February 25th – 12 New Babies

It was a big day of calving yesterday. Here are pictures of the mothers and baby calves born on February 25th. The information is below the picture.

51Z had her heifer calf unassisted @ 6:00 am and it nursed on its own.

S61Z had her heifer calf unassisted @ 7:00 am and it nursed on its own. She had her 1st calf last year and now this is her 2nd calf.

K264U had her heifer calf unassisted @ 8:30 am and it nursed on its own. This cow has a tendency to ‘show her reed’, which means in the last weeks of her pregnancy, her cervix pushes out and could prolapse. Because her calf is a heifer, we have noted this. We will not keep her in our herd.

T601A had her bull calf unassisted @ 10:00 am and it nursed on its own. This is her 1st calf.

52X had her heifer calf unassisted @ 10:30 am and it nursed on its own. This is her 4th baby. We bought this cow as a bred heifer at an auction.

N234T had her bull calf unassisted @ 1:30 pm and it nursed on its own. He was a big boy when he came out. As you can see by the position of her (the cow’s) head, she is NOT happy that we are near her new calf!

127P had her bull calf @ 2:00 pm and we had to assist her. It was a large calf. This cow’s name is ‘Fertile Mertal’ because she accidentally got bred in the fall, as a calf. When she was 15 months old, and was in a pasture with her pen-mates and a bull, she gave birth to a healthy calf! Thus she has had a calf every year for 12 years. She is a good cow.

U13Z had her heifer calf unassisted sometime in the morning, although wasn’t found until after lunch. It had slipped under the fence and wandered off with the older calves. Because the mom was separated for 3 hours we then had to help it nurse, as she was kicking at it. As you can see by the picture and how far away she is standing, she’s still uncertain about the baby.

570S had her bull calf @ 5:00 pm with help from us. It was another big boy. We bought this cow as a year old heifer in the spring, from a ranch in Lumby. They have been good cows. This is this cows’ ninth calf.

234S had her heifer calf unassisted @ 7:00 pm and it nursed on its own. This line of cows has been in our herd for a long time, the black cow (6th picture) is her niece. This picture of her and her calf shows the excellent mothering qualities. She has her leg back, so the calf can get at her udder with ease, and the cow is licking her baby’s butt and pushing her into nurse.

S13U had her bull calf unassisted @ 7:15 pm and it nursed on its own. The ’13’ line has also been in our herd for a long time and are awesome cows.

219T had her bull calf unassisted @ 7:20 pm and it nursed on its own. This cow is a good producer, but she makes us a little frustrated when she has her calf. She likes to hurl insults (beller loudly) from about 40 feet away, but not help him get up and nurse. Thankfully there was no snow on the ground this year so we knew we could leave him and eventually he would get up and get going.

Today, February 26th, is turning out to be another big day with already 7 born and it is only 1:00 pm. ooh, now 8! Bring ’em on girls!
~Erika Fossen~