Dairy Woman Strong, three words individually and together that describe me...this is about me & my life, Dairy, Woman, Strong, enjoy! All thoughts are my own personal thoughts.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
It's a Girl!!!
Finally!!! We can report that we have a heifer calf! We had 9 bull calves in a row, and from the looks of things, we were thinking that this too would be another bull calf. Cow #312 was due 7 days ago, typically when this happens, it means that it's going to be a bull calf (male). Not always is this the case, but typically if a calf is born late, it is a bull. 2 days ago, we decided that #312 waited long enough to have her calf. We decided to go ahead and induce her delivery. We gave #312 medication to begin labor on Wednesday at 2pm. On Thursday at 1 pm #312 finally began displaying signs of labor. We watched her very closely. She progressed slowly, but after 3 hours we decided it was time to intervene. We walked #312 from the dry cow yard to the calving pen. #312 needed a little help to deliver her calf, so we hooked up to give a pull with each of her contractions. At 4:30pm on Thursday, we successfully delivered a beautiful HEIFER calf! After almost a month, we finally had a heifer on our farm and she was beautiful! We had to check her twice just to make sure we had a heifer, and I quickly named her "Autumn". #312 went to work cleaning Autumn off, and we worked to make sure #312 got plenty of warm water to drink after such hard work. After an hour we moved Autumn to her new, freshly bedded stall and we moved #312 to the milking barn. #312 literally ran to the milking barn! She knew exactly where she was going. She found her feed and water waiting for her, as well as all of her friends! It's so great to see a fresh cow doing so well!
What to see #312 licking off her calf? Check out our video below!
#312 will see her calf again in about 18 months. #312 is an 8-year old cow, but has lived to see many of her calves grow into cows. We move calves from cows for many reason, but the biggest reason is for the health of the calf and cow. Many pathogens can be passed from cow to calf through nursing & contact. By moving Autumn to the calf nursery we insure that she is in a clean environment, given consistant feedings each day, and allowed to grow. Meanwhile, #312 is in the milking barn, getting the best feed, cleanest water, and most comfortable bedding that we have.
I write this blog to share my passion for my cows and farming, please be respectful of that. I reserve the right to delete those comments which portray hate, call names, and are out right disrespectful. If you have an honest question, I will respond, to explain what we do on our farm, why we do it and how we do it. Please read with an open mind. My time to blog is short, as most of our days are spent caring for our beloved cows. Thank you!
Will #312 get to see her calf any more, or are they permanently separated?
ReplyDelete#312 will see her calf again in about 18 months. #312 is an 8-year old cow, but has lived to see many of her calves grow into cows. We move calves from cows for many reason, but the biggest reason is for the health of the calf and cow. Many pathogens can be passed from cow to calf through nursing & contact. By moving Autumn to the calf nursery we insure that she is in a clean environment, given consistant feedings each day, and allowed to grow. Meanwhile, #312 is in the milking barn, getting the best feed, cleanest water, and most comfortable bedding that we have.
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