Yesterday was my only day off all week from work, and by that I mean the work that requires showering and putting on clean clothes to go into town.
Lucky me, we had a nice little surprise during morning chores, but not without a little scare!
When my uncle came up in the morning around 6a.m. he said Lace-it (a cow) was calving. Now, when I find out a cow is calving I get both really excited, but I also realize how much more work that means, and it wasn't exactly nice weather outside. After I finished milking, around 7a.m, I went out to the pasture to check on Lace-it. She was standing by herself in the far corner, looking a little uncomfortable. Then again, I guess if I had a 100lb calf coming out of my body I wouldn't be in the best mood either.
Anyhow....
Usually we can tell a cow is starting to give birth because she is off laying by herself. Remember how I said this cow was standing? Not a great sign. We want them to lay down when they calve. Even though I wasn't within 20 yards of her I left to see if she would get comfortable and lay down because I could see the feet of the calf. I came back after about 10 min and she still wasn't laying down and the feet were still hanging out.
Yes, I got nervous. Who knows how long the feet were already out right? What if the calf was backwards I kept thinking? Lace-it looked like she might be having trouble calving (something you pick up on after you've done this once or twice.) So, I walked her up towards the barn thinking we were maybe going to have to help her give birth. I got her up there and my uncle decided to wait it out a bit longer....Needless to say I was chomping at the bit to get this calf out of her!
I waited....
and waited...
She laid down. Got up. Laid down. Got up. Laid down. Got up.
Finally I came back at about 8:30 and I found this little guy
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