Cow #110 had given birth. She had been with the cattle in the corral when we put Toby into the south corral. When Donna found the baby calf cow #110 was standing under the trees way over by the road. She was nowhere near her calf. She came over when Donna and I started to fuss over her calf. Yes... this is that cow. The one that ignores or is initially mean to her newborn calf and is conflicted. She licks it but she also headbutts it.
Cow 110 did not have her calf when I checked after 7 am Wednesday morning. It was 11 am when Donna and I started banding and tagging Beulah's calf and cow 110 already had her calf by then. We had noticed some stuff hanging from her back end and thought she would give birth soon. We didn't realized what we start was a little bit of her afterbirth. The afterbirth hadn't really started to come out as the calf hadn't drank yet.
Because several of the calves from last year were fixated on Beulah's new calf and one kept trying to mount it, earlier I put Beulah and her calf into the loading corral ramp area. Now that cow 110 had her calf, and the calf did not appear to have drunk milk yet, I had to get Beulah and her calf out and cow 110 and her calf into the loading corral ramp area so we could get the calf to drink from his mother.
Rather than carrying the calf I used a plastic sled to drag him into the loading corral ramp area.
The calf was weak and I had to help hold him up in a standing position while Donna guided his mouth to the cow's teat. But the calf didn't want to drink. I think it was because he was weak, instead of it being that he already had drunk and his stomach was full. I'm sure it had been over two hours since the calf was born.
So I got a bottle and Donna milked the cow. I had tried to milk the cow but I don't have the knack. We tried to get the calf to suck the bottle's nipple but he wouldn't. So I got the plastic bag and long plastic tube and we put that tube down his throat and fed him that way.
Afterwards I got some hay for him to lay on it the corner and some hay for the mother to eat. The mother had only partially licked the calf clean so Donna dried the calf off with some towels.
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| "Thank you' That feels soooo good." |
I put some boards across the corner to keep the mother from reaching the calf in case the mother turned mean again. Last year she attacked her newborn calf, slammed it against a tree and tore the calf's ear.
It wasn't long after Donna milked the cow that she started to expel her afterbirth.
I left the cow and calf in the loading corral ramp area. I checked on them at 2:30 pm. The calf was standing in the corner. He seemed to want to come out from under the boards. But sometimes the mother would lick him and sometimes the mother would headbutt him. So I put the mother in the 'time out' area of the loading ramp and then I walked the calf into that area. The calf was hungry and drank and drank from all the teats and would head bump the udder to 'shake' more milk down. Cow 110 would alternately reach around to try to lick the calf or would push it. The calf would wobble but would remain upright and continue to drink milk.
Good. The calf knows how to drink and now has enough energy to stand on his own.
Later in the afternoon I put out another large hay bale for the cattle. While the rest of the cattle were in the corral, Beulah and her calf were in the NE pasture. The calf was sleeping next to a snowbank near where Beulah was scrounging around for leftover hay to eat from the previous hay bale. Once I brought out the new hay bale Beulah was a pest as she tried to eat the hay as I removed the twine from the bale. I was able then to chase Beulah away long enough to drop the metal feeder over the bale.
I also scraped more snow in the NE pasture. Partly to protect a few more trees but also to enlarge the snow-free area around the large pine trees. Most of the cows like to lay under these trees at night. Their body heat has melted the snow next to the large trees but further away from the trees the snow is deeper and too much to melt.
After 6:30 pm when I let the cattle out of the corral to go to the hay bale I saw cow 110's calf was standing and drinking from her. Great news. The high temperature Wednesday was 43 degrees and plenty of melting occurred. Water started to stand. By 7 pm the only part of the loading corral ramp area without water was the corner the calf laid in. So I cleaned the manure out from the barn's covered area and put out a fresh bale of straw. I let the cow out of the loading corral and she immediately went to the south corral and the hay bale there. I walked the calf over to the straw and set him down in the corner. The sun had gone down and the calf was shivering. The barn's covered area and straw should help him warm up. And it started snowing again after sundown.
I just got done checking the cattle for the night. The baby calf is awake and laying in a different position in the straw. His mother is laying next to him and chewing her cud. Toby is standing at the other end of the straw. The other cattle are all around the trees near the road - some standing, some sitting, a few laying and sleeping. Beulah's calf is laying and sleeping next to Beulah's calf from last year.
So far three bull calves (I am counting the first one that died). All three were boys. Maybe I won't repeat last year when most of my calves were heifers?
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