Tuesday, April 14, 2009

They Made It

This spring we lost our "pet" cow Tractor. So, we decided to befriend another special cow, and here she is with her first calf, Attaboy. A cow in our herd who becomes a pet is entitled to special privileges, and occasional treats. Once she knows you are always keeping something special on the side for her, she'll seek you out every time you enter in with the herd.

Before this cow was our pet, she was MC07, a two year old heifer bred to our bull Puglsey in 2008, and due to calf in the spring of '09.

When her day to calve finally came, she was still having contractions as the daylight faded on a rainy and cold afternoon. An hour after dark she calved, but to the large size of the calf, her uterus prolapsed, aka came out with the calf. Need less to say, it was not a pretty sight, and luckily we do not have any pictures to show you. After corralling her into the barn, and hoisting up a very large and very slimy calf into the barn as well, the vet arrived.

With every ounce of her energy this petite vet forced the uterus back into the cows insides, and back into the right place. She then placed a suture around the cows vagina to prevent another prolapse, and she was on her way! Two hours after we thought both cow and calf could be lost, both were quietly nuzzling in our barn.

Five days later we removed the suture and Mama (as she is now known) and Attaboy are out and about with the rest of the herd. It is always impressive how resilient and hardy these animals really are.

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