2023 - Calf 1 - Little Beulah's

Wednesday morning, March 8, the first calf was born.  I went out after 9 am to check on the cows in the north pasture.  Before I even got close to them I could see a dark object laying in the white snow under two cows.  It was a newborn calf.

The birthing fluid had been licked off the calf, but it was still very wet.  I could see the snow crust was broken where the calf laid and nearby - two spots of broken crust.  The nearby spot was colored indicating that was where the birth occurred.

The calf wasn't Sugar's calf.  The calf was 'Little Beulah's' calf.  Little Beulah is a full-sized cow.  She is called 'Little Beulah' because Beulah was her mother years ago.

The calf is a heifer.  I'm glad it was a heifer as female calves are tougher than male calves, and that is needed now with all the snow.

The temperature was in the low to mid 20s.  It was sunny with a little wind.  The calf was not shivering yet.  Probably due to being licked to be cleaned out, and because I doubt the calf was over an hour old.  Maybe closer to a half hour old.

I went and got a plastic shed to transport the calf.  The calf is big and heavy and wet.  I didn't want to try carrying the calf through the snow and ice.

Little Beulah followed me and the calf.  But a third of the way to the corral Little Beulah stopped and turned back to go to where her calf had been born.  I took the calf to the corral and closed the gate.  I didn't want all the cows into the corral as they would hog the loafing shed and leave no room for the calf.

When I went back out of the corral the cows, with Haynes the bull in front, were standing outside the corral.  Hayne did a little mooing.  Uh... is Haynes upset I took his calf?  I walked out the corral carefully.  Haynes just stood and looked at me.  Little Beulah was in the back of the herd.  Before I reached her she walked back to where her calf was born.  So I had to walk all the way back there, then herd Little Beulah back to, then into the corral.  Then I showed Little Beulah where her calf was laying in the loafing shed in the sun.  Little Beulah was then happy.

Shortly afterwards Donna arrived.  She helped me herd Sugar and Panda into the corral.  I think they will be the next two cows to give birth.  I was wrong about Little Beulah as I thought she would calve later.   And technically, calving should have started Friday, March 10.  Having the cows that I think will calve next in the corral is easier, since due to all out snow I prefer the newly born calves to be in the corral for a few days at least.

The news tonight said his Winter season is in the top ten longest snowy periods.  Our overall snowfall is a few inches below normal, but the days of measurable snow on the ground had been 109 days.  The record length is 141 days.  Two to five inches of snow is predicted to start falling tomorrow and then through Saturday morning.  Next week the high temperatures are predicted to be in the 40s.  So maybe we won't set a new record length of snow.  I hope not as I am so over all this snow.

Little Beulah is the brown cow on the left.  Panda is on the right.  I would have thought Panda would give birth before Little Beulah.

Licked off, but still wet.

In the late afternoon after I put the ear tag on the calf.  The calf is now dry.  You can see her hair color is like her mother's.  Her face looks like her dad's.

The cutest looking little calf.

Today, a day later, the calf is laying near the wooden feeder and near her mother.  The calf does like to walk around the corral and check everything out, which makes her mother nervous.  Little Beulah quietly moos at her calf telling her, "Be careful.  Come closer to me."

No new calves born today.