Yep, I should say it's on the way :) Look forward to the update after all this waiting. ;)

Cheers,
Ronnie

Someone commented to leave her be, IMO keep a close eye, no matter how many you have had. We had had our share of animals born, and it pays to keep a close eye on them. I have been in the same boat haggis. We had a Jersey and her udder was huge, tight, umcomfy, etc. We kept watching and wonder, when the hell will that pressure let up. You do get concerned, well not long after, approx 2-3 days she had her calf. The udder was huge, and she did fine when we stuck two calves on her. The udder went down, she was comfy. We also have a hereford, and her udder last year was massive, big for a hereford. She was uncomfy, but managed, herefords are tricky buggers. Jerseys tend to show a visible "drop" while a hereford doesn't as much. Our one cow Aquarius had a calf at 14 months, one of those accidental things. We were watching her and noticed she had a huge hay gut, we did not expect a calf. Her poondendum (its what I call it) was getting swollen, we still just shrugged it off. We had NO idea. Well one day, my father says "A cow is calving". We ran down, and went ---? It was a total surprise, never expected this, we got the calf out, called the vet, he cleaned her, gave her a shot. We got her up, but man that was a shocker. This heifer was a big as her mother at a year, if not bigger. Since then, she has had 4 calves. Her first we still have and has had two, with the 3rd coming this spring. It is amazing how jerseys can pass a calf like that, atleast something with a Jersey genetics in it. Our one Jersey passed a 80lb calf once, not a problem. She did it standing.. My mother drove in, she didn't calf. Literally 5 minutes later, my mother went down and there was a calf. Talk about quick!


But your cow will pop, they always get you wondering, as long as the calf is healthy, and kicking. Have you considered twins?



Jeff

Future Suggestion
 

We have a camera hook-up to the barn. We can watch and listen without bothering them. They are @ $300 for the wireless, just set and plug them in...worth EVERY penny!...Joan

Before I went to bed last night I went out to check on Our Lady of Perpetual Labor and she came over to the fence to have her head scratched. She still had the mucousicles hanging from her but no calf.

At 4:30 this morning she was white with frost (it was -42 in the barn) but no calf.

When I went back out to milk it was -32 but no calf, and as I write the mother to be is chewing her cud and catching some rays.

I'm beginning to think her ampersand is frozen shut!

Well, what calf with any sense at all would come out when it's -42. It would have to be crazy!!!! It will probably wait till April.

Some folks say we reached -50 here about, but all I know is it was chilly out.

My poor old Jersey is just laying in a stall leaking all manner of mucousicles and fresh makings hanging from her nether regions. Sometimes she lays her head back on her side and closes her eyes, and sometimes she just looks off into space with the "thousand yard stare." God love her old heart.

I fed the girls some fresh hay and Lucy is generally the foremost trencher mate among this little group group of five, but she didn't even get up to look at what I was serving.

It's only supposed to get down to a about 1 degree tonight, so at least it will be warmer.

I've been around quite a number of calvings in my time but they were 20 or more years ago and someone else's cows. This time it is nerve racking.

Holy doodle Haggis, am I correct to understand that you are at 50 degrees below zero :eek: I thought it gets cold up here but we don't often see -40. I'd be hanging onto that poor little baby too if I were her. I've successfully calved out cows at approximately -25C and thought that was a poor idea that I'd rather not explore again but never that cold.

The National Weather folks up at Embarass, Minnesota just 20 miles from here had -44, but a lot of the lower areas will have 5 to 10 degrees below them on a regular basis. As I remember my physics classes from college -40F and -40C are one and the same. Some chilly for sure. My little 3 month and a bit old Jersey heifer was snow white with frost this morning; in the barn!

At 4:30 this evening there was about a three fot long rubbery bit of mucous hanging to well below Our Lady of Perpetual Pregnancy's hocks, but now she's up and eating again.

Now the weather prophets are saying we'll have -2 tonight. The calf will be in for a ride and a half if I miss it during the night.

She might be waiting, they can and will hold off. Our Jersey did this, and calved at the right moment. They are funny animals.



Jeff

Sheeesh Now I'm getting anxious :(

This is why we control when ours breed. We keep the bull away until July - August. Then they are pregnant over the winter and deliver April to June. They have fresh grass for them and the calves. There is no sight better than a calf kicking up its heals in the spring. Even then we had our first calf born here below freezing the end of April. Got to love the north country. (Oh - we are in Vermont)

Any calf yet?

