I went down to help work on the salt shed… but every little bit, Vernon would walk out of the shop and look down towards the field a good half mile. One cow was by herself, but we couldn’t figure out if she was calving or not.
Supposedly, the girls in this bunch are not due to calve yet… and still here she was, separated from the other cows, acting strange.
Finally, we jumped into the pickup and decided to get closer to see what was going on… I was not thrilled to see magpies around. They will eat afterbirth and dead things, but they can also bother the living if it’s too weak. Vernon walked up the hill to check. She had a calf… and it was alive! Yay!
Vernon was still not convinced that the calf had anything to eat yet, and with evening coming fast, we decided to bring them to the calving shed and make sure the calf sucked down some vital colostrum and also check that the cow didn’t have twins, which could have brought the early labor.
After gathering up the horse trailer and the boys, we were set.
We created an alley with panels and pickups… and they set off to the pair.
Our deep sled was perfect for this situation. The calf was loaded and Daniel took off, the cow following.
The little fart wanted to stand… and it did have fairly good balance for a newborn.
I had to put my camera away and help… and that nice ol’ cow walked right into the horse trailer, like she’d done it a hundred times. We installed them in an inside stall at the calving shed, after Vernon milked her out and I fed the baby girl a bottle just to make sure she’d eaten.
This should be a success story… and I will let you know tomorrow for sure!
Thanks for reminding me of the times my husband and I did this very same thing! I loved that part of calving, success, when things didn’t go right was the hard part!
Silly calf, standing in a sled! That’s awesome… lol
Thanks for sharing
ah…wonderful
Great story & great pictures. Can’t wait to hear how this baby is doing .. love the picture of it standing in the sled.
I can see a bright future for this little lady in future stories & maybe a replacement to join the herd for many years to come!!
Well done! what a great way to start my morning, the picture of the calf standing in the sled & mama following is one of the best!!
Wow that is so awesome! When you work on a farm with animals you kind of get a sixth sense!
I’d say Vernon sure did!! Thanks again Carol for the wonderful pictures.
What a wonderful weekend story with a happy ending. What a good mama cow. And, a snow surfing little calf to boot!