New heifer to the farm, three weeks away from her calving date, coldest night of the year so far, 11pm.
I noticed this heifer was laying down a lot more then normal and decided to bring her into the maternity pen to keep a closer eye on her while she approached her due date. Her vulva seemed to have been swelling up rapidly, at first I thought it was because she was getting ready to calve. I noticed she wasn't eating her silage and that's when we decided to call the vet to check on her. By the time he came to check on her her vulva was even bigger than before.... he examined her and said she had two blank quarters and the other two were mastitic to the point of being toxic that caused her vulva to swell up. He said he couldn't find movement with the calf and that she wasn't going to have enough energy to calve and if she did she wouldn't make it.
He said to us, "Honestly, in the condition she is in I don't think it will be worth it to wait until she tries calving and to see what the result will be." With that being said we were going to sell her while she was still standing so we could get money to replace her.
She must of had a feeling and knew the truck was here to pick her up because we could not get her to stand and we thought that may have been the end of her will power. We made sure she was bedded down nicely that night, had warm water to drink, and silage to nibble on if she so desired.
Ethan and I had six cows to breed that night and I decided to check on her when I went out to the barn. I was in awe when I noticed two feet stinking out of her. She must have been trying to calve for a good bit because the legs sticking out were cold.
This is something we dread to do and pray and wish we don't have many or any situations like this one at all. But, with a cow who is toxic trying to calve you have to think about the life of that animal and do what is absolutely best for her whether you want to or not. And leaving her to calve on her own, with no energy at all was not an option. We felt the legs of the calf to make sure we had the front two legs and head facing the right direction and we did. With her being toxic and still a ways from her due date she wasn't dilating which meant she really really needed our help.
Ethan and my grandfather got the calving chains and hooks and put them around the legs stinking out and pulled and pulled but the cow wasn't helping, so we unfortunately were making no progress. And this unfortunately led to something we hate doing but has to be done. It's life or death at this point and we have to think about the cow first and do what's best for her. Our only other option was to use the come-along to get this calf out.
Still not dilating, huge hooves and a nose that made us conclude that this calf was huge... way to big for for this tiny heifer to be calving on her own.
This video that you are about to watch is real life. No editing, true caring farmers who are doing absolutely everything they can to save this heifer. We are under the impression the calf is already dead but you'll see in this video it's just the opposite, and Ethan acts quickly on this and does what he needs to do to drain the calf of the amniotic fluids that fill the lungs, mouth, and nostrils of this calf so she can start breathing on her own. You'll notice he picks her up by the hind legs and puts them over the gate and pats her side so she coughs and drains out. He pats her chest and side just as you would pat a baby to burp them. If we would have just let her go hoping her mother would care for her we would have lost her no doubt because her mother was too tired and sick to care for the calf. I did give the mother Jump Start, which is calcium, and nia-plus, which is niacin to help with replenishing her body with minerals and vitamins she may have lost during calving.
I want to share these real life experiences with you so you can see how we care for our animals. We Don't yell at the animals calving, we don't hit her, we aren't overly aggressive, we act fast on the observations of the calf being alive. I don't want to hide things, you need to see how we handle the worst and best situations on our farm as they are handed to us. I apologize if this video is too much for you but it's reality and this is what I live for and this is my lifestyle and I want you to be apart of it.
Situations like these ones make me realize all over again how blessed I am and how the worst and most unexpected situations can turn around and be a fortunate Blessing. This heifer calf that was born is an absolute blessing from the Good Lord above. She went through hell and back with her mother. With the cow being toxic it caused the calf to be toxic as well which led to her being really weak, she couldn't stand for two days, couldn't drink on her own for four days resulting in tube feeding her and guess what....
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| She cuddles with the bull calf. |
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| She's standing on day 2!! A little wobbly but she's doing it! |
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| And one day 4 she's drinking on her own :) and she's spunky!! |
Her and her mama are a blessing and both are doing great! It's just one of those freaky things that one event and situation leads into another and this one went from bad to horrible to a miracle. I bet you can guess what I named this big and beautiful little girl.... Blessings :)
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