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| Zipper about 4 hours after birth |
After a month of watching and waiting, both mama cows have delivered their calves. And whoever thought that cows could be so cute?! Both are black bulls, naturally polled.
It was quite an experience for me, but seemed like it didn't faze the cows a bit! Just a cough and boom, there's the baby. During the whole process I learned a lot about pre-delivery behavior and presentation. But I never thought I would get so familiar with a cows backside - I can easily identify both mamas by looking at their back ends.
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| Watching the snowfall right after birth. |
It was hard to ascertain when a cow was imminently about to deliver. In fact when the second cow was ready she did a lot of the pre-birth behaviors and presentation. So much that we started to wonder if there was a problem since she appeared to be having contractions and pushing - the she would stop and go eat hay! We ended up getting the vet out to check her/ palpate her and he said she wasn't even dilated. Not our first call to the vet for something silly!
Speaking of palpating - I had been entertaining an idea of taking a few classes in animal science at Tennessee Tech. I was thinking that the whole thing would be easier if I learned how to safely palpate her myself. After I saw the vet get
shoulder deep into the cow I promptly decided that wasn't for me! Yeah, no.
Warning: The following photos contain smalls amounts of birthing detritus. If that will totally gross you out, you may want to skip the next few photos.
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| Snapper about a half hour after birth - still getting dried off by Mama |
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| Snapper tries to figure out how to eat |
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| Nothing says "farmer" more than handmilking! |
