Calf 2 - Red's

What a day.   The second calf was born today.  A day where the temperature was in the low to mid teens which is about 30 degrees colder than normal, the wind blew strong and gusty all day with wind speeds in the upper 20s with gusts to 40 mph, wind chills below zero degrees, and some snow on the ground as light amounts fell off and on much of the day.  If this was January and not March it would a very bad January day.  Where is global warming when you need it?

So not a day when one of my cows should calve.  But in the morning Red's udder was larger.  She was getting closer to calving.  So I checked on her and the other cows many times today.  After 5 pm it looked like Red could calve within a few hours.

Yesterday I put another large hay bale just outside the corral.  That way, when not eating, the cattle could find shelter in the corral and loafing shed.  And they did.

After 5 pm Red finished eating some hay and appeared to be looking for the right spot to lay down and possibly calve.  The loafing shed was full of cattle.  I decided to put Red in the corral south of the barn to be with the other calves and Sugar and her calf and Red could have a better place to calve.  And I wouldn't worry about Red going out into the pasture with no wind break to have a calf under a tree all alone.  Red didn't want me around or to herd her, so it took some herding, and going around and around in the corral and out of the corral, in the strong wind to convince Red to go into the south corral.

Over an hour later Red was mooing.  She wanted to lay down and calve and the other calves were all interested in Red and wanted to sniff her and check her out.  It was a pain.  I tried to herd the calves away from Red and then Red would also get up and then move around.  After some time I got Red to the east end of the corral and kept the calves on the west end.

By the time Donna arrived Red was just starting to calve as the calf's front hooves were just starting to come out.  We waited south of the barn and out of the wind while Red calved.  Not slow and not fast. The calf's body was out except for her back legs when I walked over to help get the rest of the calf out as there was no waiting for the calf to freeze.  But Red stood up when I approached and the calf all came out.

Donna has lent me large old towels and I used one to try to move the calf over and under the roofed area west of the barn.   Years ago I had built a wall on the north side and this wall and the barn blocked the wind.

The calf was wet and slimy.  And it was a big calf and I'm getting old.  I struggled in the wind and cold to lift and carry the calf as it would slip out of my arms.  It took three or four attempts before I got the calf over to the roofed area.  Just before Red had her calf I had brought a straw bale to this area and spread it apart so the calf and Red would have a soft and warm bed to lay on.  While Donna used the towels to dry the calf off I got another straw bale from the top of the barn.  Red was still checking out the fluid where the calf had been born.  Then I herded Red over to be with her calf.

While Red had been in delivery I had brought over three corral panels.  I placed these panels around the roofed area.  This was to keep Red in, but mainly to keep the other calves out.  The newborn calf needed no interruptions when she learned to stand and then how to get milk from Red's udder.

Standing didn't take too long for the calf.  Figuring out how to get milk was harder.  Red was antsy with Donna and I nearby, and the other calves that were standing and looking just on the other side of the corral panels at Red and her calf.  The newborn calf was checking the barn wall and the roof's wall for milk.  And sometimes the front part of Red. I tried to move the calf back to Red's udder but Red would move and back up.  So Donna and I stood back and waited and watched the calf.  Around and around and I was getting impatient it was taking long for the calf to drink.  Even the few times the calf was near the udder it would search high and not low for a nipple and fail.  Finally when it was near the udder I moved in and tried to move the calf's head down to a nipple.  Before the calf could get a nipple in its mouth Red moved and kind of kicked her leg to get the calf away.

*argh!*

Donna and I stood back then.  The next time the calf was able to get a nipple and briefly suck before Red moved again.  The calf was figuring it out; Donna and I were cold; and us leaving allowed Red to stand and not move whereby the calf could finally drink.

I have checked several times since then.  One time Red was laying and the calf standing near Red.  The last time I checked over an hour ago Red was standing and the calf was drinking and drinking.  I'll check once more before going to bed but I think they are on track.  The calf has drunk milk and both have a covered place out of the wind and a large pile of straw to lay on.

This is why I don't have my cows have their calves in January.

Thankfully Red had her calf before it got dark.  Otherwise the outcome would have been worse.

Just before dark I got a few photos of the calf.  Red is a red Angus cow. Her calf - a heifer - is all black.  Before Toby became the dad, Red's calves always were all red.