Post by Lannie on Oct 23, 2012 17:13:25 GMT -5
Yesterday morning, I wrote in my "Cricket Book" that her udder still had a way to go but her teats were ever so slightly pointing out from center, so I thought there'd be a calf on the ground within 24 to 48 hours. And I thought I was being optimistic at that. Her tailhead wasn't especially loose, but my two girls don't usually do all the pin dropping stuff that most cows do. Well, they must, right? But it doesn't show. I usually go by their udders.
So at 4:30 yesterday afternoon, I thought I'd just go check her udder again, and darned if she wasn't in active labor. She had a big long string of goo hanging, and she was straining mightily, looking pretty uncomfortable. Her udder was enormous, and the teats were all strutted out. I went back in the house and told Rich that I'd blown it on my prediction, and that she was calving NOW. He was like Well... you can't win 'em all. I had PLANS for yesterday evening. AND it was cold and windy and spitting rain. Finally get some rain, and when does it come? Oh, yeah, right when the cow is calving. Or is that the other way around? It's raining so the cow decides to calve. Argh.
Amazingly, I was pretty calm about the whole thing. It's hard for me to believe, and probably for some of you, too, but this is her third calf, and she knows what she's doing now, so I just let her get on with it. She was so cute, when she wasn't having a contraction, she was looking around at her behind and mommy-mooing at it. Like she KNEW that baby was coming and she was trying to encourage her.
Finally, she laid down, hitched in a big breath and PUSHED. Her water broke then, of course, right in the dirt patch she'd been busy tearing up all afternoon, so she made a giant mud puddle. She hopped right up and did her best to slurp it all up, though. OMG, she was slurping so fast, she was burping!
I stood out there with her for a while, freezing, waiting to see feet. Any minute now... c'mon, feet.... I know you're in there........ No feet. OK, so I was trying to remember how long from the water breaking to feet... I thought I had two hours before I needed to start worrying, so when I couldn't feel my fingers anymore (left my gloves in the barn), I went back in the barn and watched from the window. Soon enough, maybe 10 minutes later, I saw her lie down again and push, and I thought I saw "the bubble." I went back out to check, and sure enough there were two forelegs and most of a face sticking out already, so I motioned to Rich to come out, and bring the camera.
I won't post all the pics, but here are a couple.
This was right after she whooshed out, and I mean whooshed! Cricket really doesn't mess around when she's calving. I didn't actually time it, but I don't think it was any more than a minute or two from the time I saw the feet and nose to this:
Cricket jumped right up and sucked the placental bits off of her, and started licking her all over, mooing constantly. "Oh, my BABY!!!!!!! Oh, my BABY!!!!!" Well, you guys know.
Rich said he wanted to name her Patty, and I didn't ask why at first, and then it dawned on me, it's short for "Cow-patty." He kept telling me he wanted to name Bandit "Abunga" when we first got her (Cowabunga!) and Cricket "Asaki" (Kawasaki) - oh, argh but at least Patty is a NICE name, so I'm letting it slide this time. She can be Patty.
Anyway, she finally hoisted her little self upright:
Shortly afterward, we decided to get them in the barn because of the wet and cold, and Patty was starting to shiver. She was up and trying to find a teat by then, but Cricket kept doing the circling thing, and Patty couldn't get latched on. Finally, I helped a little and she got a good drink, then laid back down. I wanted them inside, but she was too slippery for me to push well, and Cricket was waving her head around with that one horn perilously close to my face. Once I almost got it in the eye! Good thing it's blunt, but still, that could have hurt.
I couldn't pick Patty up because I'd screwed up my lower back earlier in the day, so Rich, being the manly man around here, picked her up and carried her to the barn. When he was almost there, he started to lose his grip (she was still "slippery" remember) and she wiggled and flipped over in his arms. He was afraid he was going to drop her, so he fell down first, so she had something soft to land on. I keep TELLING him it's OK - they're tougher than they look - but he's a big hearted softy and keeps trying to save them from harm. So he hurt his wrist when he landed on it, AND his right knee, which is the one he just had the surgery on last spring, but Patty was OK! And luckily, the eggs in his pocket didn't get broken. Can you believe that? The first thing he said was, "Patty's OK!" and then, "Oh, good, I didn't break the eggs!" I was yelling, "Yes, but what about YOU?" Men.
