Friday, April 11, 2014

The calf last night...

...WAS backwards and very, VERY stuck.  In fact, we couldn't get it out---not with Dad and Andrew pulling or with the calf-puller, so we ended up loading the cow on the trailer and Andrew and Mom took her up to the Steele vet clinic.  Sadly, the calf was dead, but thankfully, the cow is doing alright today!

Most of us had just drifted off to sleep when Jacob came in from the midnight cow-check and told us that there was another cow having problems in the far corner of the pasture.  SO, we all crawled out of our nice warm beds; bundled up; and went on a rodeo chase in the dark (and she was not very cooperative), and after much prayer and running (and chasing with pickup and 4-wheeler), she was at last in the barn and locked in the head-gate.  That calf was ALSO backwards (these were the first backwards calves of the year), coming back feet first.  That was a tough pull too, but praise God, the calf finally came and he is ALIVE and the cow is doing well!!   The calf had a ruff day today with front foot problems (he can't fully stand up), but that should straighten out.  Dad and I tube-fed him colostrum this morning and Jacob helped me get the cow in the headgate again tonight (when I got home from babysitting) and I milked a bottle's worth of colostrum off of her and the calf drank that.  He was trying to stand when we left him.

There was a cow this evening that I was concerned about, but when Dad and I went out and checked on her at 10:30, she had had her baby already.  Hooray!!  Continued prayers would be wonderful, especially as it sounds like it will be colder here again this week....  Our menfolk are very busy with long hours of grain cleaning and really need their rest at night!

1 comment:

  1. Oh, that is sad that the calf was backwards and stuck! What a blessing though that this has only happened twice this year!
    Praying for healthy calves, restful sleep, milking Mama's and the ambitious cleaners!

    ReplyDelete

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