After 7 am Donna came over and we got the calf and the mother back into the loading corral so the calf could drink. I put up four temporary corral panels to form a corridor between the south side of the corral and the loading corral. it is good that I did so as the mother was in an excited mood. She wanted to leave the corral to join the other cattle out in the far pasture. Or maybe go look for her dead calf.
The calf drank some but did not drain the cow's udder like he did yesterday.
I still had some work to do on the loading ramp. I added some vertical boards to four sections of the ramp's path. With the vertical boards I can slide cross boards through the ramp preventing the cattle from backing up in the ramp. This was something on my 'to-do' list for a while. I only need it when loading the cattle to go to auction in the fall, so I usually forgot about it.
I also added a wire to the ramp's side gate. When I first built the ramp I had the railroad tie post straight up and down. So when I left the gate open, it stayed opened. Now some years later the gate no longer stays open. The wire allows me to hook the gate open.
By the time I finished these fixes I noticed the calf walking after the cow like she wanted to drink. The cow would move her leg to brush the calf away. After a few times of this the cow laid down on the ground. Still, several teats on her swollen udder were accessible and the calf timidly went for them. But the cow turned her head and gave the calf the 'stink eye' and the calf moved away and then laid down.
So I put the cow back into the loading ramp area and then brought the calf in there. The cross boards kept the cow from moving and the calf drank. He also had a good bowel movement, though the color was not as bright yellow as it usually is for new calves.
After 8 pm Donna came over and we put the cow back into the loading ramp and I brought the calf to the cow. Unlike most calves over a day old this calf has no fear of humans. He also wasn't interesting in walking. In the morning I pushed him from the south corral to the loading ramp. That was a chore as the calf didn't want to move its legs. In the afternoon and evening I resorted to carrying the calf to move him.
The calf wasn't hungry. The last I knew he drank after 3 pm. I had seen the cow near him several times in the corral since 3 pm and she would sniff him or stand or lay near him. Maybe he drank on his own and she didn't brush him off?
Buddy was curious as to what was going on. He wanted to sniff the calf. I wonder if he realizes the calf is not his.
The cow still has not sloughed off her placenta (after-birth). This is a concern as the cows usually do so within 12 hours of birth. Often the contractions to expel the placenta are kicked off when the calf drinks. I don't know if the placenta hasn't slough off because the calf was stillborn, or whether too much time occurred since a calf first drank.
I'll have to call the veterinarian tomorrow. If the placenta doesn't come out the cow can get a bacteria infection and maybe have fertility problems in the future.
It is always something.
Oh... by the way. Donna suggested we name the calf: Buster. This is not to be confused with the Buster named by my Uncle Larry and Aunt Diane some years ago for one of Beulah's calves. That calf is long gone.
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