft grass and nap.  She'll be hidden from sight until Rosie moo's for her and you'll see her head pop up with her big ears flopping to let momma know she's alright.

Out in the pasture with Momma

Rosie is a good momma to her and waits patiently as Clarabelle rotates through all four teats, drinking her fill.  The rich, nutritious milk will enable her to grow quickly.  Rosie is out on the pasture as soon as it gets cool, eating plenty of grass that she converts into milk that her heifer needs. 

Milk!

So we have a few things on the checklist for little Clarabelle.  First thing is sharing the milk.  Just tonight we started on the routine that we normally do.  We allow the calf to be with the momma all day long.  At around 5 pm we separate them and Rosie produces milk for us all night long.  We milk first thing in the morning at 5 am and then allow the calf and cow to be together all day long, essentially splitting the cow's milk production with the calf.  Dairy cows produce more milk than the calf can drink so this process works out so we are BOTH happy.

Next thing is not pleasant, but it must be done - de-horning.  We'll show you the process tomorrow. We also checked to ensure that she has only four teats. Sometimes the little heifers will have 5 teats and we've had to snip the extra one off. Clarabelle has four, so she's all good.  At around 4 months old we'll give her a brucellosis shot and probably at the same time we'll put an identification tattoo inside both of her ears.  We'll start working on halter breaking her as well.  It is easier to get them halter trained while they are young.

Overall, she's doing great and as Tricia remarked earlier this morning, she is a funny little thing with a great personality.

Welcoming Clarabelle to the Family!

It's a Girl!

Those are the three words you want to hear when your Dairy cow delivers her baby. We've been waiting on Rosie to calve and knew that her delivery date was quickly approaching.  We missed seeing the delivery Saturday, June 20th right after lunch, but Russ was out there right after she calved.  This is Rosie's fourth calf.  She's given us three heifers - Maggie, Amy, and this one.  And then one bull calf that was stillborn between Maggie and Amy.

We've decided to name her Clarabelle.  It sounds feminine and seems like a good name for a little heifer.  It didn't take long after Clarabelle was on the ground before Rosie's motherly instincts took over.

Clarabelle's first bath

Rosie gently began sniffing her calf and then began to lick her all over, cleaning her up and bonding with her baby.  It is a chance for Rosie to become familiar with her new charge and get to know the little one and commit to caring for and protecting her.

The hens gathered around to welcome the new addition to the barnyard.  Their curiosity was met with impatience by momma Rosie.  

Pretty soon Amy showed up and was introduced to her new little sister.  Lots of sniffing going on as they get to know one another.

"I'm Amy, your big sis"

Daisy, our other Jersey cow, showed up to greet the newborn and even Annie, the goat, came to give her good wishes, which is astonishing since the cows are so mean to Annie.  Annie thinks that GOAT stands for Greatest Of All Time.  The cows don't concur.

"I'm Annie, the goat"

The chickens are relentless and they'll gather around and start pecking at the newborn calf's hooves. The hooves of a newborn calf are soft and apparently the chickens think it is a good snack.  We try to get them away quickly, so as not to hurt her.  They pecked at her front hooves pretty good.

Russ built a temporary enclosure with some hog panels to segregate the meddling chickens from Clarabelle and Rosie and then brought some hay for her to lay in. Russ did a good job of fixing up the 'nursery.'

The nursery

Rosie wasn't finished yet, though.  Uterine contractions continue and the placenta is finally expelled. It's not a pretty sight, but is just a natural part of the birthing process.  

Delivering the placenta

In a very unappetizing event that is instinctual in cows, they will eat the placenta. It is widely thought that the cows do this to hide the evidence of calf-birth from predators.  Some think that it provides the cow nutrients, and others think that it is a good source of hormone uptake.  

Eating the Afterbirth

After numerous tries on long, wobbly legs, shaky Clarabelle is up on her back legs...

C'mon, you can do it.

And then she's finally is up on all four legs and then begins trying to find where the milk comes from. You're on the wrong end, Clarabelle!  The milk spigot is on the other end.

"Wrong end, little girl!"

Exhausted after a long, sweltering hot day, momma and baby sit down in the shade, accompanied by the ever-present hens to rest and collect their thoughts - whatever it is that bovines think about (or ruminate on).

"Let's rest.  It's been a long day."

She's a cute little heifer, that's for sure.  Next up is Daisy, who is due in October, followed by Amy, who will be having her first calf in December.  Lots of babies this year.

Clarabelle Sonnier

An update on Clarabelle:

"Why does it have to be so difficult?!"  That was the rhetorical question I called out to Tricia Saturday evening and several times on Sunday.  Clarabelle has been very difficult for us.  In the past, we've had calves that have taken a long time to stand up, and we've had calves that have taken a long time to suckle.  The trouble is, in order for antibodies to be passed from the mother to the baby, it is very important that the calf drinks the colostrum within 6 hours of delivery or for sure within 24 hours.  That colostrum provides antibodies that the calf needs to ward off infection and disease.  Each hour after birth, the calf's stomach changes and is less able to absorb the antibodies.

Many times we're quick to jump in there and take charge and forget that the Good Lord designed His creatures to give birth and raise their young without any human intervention.  I've even been impatient and pulled out a calf before that really didn't need pulling.  So now our first strategy is to just sit back and observe and get involved only if presented with a real problem.

Clarabelle was that problem child.  It took her about six hours to stand up and never would "latch on" to Rosie in order to get colostrum.  It was hot, she was a little weak and shaky, and after trying repeatedly, with no success, to make her suckle, we got out a bottle, milked Rosie's colostrum into the bottle and bottle fed Clarabelle. We don't want her getting dehydrated.  We were both soaking wet with sweat and exhausted when done.

She drank it and then we pulled the old 'bait and switch' to put her on Rosie's teat, but she just doesn't have a strong sucking reflex.  Sunday we bottle fed her three more times and actually was able to have some success getting her latched on Rosie's teat to suckle for a brief minute.  This morning she drank a half gallon and at noon Tricia gave her another half gallon.  She's making a little progress each time we work with her, and tonight we'll work with her some more, hoping to get her off the bottle and on her Momma - that's kind of the point of the whole thing!  You shouldn't have to bottle feed a calf when you've got a Momma cow full of milk.

Clarabelle is teaching us a thing or two about patience and hard work.  We'll keep at it and keep you posted.