Post by mothership on May 24, 2008 14:40:58 GMT -5
Temmie had her calf this morning around 4:00 a.m. I had checked her at midnight, because I thought she was getting close. Her udder had gotten quite a bit bigger over the past few days, her tail head muscles more sunken, and she'd had some clear mucous, but nothing I recognized as signs of actual labor. At midnight, she was comfortably chewing her cud, but hadn't eaten much of her dinner hay, so I decided to set the alarm to check in on her before dawn. When I went out at 4:00, she was already drying off a very wet little heifer calf. The stinker, she was stealthy about it. She's passed the placenta (ate most of it), the calf was up and nursing within 2 hours of birth, and has been running around, bucking, nursing repeatedly. Temmie is being very good, standing still for the calf to nurse, being very attentive.
Now for the questions:
How much should we try to milk her out later today? Just enough to relieve pressure?
What's the best container in which to freeze colostrum?
Does the calf look to you like she's half Angus, or pure Jersey? Temmie was bred to a Jersey bull by AI, and then turned out with an Angus bull the next day. I thought at first the heifer was half Angus, but that was when she was still very wet and seeing her by the flashlight. She's gotten much lighter as she's dried off some. We're getting light rain today, and she keeps going out and running around in it, so she's not totally dry yet. She looks like a reddish brown color, not black, but darker than Jersey calves I've seen.
That dog in the background is not chasing her, he's just standing there watching from outside the fence. He's not a chaser, in spite of his obvious heeler lineage.
Now for the questions:
How much should we try to milk her out later today? Just enough to relieve pressure?
What's the best container in which to freeze colostrum?
Does the calf look to you like she's half Angus, or pure Jersey? Temmie was bred to a Jersey bull by AI, and then turned out with an Angus bull the next day. I thought at first the heifer was half Angus, but that was when she was still very wet and seeing her by the flashlight. She's gotten much lighter as she's dried off some. We're getting light rain today, and she keeps going out and running around in it, so she's not totally dry yet. She looks like a reddish brown color, not black, but darker than Jersey calves I've seen.
That dog in the background is not chasing her, he's just standing there watching from outside the fence. He's not a chaser, in spite of his obvious heeler lineage.