The Good Stuff

When a calf is born, the momma's udders are filled with colostrum.  Colostrum is truly the good stuff.  It is filled with antibodies and nutrients needed for growth.  It is so important that baby calves get this into their system.  It's God's elixir of beneficial goodness giving the baby a good start on life.  It gives energy and promotes health.

It is vital that the calf gets this.  We give the momma and the calf a little space while the calf figures out this new world that they are now inhabitants of.  Betsy stood up on spindly legs, wobbling this way and that and instincts took over.  She ambled toward LuLu and began looking for the teats on the udder.  She started at the wrong end and we tried to guide her.  When she almost had it, LuLu moved.  We opted to bring them both to the barn and give LuLu some sweet feed and alfalfa while we positioned Betsy on the right end and tipped a teat toward her mouth.  Betsy got after it with a sucking reflex.  First slow and then vigorous! 

The next morning we saw what we wanted to see - colostrum poop!  It is a bright orange-yellowish gooey poop.  That is evidence that Betsy got the good stuff in her.

We found more evidence on the ground and this signified that she got a good amount of it.  She no longer needed our urging or assistance, finding the teats on her own and sucking the udder down.

The udder looks big and swollen, but LuLu's milk hasn't come in until a few days later.  The first days, the milk supply comes in.  For right now, it's primarily colostrum.  That's what Betsy needs.  Before the colostrum supply dwindles as it's replaced with milk, we always milk out the colostrum after Betsy has enjoyed her fill.

We take the colostrum in that is strained through a filter and into a stainless steel bucket.  Betsy got hers.  Now we'll borrow a little from her for our use.

Colostrum is good for the calf, but it's good for humans, too.  It's filled with good stuff -immunoglobulins to help keep infections at bay.  So many benefits that it is marketed to athletes for a number of things like endurance and muscle growth and repair.  We've tried to drink it straight, but to be honest, I don't like the taste and the consistency is "oily" to me.  We pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it.

We'll add it to fruit smoothies with cinnamon and drink it down until we've exhausted our supply.  Sometimes we'll save some to bottle feed calves to make sure they get the good stuff so that they have a good start.

Welcome Nicky, LuLu's Baby Calf

The days are hot,

The temperatures rise,

Tongues hang out with exhausted sighs,

The ground is parched,

The grass is chaff.

But lo!  LuLu has birthed a calf!

This is the sight that greeted us on this Lord's Day as we did chores before Worship Service.  Although we were expected it about a week from now, this was a little early.  LuLu wasn't huge and her bag wasn't in "bloom" until this morning.  It's her first calf.  She's very nervous and high-strung.  When we discovered the baby, LuLu was just in the process of licking him to clean him up.  He tried, unsuccessfully, to stand up.  His long, wobbly legs gave way and he clumsily fell back in the dust.

We've had many chicks hatch out and some goats that have kidded lately, but it has been a couple of years since the last calf was born on the homestead.  It's an exciting time!  More on that later.  You look into the eyes of the calf and wonder what they're thinking.  Just last night they were secure in a dark, climate-controlled, safe location.  Now, strange creatures are looking at you, chickens are pecking at your soft hooves, the bright sun hurts your eyes.  What an awakening!

The first thing we check is the sex.  It's a... bull calf.  We always hope for heifers.  However, we're happy to get a healthy little calf.  This little guy's dad was a registered Jersey named Nick.  Tricia suggested that we name him in honor of his father.  So, we welcome NICKY to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  LuLu's sister, Elsie, came to see her new nephew.  Sniff, sniff.  They always smell them.

Could there be a worse time to calve?  I suppose so, but this heat does stress the animals.  We decided to move Nicky and LuLu to the shade on the south side of the barn.  It will be oppressively hot by the time we get back from church and eat and have time to come out and check on things.  LuLu still needs to deliver the placenta, finish cleaning up Nicky, nudge Nicky so that he stands up and begins to drink colostrum.  That's a lot of items on the agenda!  We hayed LuLu and headed off to church.

After worship and a big plate of chicken stew over rice, sliced beets, cranberry sauce, and coffee and chocolate persimmon cake for dessert, we changed and headed out to the barn/nursery to check on the situation.  I've got to tell you not much had happened in our absence.  They were both sitting down.  They're not in a rush like we are.  LuLu had delivered the placenta, but Nicky had not stood up.  He was taking in a Sunday afternoon nap.

Tricia and Russ got him up on wobbly legs and in three shakes of a billy goat's tail, he was walking around and falling an awful lot.  Practice makes perfect, though.  He'll get it.  We got an extension cord and rigged up a fan for LuLu to cool the new momma down.  She wasn't interested much in having all this attention.  Nicky would try to find the teats, but LuLu wasn't being cooperative.

We tried to put LuLu in the head gate so that we could work with her and Nicky.  Wouldn't you know it, a bunch of wasps had built a nest in the head gate.  As I started getting her head in there, wasps came flying out.  I went back to the garage and got some gas and ended the wasps' rebellion with the quickness.  