It was too dark to take pictures inside the barn at night, but Patty finally got latched on well, and after she'd had a good feed, she went and laid down in a corner of the stall I put them in. Helen was in the other stall, hopping up and down and mooing, wanting to see her new little niece.
Rich was hurt and I was exhausted (Cricket made me run all the way back to the house THREE TIMES for buckets of molasses water) and we were both covered in mud and slime, so we decided to give everyone some hay and go in the house and clean up, have something to eat, and relax for a few minutes. That's when I updated the calving thread, and why it took so long for me to do that. Then after dinner (luckily we had some leftovers) I went back out and opened the stall, gave the girls some more hay, shut the barn door because the wind was blowing straight in the barn, and left them for the night.
This morning, they were all laying down, Patty snuggled up next to her mom, but still wet because Cricket won't stop WASHING her. She's going to be as clean as Helen was her first week! LOL! I brought the milking stuff out for both Bandit and Cricket, got Cricket and Patty back into the stall and milked Bandit. After I turned Bandit and Helen out to the pasture, I brought Cricket in the stanchion and she came right out and left her precious baby in the stall to have her pellets and beet pulp. Patty looked to be sound asleep, so I just shut the stall door on her and left her there, and went to wash Cricket up. To my utter amazement, Cricket's udder was almost empty.
Now, you'll say, "Well, Helen must have nursed." But Helen was locked up in her stall all night, and it wasn't her. It could only have been Patty! How can a calf that's only a few hours old drink THAT MUCH MILK?? There was some milk in the two right quarters, but they weren't full by ANY means, and the two left quarters were virtually empty. So I didn't milk her. I've never had any of my calves drink that much the first night! I've been out to check on them several times today and Cricket's getting full, but Patty's been napping, so if she doesn't get hungry and go on a milk-binge again, maybe I can milk tonight, or maybe not. I guess it doesn't matter, it's mostly colostrum right now anyway, and hey, if Patty can take it all, bully for her! I just can't believe it. (I'm taking the milker out anyway, just in case, and I'll do my best to empty her if there's anything there.)
Anyway, here are a couple pics from today. Out in the pen, still getting bathed:
And then I moved them into the barn, because the sun wasn't out and the wind was still cold, and it looked like Patty was starting to shiver again, poor thing. Once in the barn, though, she remembered... MILK!
Finally, Cricket is holding still for her, and she's really good at finding the teats now. I think she's going to be a very fat, healthy, robust little girl.
~Lannie
So at 4:30 yesterday afternoon, I thought I'd just go check her udder again, and darned if she wasn't in active labor. She had a big long string of goo hanging, and she was straining mightily, looking pretty uncomfortable. Her udder was enormous, and the teats were all strutted out. I went back in the house and told Rich that I'd blown it on my prediction, and that she was calving NOW. He was like Well... you can't win 'em all. I had PLANS for yesterday evening. AND it was cold and windy and spitting rain. Finally get some rain, and when does it come? Oh, yeah, right when the cow is calving. Or is that the other way around? It's raining so the cow decides to calve. Argh.
Amazingly, I was pretty calm about the whole thing. It's hard for me to believe, and probably for some of you, too, but this is her third calf, and she knows what she's doing now, so I just let her get on with it. She was so cute, when she wasn't having a contraction, she was looking around at her behind and mommy-mooing at it. Like she KNEW that baby was coming and she was trying to encourage her.
Finally, she laid down, hitched in a big breath and PUSHED. Her water broke then, of course, right in the dirt patch she'd been busy tearing up all afternoon, so she made a giant mud puddle. She hopped right up and did her best to slurp it all up, though. OMG, she was slurping so fast, she was burping!
I stood out there with her for a while, freezing, waiting to see feet. Any minute now... c'mon, feet.... I know you're in there........ No feet. OK, so I was trying to remember how long from the water breaking to feet... I thought I had two hours before I needed to start worrying, so when I couldn't feel my fingers anymore (left my gloves in the barn), I went back in the barn and watched from the window. Soon enough, maybe 10 minutes later, I saw her lie down again and push, and I thought I saw "the bubble." I went back out to check, and sure enough there were two forelegs and most of a face sticking out already, so I motioned to Rich to come out, and bring the camera.
I won't post all the pics, but here are a couple.
