Happy Birth Day...

We were beginning to wonder if she was ever going to have her calf...

All in her own time...only one week late...

I never get tired of seeing the babies stand up so soon after birth.  They wobble around for a while as they find their legs, but soon they're up and running!  This little big guy has had his first bottle of colostrum and will soon be settled in for the night.

Happy birth day bully!

The Little Calf Book...

How important can one little notebook be?

It's just a little spiral bound book...about 3" x 5" or so.  You know...one of those notebooks that you'd write a grocery list in...or doodle in during Church...or something.  Jim's Dad started this book at the end of 1990 to keep track of when cows freshen, and we've kept it up ever since...

We filled it up just last week.  It was getting a little sloppy here at the end...trying to fit all the records in for the last few weeks in December.  We ended up adding another paper in the back so that we could start a new book in the new year...

We have other breeding records, of course, but this book is especially handy if we want to go back and see exactly when a cow freshened last year...or to see how many bulls vs heifers she's had, etc...

The back cover holds a record of how many calves were born each year since 1991.  It looks like the numbers have been pretty consistent, with the exception of 2000, when we had an abundance of calves...

And here we are...this morning's calf started the first book...

It's not nice to wish for bull calves, but our hutches are full, and so are the box pens!  Bulls would be welcomed about now.

We're headed for the deep freeze tomorrow again.  Temps are to drop to around 0 F. tonight, with wind chills close to -20 F by morning. I'm sure we'll be busy keeping water bowls open tomorrow.  Weather forecasts like this make my anxiety levels rise.  I'm definitely a fair weather fan.

See you after it's over!

When a Cow Needs Surgery...

How do you know if...and what do you do when...a cow needs surgery?

First of all, here is a short cow anatomy lesson...

Cows have four stomachs....the last one is called the Abomasum.  It normally lies below the rumen, but if for some reason the large rumen is smaller in size than usual, the abomasum can slip out of place and "float" up around the rumen, usually on the cow's left side.  It then gets trapped between the rumen and the wall of the cow's body.  This is called a LDA (left displaced abomasum)  This usually requires veterinary intervention to fix, but typically the cow makes a complete and quick recovery. Less often, it floats to the right (RDA), and this is much more serious.  In farmer lingo, we call this a twist, or a twisted stomach.

If you'd like to read a more detailed, and very easy-to-understand explanation, click here.

What are the symptoms of a twisted stomach?

The cow goes "off feed", usually only picking at some hay, and she might act depressed. Her manure may be "tight', a result of eating mostly hay and not eating her grain.

When does it happen?

Like several other conditions, it usually it happens soon after she freshens.  (you can read more at the link above)

How do we diagnose a twist?

Here, Jim is holding a stethoscope to the cow's side with his right hand, while flicking a finger of his left hand on her side.  If she's "twisted", he will hear a "ping", indicating gas in her displaced abomasum.

What do we do?

Different vets handle twists differently, but our vet operates by making an incision in her right side, putting the abomasum back into it's proper place and stitching it fast to the abdominal wall so that it cannot slip out of place again. We take the cow to the vet's facility where the fifteen minute operation is performed, and then we bring her back home again.


It's a little hard to see here, but how's that for a neat line of stitches?

This particular cow freshened on Saturday morning, had milk fever a day or so later, and twisted on Wednesday.  We do everything we can to keep them eating after calving...we keep lots of good quality dry hay in front of them...we introduce them very slowly to any different feed than they were getting as a dry cow...but sometimes it just happens.

She came back into the barn after surgery and began eating.  This makes us quite happy...to watch a surgery cow begin eating again, and now two days later, clean up everything we put in front of her!

Thankfully it doesn't happen often, but...just in case you ever wondered...

Linking up to Farm Girl Friday.

Perfect Timing...

Sometimes it's all about timing...


The other day I ran an errand to the other farm, where we keep our dry cows and heifers.  When I was finished with what I was doing,and was about to leave, I felt like I should just stick my head in the barn to check things out.  

 This is what I found...well...kind of...

Rosie, who wasn't due for another ten days, had just had her calf...only the calf's head was twisted backwards and underneath it's body.  Rosie stood there looking at me, mooing, knowing that her calf was in trouble. 

 I was able to quickly get the calf's head untwisted so that she could breathe, and she vigorously shook her head, as if she was saying "Pshew...I'm glad THAT's over!"  Rosie took over from there...

It was through no planning on my part...I was just in the right place at the right time to help out the newest member of the herd.  Thank you God, for perfect timing!

Belle's baby...

Do you remember Belle?

She's the fat, happy cow that just loved grazing this summer.  (pictured in a previous post)

She's the oldest cow in the barn...the matriarch...the definite leader of the pack...

She should have been named "Bossy"...

She's 11 years and 7 months old...

Today she had her eleventh calf; her seventh heifer...

That's quite a record!

It's unusual to keep a cow this long...but she just keeps on going!  Belle had her first calf at age two, and has had a calf every year since then.  That's a tremendous breeding record!

She looks (and acts) half her age.

Her sire is Belltone, one of the "good old guys".  We have had quite a few Belltone daughters... He was a bull that was used often on first calf heifers because he was proven to give small calves, which results in an easy calving...and she is the only one we have left!

Tonight we checked on her before bed because she's a milk fever threat.  (see Dairy Farming 101)  Jim gave her some calcium earlier this evening, but when we checked, she was standing up chewing her cud!

Way to go Belle!  Welcome back to the barn!

Back to reality...

It comes every year.  The dreaded day when the last of the cousins leave for home. After a whole week of constant companionship, the kids are a little depressed and a lot bored.  Can you tell?

We said goodbye to the Virginia cousins on Wednesday morning, and the Chicago cousins this morning, bright and early.  The nearby cousins are back to work, and we're back to reality here.  We gave the kids a lot of time off this past week, but this morning they were back to the barn...bedding up, sweeping up and helping Jim with a fresh cow.  To add insult to injury, they head back to school on Monday!

We packed a lot into the last week...Christmas dinner...three sleepovers...family pictures...seeing the new Narnia movie...watching an Eagles game together (fun even though they lost and one of the cousins is a Chief's fan!)...and so much more...

But...despite the let down feeling that always accompanies the end of Christmas vacation, and the return to "reality", I know that it's because we have been blessed with a family that enjoys being together...and for that I am thankful!

It's a girl! And she needs a name...

The population on the farm grew in number by one yesterday.

Last evening during milking time, we got to witness the birth of a new heifer calf.  It was so nice that it happened like this; in view of the barn, with no complications, and before midnight!

I really wanted to get a picture of the actual birth, but I was milking and couldn't get my camera in time. Jim was feeding and Eric was replacing a hoe blade, so Jenna ran for my camera and had the honor of taking most of these pictures.

Calving isn't especially pretty, so if you don't like to see "messy", don't bother looking any further!


Newborn...

5 minutes old...

10 minutes old...

About 30 minutes old and trying to stand.  Can you imagine if our kids did this?!

Only 40-45 minutes after birth!!  A bit wobbly, but she did it!!  Mama is proud...

She's a big, strong heifer calf with a good set of lungs, and a healthy sucking reflex.  She downed her two quarts of Mama's milk in no time this morning. 

Now, all she needs is a name.  Any suggestions?