After some time, we were able to get Nicky to nurse.  I am positive that he got some colostrum.  We'll work with him more after evening services.  I want to get his little belly full so that he gets more energy and antibodies to strengthen his immune system.  We've got to get the little fellow to stand on his own!  Right now, we're having to help him get his feet under him.

In church this morning, we sang the old hymn, "How Firm a Foundation."  This was President Theodore Roosevelt's favorite hymn.  The lyrics and music are poignant and worshipful.  Coincidentally, part of the lyrics mention 'causing thee to stand.'  (Very appropriate for little Nicky!)

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!

What more can He say than to you He hath said—

To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

“Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,

For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

We'll continue to stand by to offer LuLu assistance.  We'll try to get plenty of colostrum into Nicky.  It's thick, yellow, oily, and nutritious. Then we'll milk the remainder out and freeze it.  That's a good insurance policy to have tucked away in the freezer.  Pretty soon we'll be back to daily milking - in this sweltering sauna in the south.  Not quite ready for that after a long reprieve from milking, but here we go again!  LuLu will require some working with as it's her first calf and she's never been milked before and she's as wild as a March hare.  We might have a rodeo on our hands, but that's okay.  It's always an adventure!

An Update on Clarabelle's Little Bull

Last night I was mentioning that Clarabelle had a little bull on Saturday afternoon.  The little fart was real weak.  He didn't try to stand on his own for hours after being born.  He just laid there, limp as a wet noodle.  In that condition, of course he didn't try to nurse.  I ended up milking out Clarabelle's colostrum into a bottle and we fed it to him.  He gained some strength and we were actually able to get him to stand.  We worked and worked with him to try to get him to nurse off of Clarabelle, but to no avail.  He didn't seem hungry anymore and when we would try to get him near Clarabelle's udder, she would kick him away.

We left them both in the barn last night.  Tricia mentioned to me that she was not looking forward to morning chores as she didn't want to be concerned about him not drinking milk.  I mentioned that I'd milk out Clarabelle and bottle feed the little fart when I got back from work in the evening.  This morning I received a text from Tricia stating that she had worked with the little bull and was successful in getting him to nurse.  She told me he drank a lot and she put them both in the pasture and that he was going to be okay.

This afternoon I walked out to the pasture to see the stunning metamorphosis that had taken place.  The little bull was way out in the pasture, playing and running around on his spindly legs.

When he saw me he scampered off to be near his mom.  He looked at me warily.

Then his curiosity got the best of him and he started walking my way. 

He stopped and just stared me down for a while.

They've all got very muddy feet as we've gotten lots of rain over the past several days.  I like this picture as it is a good shot of the calf with Clarabelle in the background.  I like the way the red barn contrasts against the green grass in the late afternoon sun.  You can also see Oreo, the goat, in the background.  She should be kidding in the next few weeks.

It is hard to imagine that this little fellow is doing well.  Just two short days ago, we were worried about him because he was weak, wouldn't even try to stand up and couldn't drink milk on his own.  Now he is full of life and energy!

My wife is the calf whisperer!

"Gastro" From Astro

Disclaimer: If you are eating breakfast while you're about to read this and find that talk about poop is repulsive, you may want to put this to the side for a while and read this while you aren't eating.

Astro is Clarabelle's little bull calf that was born last Tuesday.  He's just a little guy, and we want to make sure that he is getting adequate nutrition.  He is Clarabelle's first calf and although she does show motherly instincts, we wanted to check on him.  He is very secretive about when he nurses on her and we've only seen him nursing a few times.

Yesterday evening I brought Clarabelle into the barn to give her some dairy ration mixed with alfalfa.  Little Astro was following her into the barn and suddenly stopped and arched his back.  Yep, you know what is coming...

With one look, I knew that Astro was fine.  He has gotten a good start from Clarabelle's colostrum.  Can you see how that was confirmed?  If not, I'll zoom in.  (Please forgive me)

That nasty looking yellow, slimy poop looks odd.  It looks like he must be sick, but he's not.  Actually, it is just the opposite.  He's healthy and has gotten a good belly-full of Clarabelle's colostrum or first milk.  Colostrum is a special thing that mammals produce just prior to delivery.  It is full of antibodies to give the calf a good head-start in protecting against disease.  It also is higher in protein than milk.  It is vitally important for the calf to nurse and get the colostrum within 6 hours of delivery and definitely within 12 hours.  The cow will continue producing colostrum for about 72 hours and then the milk comes in.

There are numerous benefits for humans to drink colostrum, so we always capture some for us to drink.  We have several quarts of it in the fridge now.  I find that it does not taste as good as milk and has an "oily" consistency or mouth-feel.  Sometimes we freeze some so that if we ever have trouble with a calf unable to nurse, we could thaw it out and bottle feed the calf.  Astro's yellow poops are the evidence that we needed to prove that he got the colostrum he needed from Clarabelle and that he'll grow and be a healthy bull calf.

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.

