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.
So it's been a little while since I posted a blog, and it's not from lack of trying, but from lack of sleep. I think we have spent the entire month of January on "Baby Watch". We knew we were expecting a large number of calves this month, but you never realize how many there are until they are all born and ready to eat!!! So our tally (so far...I have one more cow due with a set of twins for this week)...
33 calves since Christmas from 29 cows.
18 heifer calves (girls)
11 bull calves (boys)
4 loved baby calves still born (I always miss my lost ones!)
Currently feeding 27 calves on milk!!! Lots of hungry babies to play with!
Even though we have so many calves, I can assure you that we are not skipping over our chores or doing a poor job. Each calf is important, just as important as their mothers. We strive to give each of them the best care possible, even if that means some short sleep nights and early mornings for us. I have been doing the 3am checks for calves this entire month. I am certain that I am checking my dry cows (expectant mothers) at least 10 times a day, waiting for the next little blessing. Cold Minnesota weather has also offered a challenge. It is critical that we move the calves quickly to get them into the warm nursery. It's also equally critical that we get our cows to the milking barn after calving. Both cows and calves are moved to prevent them from experiencing frost bite in these frigid temperatures (-10 to -20's last week). February looks to be a lighter calving month, and a much needed break for this active dairy farmer! Stay tuned for more pictures and videos from the calf barn!
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!
