Well, the first calf of the year officially hit the ground on February 27th at around 5:00 p.m. My youngest brother, whose sixteen, and myself were the only ones home. Just our luck. We had been doing routine checks, every hour, because we knew a few cows were close. As I was defrosting some ground beef for dinner, ironically, I heard a whole lot of hollering coming from the corrals. I headed out because I kinda figured there was a little one on the way. The fist-year heifer in question was not hard to miss because she had two teeny tiny hooves sticking out of her hind end. First-year heifers are two year-old cows who are pregnant with their first calf. As I said in a previous blog post, they are much more susceptible to having a difficult delivery. Since the hooves were sticking out and we only knew she had begun labor less than an hour ago (since that was the last time we checked), we knew we would probably have to pull the calf. This is a process that is done by attaching a chain to the front hooves of the calf and pulling it out by hand or using a calf puller which puts torque on the chain for more strength. Now, I say the front hooves because hopefully by this time in the birthing process the calf has turned head first towards the birth canal. For the safety of all involved we moved the heifer to the barn so that she could be put in a head catch for pulling, if necessary, or a maternity pen to have the calf. This proved to be a much more difficult thing to do. The nervous first-timer was not all that anxious to leave her herd. After some gentle encouragement, we finally got her into the barn. This took so long that we no longer had the opportunity to let the mama have her calf naturally. If the calf isn't out within a couple hours from the beginning of the birth, the cow will need assistance or the calf could die.
So, we got the heifer in the head catch and began the slightly disgusting procedure of pulling the calf. First we had to pull the hooves out far enough to wrap a chain around them. The little bugger was being a little difficult so we only had one hoof to work with for a while. To be sure not to cause any damage to the one leg, we used a hand puller to get him out far enough to grab his other hoof. Next we had both hooves chained and attached the chain to the calf puller. First, came the knobby little knees followed closely by the cute little calf face. At this point I got a little worried because it's tongue was sticking out and I was irrationally sure it was dead. I mean, after all that hard work... Could you imagine!? So we kept cranking on the calf puller until the calf’s ribcage was out, at which point the calf still had not shown any sign of life. I was literally freaking out. By now my brother just grabbed ahold of the little guy and guided it out the rest of the way. He set it on the ground, and lord have mercy, it bellarred. Oh, and it was a heifer! I would like to point out that when the calf came sliding out, my brother got completely covered in amniotic fluid and after birth. It was not pretty. I also got some in my hair, and no, I haven't taken a shower since then. Anyway, as my brother picked up the calf by the hind legs so its head was down, I gave it a little tap on the ribs to help it get the amniotic fluid from its lungs. Then he sat it down and I stuck my fingers in its nose so it would sneeze and cough. Yes, I did wash my hands. Ha. By this time we moved baby and mama into a maternity pen and gave them a little time to get acquainted. After fifteen minutes or so I went back out to make sure the little gal was standing and drinking. She was standing, clumsily, and I watched in amusement as she tried to find the teet. Once she found it though, I'm glad to say that she drank vigorously. During the first twelve hours or so after a birth, a mother cow will produce a type of milk called colostrum. It's very important that the calf drinks this because it provides important antibodies to keep it healthy in the future. All in all, it was a successful birth. I guess its days like today that make it all worthwhile!
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