Colostrum - It's Not Just for Baby Calves

Luna, our new baby calf, has discovered where the milk comes from and needs no more help from us. She hits her head on Daisy's bag, making the milk drop and then she moves from teat to teat, drinking vigorously until she's full.  Luna can't drink the quantity of milk that Daisy produces, even though Daisy's milk hasn't fully come in yet.  There is still a bit of colostrum in the milk.  Once Luna shows us that she's bored, we know that she's got enough colostrum/milk in her belly.  At that point we gently move her out of the way, clean up Daisy's teats with a soapy rag, and then milk her completely out.

Colstrum/Milk mixture

When Daisy's milk comes in, we'll definitely get more than this, and it won't have the bright yellow tint of the contents of these jars.  On the second day after the calf is born, we like to milk out the colostrum and freeze it as a sort of insurance policy if we should ever need to thaw it and give it to a calf in the future.

Understanding that cow colostrum has health benefits for humans, we tried to drink straight colostrum as well, but I'll be honest, I don't like the taste or the consistency.  It has a thickness to it that fools you into thinking that it would be like drinking melted ice cream - except it is not sweet and is kind of "oily".

Colostrum for us

The colostrum is thicker than milk, like cream and rises to the top.  After a couple of days, Daisy is producing enough milk so that the colostrum in it can just be shaken up and consumed without really noticing, and that's just what we do.    

THIS ARTICLE gives a lot of good information on the health benefits of drinking colostrum.  It goes into great detail, but here is a quick summary of what colostrum does for you:

It builds, repairs, strengthens and restores:
~the hormonal system back to levels associated with youth
~the immune system to it's top fighting form
~the digestive system to it's optimal function
~and it even provides you with every basic essential nutrient known

The article goes on to say, interestingly, that when the Australian Olympic swim team won a bunch of gold medals in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, they attributed part of their success to using colostrum supplements.  While we won't be swimming in the Olympics anytime soon, we are drinking colostrum in hopes of benefiting from some of the healing properties mentioned above.

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.      

Amy is a Go-Getter!

I don't want to bore any readers with baby pictures, but I did want to show Amy's progress after only 30 minutes from birth.  As discussed in the post from yesterday, she has been the most active and alert baby calf we've had.  She struggled clumsily on wobbly legs for a few times, plopping right back down, but she was persistent and kept trying.  After a few more tries, she was up.

It is simply amazing to see the instincts kick into gear as the Amy went looking for the 'milk machine.'  She started searching, but at the wrong end.  Rosie was very patient with her.

Wrong end, Amy.

Pretty soon Amy was getting closer to the goal line.  Rosie seemed to be coaxing her to keep trying.

Getting warm

Warmer!

Now in previous births I've shown this next series of pictures, but it is always interesting to me.  The momma cow will eat the placenta.  As discussed in earlier posts, experts think that they eat the placenta for nutrition reasons as well as to protect their young ones from predators that would be attracted to the area by the scent of the placenta.

Cows eat the placenta after its delivery

It takes them a while to take care of the job, but they get it done.  

Yummy for the tummy!

Little Amy is a real cutie pie.  She's spunky and within minutes, she was running around on legs that were strengthening quickly.

Surveying the new scenery

Checking me out

And then she started trying to nurse on Rosie again.  She was so close to finding the teat that it took everything we could muster to keep from walking up and putting it in her mouth, but we've learned from past encounters that the Good Lord knows what He's doing.  Most of the time animals need little to no help from us.

You're so close, Amy!

This next picture shows the milk vein very clearly on Rosie's side.  It is the large, brown, snake-like thing that is running horizontally from the udder to the left side of the picture below.  Some quick reading taught me that the milk vein is the main vein that takes blood from the udder to the heart.  There are two ways, though, for blood to get to the heart as when they lay down, that vein is blocked.  There is another large vein that you can't see from the outside of the cow that performs the task.  It was once thought that the larger the milk vein, the more milk the cow would produce, but this is untrue.  The cow's nutrition, genetics and environment play the major role in milk production.

The milk vein

After the labor and delivery and mom & baby seemed to be in good health, I brought Rosie a couple scoops of lunch which consisted of some Dairy Ration and some Alfalfa.  She wolfed it down in a skinny minute.

Your lunch is back there, Amy.

At this point we were still not sure if Amy had suckled on Rosie yet.  It is imperative that the calf nurses and gets the first milk, or colostrum.  Colostrum is chock full of nutrients, amino acids and most importantly, antibodies that the calf must ingest to ensure good health.  It is for this reason that we have some that we freeze some just in case we might need it.  Tricia tasted it out of curiosity.  It has a bright yellow color, does not taste good, and it has an oily consistency.

We always want to see that the calf is able to drink the colostrum and either want to watch her sucking or look for other evidence.  This morning we were unable to see her sucking, BUT I did find evidence later that afternoon.  I present to you Exhibit A:

A colostrum Poop!

Remember how I told you that colostrum is bright yellow?  It retains it's color all the way through her digestive tract.  Well, we've looked at pictures of Rosie eating her placenta and now I've shown you Amy's loose yellow stool.  Sorry for spoiling your appetite.  Being that I can't think of anything else gross to show you, I'll sign off for now.  See ya tomorrow!