This was right after she whooshed out, and I mean whooshed! Cricket really doesn't mess around when she's calving. I didn't actually time it, but I don't think it was any more than a minute or two from the time I saw the feet and nose to this:
Cricket jumped right up and sucked the placental bits off of her, and started licking her all over, mooing constantly. "Oh, my BABY!!!!!!! Oh, my BABY!!!!!" Well, you guys know.
Rich said he wanted to name her Patty, and I didn't ask why at first, and then it dawned on me, it's short for "Cow-patty." He kept telling me he wanted to name Bandit "Abunga" when we first got her (Cowabunga!) and Cricket "Asaki" (Kawasaki) - oh, argh but at least Patty is a NICE name, so I'm letting it slide this time. She can be Patty.
Anyway, she finally hoisted her little self upright:
Shortly afterward, we decided to get them in the barn because of the wet and cold, and Patty was starting to shiver. She was up and trying to find a teat by then, but Cricket kept doing the circling thing, and Patty couldn't get latched on. Finally, I helped a little and she got a good drink, then laid back down. I wanted them inside, but she was too slippery for me to push well, and Cricket was waving her head around with that one horn perilously close to my face. Once I almost got it in the eye! Good thing it's blunt, but still, that could have hurt.
I couldn't pick Patty up because I'd screwed up my lower back earlier in the day, so Rich, being the manly man around here, picked her up and carried her to the barn. When he was almost there, he started to lose his grip (she was still "slippery" remember) and she wiggled and flipped over in his arms. He was afraid he was going to drop her, so he fell down first, so she had something soft to land on. I keep TELLING him it's OK - they're tougher than they look - but he's a big hearted softy and keeps trying to save them from harm. So he hurt his wrist when he landed on it, AND his right knee, which is the one he just had the surgery on last spring, but Patty was OK! And luckily, the eggs in his pocket didn't get broken. Can you believe that? The first thing he said was, "Patty's OK!" and then, "Oh, good, I didn't break the eggs!" I was yelling, "Yes, but what about YOU?" Men.
It was too dark to take pictures inside the barn at night, but Patty finally got latched on well, and after she'd had a good feed, she went and laid down in a corner of the stall I put them in. Helen was in the other stall, hopping up and down and mooing, wanting to see her new little niece.
Rich was hurt and I was exhausted (Cricket made me run all the way back to the house THREE TIMES for buckets of molasses water) and we were both covered in mud and slime, so we decided to give everyone some hay and go in the house and clean up, have something to eat, and relax for a few minutes. That's when I updated the calving thread, and why it took so long for me to do that. Then after dinner (luckily we had some leftovers) I went back out and opened the stall, gave the girls some more hay, shut the barn door because the wind was blowing straight in the barn, and left them for the night.
This morning, they were all laying down, Patty snuggled up next to her mom, but still wet because Cricket won't stop WASHING her. She's going to be as clean as Helen was her first week! LOL! I brought the milking stuff out for both Bandit and Cricket, got Cricket and Patty back into the stall and milked Bandit. After I turned Bandit and Helen out to the pasture, I brought Cricket in the stanchion and she came right out and left her precious baby in the stall to have her pellets and beet pulp. Patty looked to be sound asleep, so I just shut the stall door on her and left her there, and went to wash Cricket up. To my utter amazement, Cricket's udder was almost empty.
Now, you'll say, "Well, Helen must have nursed." But Helen was locked up in her stall all night, and it wasn't her. It could only have been Patty! How can a calf that's only a few hours old drink THAT MUCH MILK?? There was some milk in the two right quarters, but they weren't full by ANY means, and the two left quarters were virtually empty. So I didn't milk her. I've never had any of my calves drink that much the first night! I've been out to check on them several times today and Cricket's getting full, but Patty's been napping, so if she doesn't get hungry and go on a milk-binge again, maybe I can milk tonight, or maybe not. I guess it doesn't matter, it's mostly colostrum right now anyway, and hey, if Patty can take it all, bully for her! I just can't believe it. (I'm taking the milker out anyway, just in case, and I'll do my best to empty her if there's anything there.)
Anyway, here are a couple pics from today. Out in the pen, still getting bathed:
And then I moved them into the barn, because the sun wasn't out and the wind was still cold, and it looked like Patty was starting to shiver again, poor thing. Once in the barn, though, she remembered... MILK!
Finally, Cricket is holding still for her, and she's really good at finding the teats now. I think she's going to be a very fat, healthy, robust little girl.
~Lannie