Adventures in Ranching, er, Cow Farming?

We had a calf born on the farm yesterday. This was quite a big adventure.  In hindsight, it seems that the mama had been in labor since Friday-she was lying down in the field in the morning, at her usual breakfast time. I noted to Gary that it was a little odd that she was lying there, but we didn't think too much more of it.

Yesterday, Gary came in from the grocery store, saying that it looked like one of the cows was going to calve.  That was at 6:45-7:00 p.m.  By 7:45, this little guy was born.

That wasn't the end of the story, however. Mama was in a little distress; she was worried about her baby, lowing while he was trying to gain his feet.  She had her back end away from us, but eventually Danette said it looked like she had a prolapsed uterus.  How did she know that? you might ask. Well, apparently she has read James Herriot - a LOT - and what was happening to the cow looked just as he described.

So, the scramble was on to find a vet.  We were called back by one from town-she has only been in the area for 3 weeks!  She said she needed to find some help, and would be here soon. 

Mama cow was NOT happy with the baby by this time.  He had gained his feet, and wanted to nurse, but she was exhausted and in pain (I imagine!!), and had parts of her insides on the outsides.  She kicked him a few times, and the other cows were very distressed.  The baby tried to get milk from another cow, but she wasn't having any of it, either. Eventually, the cow and calf headed down to the lower pasture, with the others following.
 
After a bit, Gary herded all the other cows and the bull to the east pasture (no easy feat in the dark), and began to gather whatever the vet might need.  He came up with a plan to get the mama into a confined area.

When the vet arrived (it was now between ten and ten thirty), she and her assistant helped Gary, Les, Ryan, Stacy and I herd mama to the confined area.  Emily, the assistant, went back out to the pasture and carried the baby back to the same area.

Baby was given a checkup, and then mama was restrained and sedated.  Then came the "fun" part.  It took about an hour and a half to put that poor cow back together again. Ryan and Stacy took turns rubbing down the baby during this, and my daughter didn't even faint, not even when the mama got a needle in her!  (I am so proud of her!)

After all that was over, the vet and Gary milked some of the colostrum from the cow to bottle feed to baby.  We tried to get him to nurse, but mama was still not having any part of it.  Stacy and Les ran to town to get baby bottles (it had been a LONG time since there were any bottles in this house!).  Baby drank 24 ounces of colostrum (yay!) from the bottles, then spent the night in the barn, in a hay pen. Christina and her friend spent the night with him, on cots, to make sure he and mama were ok.

In the morning, the girls called, saying baby wanted out of that pen-he was probably hungry!!-and mama seemed to be ok.  Gary went out and brought baby to mama.  Mama let him nurse, without too much trouble. Now we wait to see how things go, watch for infection in mama, and keep an eye on their general well-being.

The calf is a bull, and he is quite lovely in the daylight.  I will try to get a picture-he has white stars/stripes on the front of his hind legs.

Many thanks to everyone involved.  Tiffany and Danette were so helpful! The vet was wonderful, as was her assistant. Stacy, Les, and Ryan rocked! And the "barn angels" were wonderful!