As I mentioned in the previous post, Becky's show cow Lemonade, or Lemmie for short, had a heifer calf yesterday. It was the first purebred Holstein heifer she has ever had, after a series of bulls, and was sired by Roylane Jordan, a significant bull of the breed. The baby has the potential to really be something special and Lem is pretty special in her own right. (in fact she was sired by Ocean-View Extra Special.)
So we were thrilled. Mom is fine. Baby is fine. All is good.
But then there is the other cow that was kept in the barnyard with her and helped her in the great escape yeseterday. Cow #156, Consequence, or Connie. Nobody liked the way she looked yesterday so we gave her a pre-calving bottle of subcutaneous calcium. Last night we kept her down in the barnyard with Lemmie again (with a much reinforced gate situation).
This morning Liz found her rolled into a dangerous position and unable to get right...cows can die if their organs press on their lungs and heart....so she and Alan and the boss rolled her upright. She promptly gave birth to a tiny, healthy, bull calf. Obviously a twin. They tried to get another bottle of calcium on board, but she was having none of it and could run faster than they could, so they let her be. Lemmie took possession of baby number one while Connie got down to the business of having the second.
I just went over to check on her progress and found her with a huge ball of placenta-wrapped calf behind her. Sadly the calf was born dead. I am pretty sure that it had been dead a while before birth and was twisted up in the uterus behind the healthy calf. It was not stretched into the normal "diving" position for bovine birth and instead had legs stuck behind its head and turned every which way. No wonder she had been looking ill and more uncomfortable than is normal even for an extremely pregnant cow.
At least she has the live calf to fuss over and was able to stand and walk around. When we go out to milk, hopefully the whole bunch of us...minus Liz who is working at her new job...can get her in the barn and given that calcium. That is how it is with farm life...and all life I guess...you get the joys but they tend to be balanced out by the other side of living. I am going to focus on the Lemmie's new heifer, which Becky has named Lipstick, and get on with spring time. After a bit, Connie will get on with things too....poor old girl.
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13 comments:
I am glad that everyone survived, sorry about the little one, but I know most of the time one of the twins won't make it. You have a good day today!
Sorry to hear about the baby. :(
Glad at least you have two live calves and the cows are OK. Never a dull moment for you guys for sure!
Just saw this article, if it isn't one thing for small farmers, it's another...
http://www.7dvt.com/2009crossing-line
Are twins a common thing with the cows?
I'm glad you were able to help Connie ... that had to be one hard birth. And I'm glad one of the twins made it.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/
I had to get one heifer off her back while she was calving this spring too but at least I saw it before it was too late. We didn't get a set of twins this year.......for which WE were extremely grateful. Yesterday the Bossman looked out the kitchen window and saw one of the last cows calving with a calf already at her side......he was dreading going out and finding it was a twin (we've nothing to put it on and DON'T need a bum around this summer) It wasn't and he was plumb happy ;)
Sorry about your calf. It's hard I know. With all the joy of our calving season, there was one calf who we had to put down due to persitant illness (naval ill). Poor thing despite our care, just got worse and worse and finally my husband put her down. Hard day.
So sad. I'm glad she's got the healthy one though. Poor girl.
Sorry about that second calf.
THANK YOU for posting! I really like your blog - keep up the great work!!
Common Cents
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com
ps. Link Exchange??
The tone you struck here - the compassionate stoicism . . it helped me not cry.
I am so in awe of people that keep their heads on and their feet under them despite hardships.
I know. I know. It's what you have to do. Still, you wouldn't have to do it with such grace.
Lisa, thanks...it happens, but you always hate to see it.
Dani, thanks
Nita, what a morning..what a day...by noon another cow had calved and stepped on her baby's head. We think he is okay, but what a dummy she is! That article sure raised my hackles. Those poor people!!
Dani, more than you would expect. We absolutely hate to see twins. having two big babies is hard on the cow, the calves are rarely hardy, and a heifer born twin to a bull is nearly always sterile.
Linda, strangely she had them very quickly once they got her turned right side up. she is a real big cow and they were pretty small.
Linda, we have only ever had one pair of twins...event twin heifers...that ever amounted to anything. More time than I can count we have counted ourselves lucky, raised them up, milked them and they turned out to be duds
Window on the Prairie, it is so sad when they get joint ill. No matter how hard you try...no matter what you do, you can hardly ever save one. Thanks for stopping by and taking time to comment!
SCMomma, the living calf is a pistol! He ran up and grabbed a cat by the head (this is a weird cat who likes to be licked and chewed on by calves). Then he took a good long slurp at the cat's head, decided he didn't like the taste, shook his head with his tongue hanging out and ran away with his tail in the air. What a hoot!
FC, thanks, sometimes it happens...poor old cow
commonsense, thanks, unfortunately I can't seem to get to your blog to take a look...sorry
Cathy, your kind words never fail to lift me up...it was just one of those things. If you have them, you will lose them, no matter what you do. You have to concentrate on the triumphs and let the tragedies go by if you can. At least Lemmie gave us a lovely little girl...
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