New Calf Born

Wednesday morning we had a calf born to one of our cows. We saw her a little earlier and knew she was in labor. Here’s what we went back out to find:

 

 

You can see the amniotic sac covering the two front feet and the head.  I walked over to break that sac so that when the umbilical cord broke, the calf would be able to breathe fresh air.

 

 

Cherokee is the cow’s name.  She is half Jersey, half Hereford.  Here you see the calf hanging, letting the fluid clear from the nose and throat.  You can tell when the umbilical cord breaks, as the calf starts to breathe.

 

 

I had to break the video up into segments because it is easier to upload in small pieces.

Here the calf is almost all the way out, we are just waiting on the hips.  Again, it’s good to let them hang to clear all the secretions from the respiratory tract.

Once the calf is fully delivered, the cow immediately begins to stimulate and bond by licking with her sandpaper tongue.

She will eat the afterbirth to keep the smell down to prevent attracting predators.

 

 

This calf is a bull and was up and nursing within an hour.

 

 

I misspoke when I was talking about the breeds.  This calf is 1/2 Angus (black beef cow), 1/4 Jersey (tan milk cow), and 1/4 Hereford (red beef cow with a white face).

I’m happy to say he’s up and running around and the weather is beautiful!