Post by catherine on Sept 27, 2010 20:35:42 GMT -5
Well, I was heading out to go to Producer's Co-Op on a feed run when I got a phone call from my DH. The next door neighbor where we're running the herd for the week had called to say that she thought a cow was giving birth! I immediately canceled my trip and turned back home (I was only about 5 minutes away). It was one of our littlest AMDs. She had her bag of waters peeking out when I got there, and one little white hoof could be seen through it. She was up and down and the hoof would slide back in. I was about to get worried when I finally saw a second hoof show up, and then the bag broke. Two hooves for sure. We've watched our Jersey give birth twice, and once those hooves are out, the nose is right there, and then the whole body is out. But not with this little girl. Mind you, we've always bragged that the AMDs just go out behind a bush and come back 30 minutes later with a calf. Well, this little girl didn't have a nice bush to go hide behind, so we watched the whole show. FINALLY, there was a tongue, and then a nose! More and more labor. My neighbor was right there too, and I think she was personally feeling every contraction. She wanted to know if there was anything we should DO?!? I told her that while this was taking a bit longer than our Jersey, I was glad to see that nose, as it meant we didn't have to worry about the head being in the wrong position. I thought time was all she needed. Bit by bit, you could see eyes, and then a head, and at long last, she stood up and the calf's whole body slipped out, right on his (yes, his) head! Ouch! All totalled, it was only our AMDs usual 30 minutes! lol. It just FELT longer because we fretted.
Then...Momma walked away like she was relieved to have passed that mass and it had nothing further to do with her!
We tried leaving them alone, but the herd was all around them and she just didn't seem at all interested in her baby boy. She didn't lick him or anything, and he was shivering in the shady cool breeze. So, after about an hour, we decided to move her back to our pasture, into our cow barn and into a stanchion so we could control her. We dried the little guy up a bit and put him to her teats. She kicked at him a bit, but then he turned to his first dinner with a will! When we left, he had a full tummy, was snuggled into her pile of alfalfa and she was licking him and giving him those wonderful low Mommy Moos.
We just came inside for our own dinner, having had a very different evening than we'd expected, but feeling very satisfied and our hearts are glowing. ;D
![::)](http://storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/eyesroll.png)
Then...Momma walked away like she was relieved to have passed that mass and it had nothing further to do with her!
![:o](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/familycow/Smileys/oh.gif)
![::)](http://storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/eyesroll.png)
We just came inside for our own dinner, having had a very different evening than we'd expected, but feeling very satisfied and our hearts are glowing. ;D