Monday, February 2, 2009

Baby calf being born....

Sorry about getting side tracked for a couple of days, I had to go to my uncles and get Mikeys post ready. He was shoeing his team for the winter/logging and I got to help/take pictures/stand around/have Auntie Anne watch the kids/spend time with my favorite uncle all in one day AND at the same time! So here a pictures of the calf that was born last week...

This is Martha.. She's a gal that let the bull get to close - again - it was a cool spring evening and the moon was out. She'd a little to much mollases mixed in her ground feeed and thats all it took for her to let it all go - including her decency. NOW, she is paying the piper like we all have I guess. This is the first peek at the calf. That is the water sack and his left front foot.
I know the barn looks dirty, but its not as it seems. In the winter the 'white wash' falls from the walls because the frost pushs itself into the blocks. SO thats why it doesnt look white. She is a bit dirty because this happened during that cold spell we had, so she had not been outside for 3 full days. It is SO SO SO hard to keep them nice and clean when we have to keep them inside. Now, she is curied off and looks bedazzling once again!

This is Big Son breaking the water sack - we do this to help her along. It will usually speed things up for her so that she doesnt lay so long in mortal agony.... been there myself....

Sorry, this one is out of order.. stupid blogger...

We must clear the sack away from the babys nose so that his lungs will start to function before his umbilical is completly severed at birth.
Big Son is SO compasionate. He really wants to make her feel better soon - I love this kid. But as I write this he is murdering some one on the Nintendo James Bond game.... boys...
This is what I ment by the barn looking 'dirty' - see in the back ground how the walls look brown and gray - but also shiney. They are damp and that causes the white wash to flake off in HUGE chunks - like paint peeling off the wall's. Next to Martha is Beuford (on the right) - she's a flake and that is a milker haning between them. As you can see, the baby is coming along well. These are the last pictures I got before he was born. I went into the feed room and Palmer put the

PULLING CHAINS!!!!!! on her

So for those of you in the contest that said that - you were RIGHT. I will be drawing the winner today/tonight/ this year.... dont be discouraged, it will be soon!

I went into the feed room to talk to Milk Man and Palmer yelled to me to come take a picture before it was born. Needless to say she gave one last push before I got there and there he was...dangit.

The board you see hanging from the ceiling is so that we dont milk her while she is 'dry'. Remember a dry cow is a bred cow that is less then 8 weeks away from delivering her calf, so we dont milk her. We 'dry her up' in preperation for her next calf.


And here is - ANOTHER CONTEST - but I dont know what to have for a prize you guys. I dont have another gift card so leave a gift idea with your name suggestion - sound stupid????? Anyway - this little bugger needs a name. He is probably going to be one of our future breeding bulls for the herd. He is HUGE and his face is all white - the rims of both eyes are pink. He's kind of goofy looking!
He is less than a minute old in this picture - its kind of gross but the birthing fluid gets ALL OVER the place! So there you have it my friends. The sorted story of a baby calf. After the baby is born we put him/her in front of the mamma and they usually clean them off. We then get the milk from her for the next few days and bottle feed them untill they can drink out of a pail. Bottle calves are fun, but can be VERY frustraiting at times. The reason is that they dont always suck well, or have much of an apetite but if you take good care of the mother, she is healthy and have no other issues, most calves are healthy and do GREAT!!! If a calf doesnt suck well, they can get dehydrated in a matter of hours and once that happens its all down hill. You then have to 'bag' them - stick a tube down their throat and pour warm milk into a bag at the end of the hose. Most of the time this works, but when it doesnt they die. We also have put dairy calves 'on' our beef cows. That means we pair a beef cow mamma whose calf may have died or that she has enough milk for 2 ,with a baby that needs the milk and wont take a bottle. The couple of beef cows we do this with are GREAT mothers and its a titty free for all with them. Any calf can nurse on them and they dont care..... SO there is your farm lesson for the day . Tonight I will put up the winner of the gift card and look at the entrys for this contest. I cant wait to see what you guys come up with!! Tommorow is Mikey's post - or yet tonight if I am awake enough to type it.... See ya then!

26 comments:

Patricia said...

Amazing pictures - what a wonderful thing to see when you're a 'city girl' like me - thanks for sharing with us....

Tina Marie the Willow Witch said...

Dang it, Heidi... you make me miss it so... he is a cutie.

Andi said...

I grew up on a strictly beef ranch. I love calving time. I miss it. I also loved bottle calves. They were always the kids responsibility. It's amazing none of us ended up vegetarians, we'd get so attached to the little cuties. Enjoyed the post!

