Would you like a little fiber with your baby? As this new mom licked her baby clean, she took in a little roughage from the bedding straw in the shed. It was just a little bonus for the mama with the first baby actually born
in the calving shed.
Every year around January 1, newspapers feature the first New Year's babies born in the local hospitals. So our first little baby born in our new "maternity ward" should get a little press, too, don't you think?
Actually, Randy proved his worth as a cattleman that night. During colder weather, Randy and I separated out a few of the heifers who looked like they might be closer to giving birth. (I just ran the gate. I was not the decider in this venture.)
That particular night, we ran three heifers into the calving shed. Two of the three had calves overnight. Impressive powers of deduction or a lucky guess? We'll go with educated guess (and not talk about running a red heifer into the shed several nights with no baby the next morning.) As I said, I'm not the one making the call, so I can tease the cattleman a little. But I need to give him credit, too.
The mom in the adjoining "suite" evidently had more time to clean up her baby for visitors. Randy tagged each of them and gave them a shot to prevent scours (diarrhea).
Then they were ready to leave the "hospital."
On wobbly legs, they were off to explore life outside the shed.
Evidently, the shed got good reviews since babies and moms are thriving.
(I am behind posting this. It happened the end of January, but I still wanted a record of the first babies born in the shed.)
We had a population explosion on Sunday. It truly was a Super (Bowl) Sunday. We had eight new babies, a couple more from heifers and the rest from cows. This won't be the last calf photos you'll see.
Also included in my Saturday and Sunday agenda was helping Randy get feeder cattle off wheat. It really wasn't a bad weekend to have a couple of 4-wheeler rides.
Eight new babies in one day? Sounds like you almost had enough for your own football team on Super Bowl Sunday! I love to watch them on their wobbly legs. We have noticed that if we have a springer in the pen, and we bed up the pen with fodder at bedtime, there's often a calf by morning. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, and it was fairly nice out, other than the wind.
DeleteDid you find time to eat your cheesy pull-apart sliders? Such a busy time but no doubt equally rewarding.
ReplyDeleteYes. We even managed to watch the Super Bowl, too!
Delete8 babies, + more no doubt, as I am a little late on this blog catch up. We have been very busy with haymaking half way across the world!!
ReplyDeleteLove seeing your babies and their eartags... which always look so big on the calves. Seems they have to grown into them.
I hadn't thought of the eartag thing, but you're right! Those tags look a bit different on the mama cows, don't they!
DeleteI hope haying is going well. From your daily photo posts, it appears you're making progress.