Calf 8

Calf 8 was born to cow #80 overnight.  The calf was pretty spry this morning around 10 am when I found it so it had born a while ago and not just in the morning.

The mother is all black.  The calf is a black white faced calf.  Just like its dad.  The difference between this calf and the previous black white faced calf is that this one has a black spot around its left eye.  It is a pretty calf, like all of Buddy's calves.

I was able to easily grab the calf and hold it this morning.  I felt and did not find any balls.  Its a girl.  The mother was starting to make a fuss so I let it go.

Back with her mother.

Donna stopped by in the evening and we rechecked the calf.  It was harder catching the calf this time.  To get away from me it easily slipped through the three strand section of the barb wire fence.  I was able to grab the calf when it tried to get back through the fence to her mother.  By now the fence was five strands and hard to get through.

I held the calf and Donna double checked.  Yup.  A girl.  That makes six straight girls.

Not even a full day old.  And, yes, the coat is from my 'homeless collection' on its way soon to being burned.

Even though the calf was heavy I carried the calf back to the three strand section of the fence as it was lower and then lifted the calf over the fence and set it down. She immediately laid down. Her mother came and the calf jumped up and ran to her mother.

Then Donna helped me pull another large hay bale into the corral for the yearlings.  While I was working on getting the metal feeder back around the bale, and talking with Donna, two cows came to the corral fence and yelled and yelled at me.  Having got my attention I noticed their calves were in the NE pasture where their mothers could not go.

When I entered the NE pasture the calves scampered back out to the north pasture and their mothers.  The old barb wire had loose wires to the post for the gate.  The cattle also had pushed on the old post toward the new post making the wires even more slack.

A short time later Mama was agitated.  Her calf was now in the NE pasture.  *sigh*  After I herded Mama's calf through the fence I placed an old pallet there to stop the calves from teasing their mothers.

I expect the heifer, number 55, to give birth very soon.  This afternoon as she laid in the corral I could see her vaginal opening was larger.  It was almost like the calf was bulging to come out.  However I had seen a similar look in a cow last year and that cow did not calf until the next day.   When Donna and I checked calf 8 I noticed heifer #55 was up and walking around with no signs of an immediate birth.  But soon.

By the time I got the camera for the following photo she sat up from laying completely down and her opening did not look as large or red.

Heifer number 55