Mrs. Mom said...

HEIDIIIII!!! I missed ya sista!!

Hmm... a name for that handsome big bugger huh? Let's see here...

Well, dunno if you are a Steelers fan or not, but you could call him Rothlesburger (SP?) in honor of their win last night.

Orrr.... for the Cardinals... in memory of Pat Tillman, call him Tillman... or PT, or Patrick...

Orrr.... ummm... shoot girl I dunno! LOL

Prize? Beats me baby!

Kiss those babies from me please, and squeeze Milk Man too! ;) (*ahem* just don't squeeze too hard there girl ;) )

Sadie said...

I say call him Zeus :)
this is wikipedia's description...

Zeus, The king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak.

One of his symbols is the bull, kinda cool huh?

Finnagin is irish for white, and fair, and Fintan is Irish for white fire, or white bull.

I may very well be back with more just for fun. I LOVE this kind of stuff!

Glad to see Mama cow and baby are doing well!

Hohni said...

These are way neat to see!!!

I like "Aslan" for a name for him!!!!

GreenRanchingMom said...

My girls say call him "pinky" because not everybody gets to have pink eyeliner, like him. And, they added, real men wear pink.

Heidi said...

I LOVE THIS!!!! Honi did you know that Aslan or Axlan is Finish for father of peace?!?!?!? I just found that out the other day! Zeus, Finagin and Tillman are GREAT!!! keep it up cuz I really like this too!!!

Mrs. B said...

Call him Bert

There's an oldies song titled "I'll do anything for Bert"

and that came to me with your son helping and "wanting to do anything" for the calf that he could to help him out.

Amber said...

Well, I WAS gonna say name him Snowflake, in honor of the winter weather we have all been getting, or Frosty, but now I vote for Aslan. That is a beautiful name.

DayPhoto said...

You did an amazing job with the camera. And the baby is darling.

I was partial to your introduction...made me laugh.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

Greenmare said...

that was awesome! I'm a country girl, and helped out on my grandpas farm in the summers, well, I hung around and played with the calves and climbed on tractors and hay bales, but I never go to see a calf being born. how about Beauregard? I don't know why, it just sounds funny.

Paige said...

he is a doll baby.

I think his name should be Levi

Karen Deborah said...

Hum how about Spot? Glad to see you again very cool to see a calf being born. Putting the calves on other mommies is probably nice for the calves, guess they don't really care how they get milk. How's your hubby's injuries?

Heide said...

Thank you! I think your latest baby looks like a Sweet William.

Unknown said...

I love the cycle of life! How wonderful.

How about Picasso, because he looks like he has paint strokes on him in randon places.

WudWerkr said...

shouldnt he be called
" Nudder milk dud "

Betsy said...

Love the pictures! The calf is very cute, and I'd name him Ernie, in honor of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street.

Suzanne said...

Thanks so much Heidi for allowing us in the birthing room. What a great lesson. But.....we didn't get to see the chains in action!

Since he's white it made me think of a ghost. There's Casper, but that's not really appropriate since he does have that touch of black. You're too young to remember a TV show called "Topper". It was about a man who could see the ghosts of the former owners of his house. His name was Cosmo Topper.....so how about Cosmo? Or Topper?

- Suzanne

deb said...

I want you to name him Willis....he just looks like a Willis!!!!

thanks for the education, we dont see those kinds of things here in So Cal.....lol

Peggy said...

The little fella looks like a glass of milk so how about Half Pint or Milky Way? Now I want a calf! We had a dairy farm for 17 years and one of my chores was feeding the calf bottles. Man can that wear you out!

Jenn said...

He is so cute!! Can I have him?

I think is name should be Gandalf the White.

ellie k said...

Do you always keep your cows in stalls when they have there calves? I love your blog. You are a hard worker to be admired.

Heidi said...

Ellie K - yes we do... unfortunatly. We dont have the facilitys to allow them to freshen in a nice big area - except in the summer. Then we let them freshen outside if its during the day. Not at night, because we have coyotes around here. Also, when a cow 'freshens' she may get what we call 'milk fever'.... its much easier to treat/doctor her if she is already in the barn.. :) Glad you stopped by!!

Dandelionmom said...

I wanted pinky too!!! I can just picture a big bull named Pinky!--It tickles me--well-you know ;)

I spose Sugar Daddy would also be appropo for a herd sire-kinda silly now though :D

Sara said...

That was so beautiful! Never gets old, seeing babies born.

I think his name should be "Romeo."