I'm wondering ... I'm sorry if I missed some of the details earlier and this has been discussed earlier.

Is she really bagged up? Was she really a heavy milker in the past? Is she really far past her due date?

I wonder if she is sort of borderline into milk fever and/or Ketosis and her body doesn't have th calcium to give her muscles the oomph to get teh job done.

Have you checked her ears when she's inside -- do they feel unusually cold? (Colder than you wouild expect at -50 ...)

What does her breath smell like? If it smells weirdly changed could she be going into ketosis?

Do you have some milk fever drench? Energy drench? (We got these from our vet)

Hope she freshens soon for you.
Ann

Any news this morning??

No news. :(

She was off her feed for a while yesterday evening and then by the time I milked she was back on top of the feed pile. She is still taking her feed well this morning but no calf.

Her udder is full to bursting and she has all of the signs of being in labor but nothing is continuing to happen.

Her actual slated due date is today but I could have sworn she would already be leading the little tyke around.

She is slick and fiddle fit so I don't believe there's anything holding her back except just doing it.

The weather is to warm a bit over the next few days, maybe as someone has described she is waiting for the warm break in the weather?

I have a Black Angus, (Daisy) and with her first calf she also unmentionables coming from her unmentionable for a good week. I know what your going through, she was MY first cow too. I think my Hubby was getting jealous because I was spending more time in the barn than I was with him. That was 5 years ago. This spring will be calf #6. She has had a calf every year since and it never fails, it's always in the middle of the night. I don't worry so much any more, she has never had a problem and we use the same bull every year. I usually just wake up and there's a new baby in the field. But then mine are calving in May and June so I don't need to worry abouth the cold weather. Keep a close eye on her, it will be any time now. Are you getting up at night to check her? I did with mine. ;) Good luck and let us know when we should celebrate!

Did you get some CPMK?? Our Dolly (a Jersey) never had problems with milk fever, but about a week prior to dropping her calf, she got real wobbly and started staggering around. DH kind of poo-poo'd my concern over ketosis and milk fever, but didn't say a word after she started staggering and we dosed her up with some CPMK and she stopped staggering. It was still another danged week though!!
She's just waiting for the warm spell.

Official due date today? On an 8 year old Jersey? No problem then. Older cows tend to go past their due date regardless of whether it is a heifer or bull. They also tend to have larger calves than a first time freshener..which is probably why they go over..more time for baby to develop inside.
Hopefully she is waiting for a break in the weather.

LOL now I am getting anxious!! And I don't even own cows! I am a goatie person. I happened to come across the thread when I was bored(nothing to read on the goatie forum) so I saw this and was like "hey that looks interesting". So now here I am :haha: . Any news Haggis? I am kind of in the same boat as I am waiting for my boer doe to kid(he due date is like in 3-4 days but she looks ready to POP! Hope you get a huge beautiful hefier for all the long wait!

MotherClucker
*anxiously awaiting haggis's calf :no: :haha: :rolleyes: *

To borrow from a well known book, "Nothing persists in happening."

She, at times, appears to be in labor or just noses through her manger for some blade of dried grass superior, in ways known only to her, to all of the other blades of dried grass from the same bale.

Sometime she chews her cud calmly and contemplates the "Big Bang" theory as opposed to the "creation" theory, and tiring of that she tries to solve the riddle of the Gordian Knot without the use Alexander's opposable thumb and a sword or axe. She seems to think the Gordian Knot may have been similar to Pieranski's knot, but without a chance to study them both closely and at length, she is uncertain. She then returns to the water tank for another drink; she finds that she has been very thirsty today.

I have beaten trail through the snow to the barn that has now become hard as flint.

Heeheehee...
Sounds like she's got you on your toes :haha: . I can't talk though since I my self am waiting for my boer doe to kid...]

MotherClucker

Haggis -- I don't know if you a church-goer or not -- but odds are she will freshen right about when you should be out the door to church (or brunch with the family or the chiropractor's or where-ever else you should be!)

Ours seemed to choose 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning ... or some midnight when the in-laws were vacationing and we were extra busy ...

In the spirit of extreme helpfulness (as DH's cousin said when he offered to book the well-known Windsor bar-band "The Love Cows" for our wedding reception ...)

Ann

Haggis, Nothing like impatiently awaiting a new arrival. At least this gives you time to second guess everything ,double check supplies, and practice the fine art of sleep deprivation. Do you happen to have some frozen colostrum or powdered replacement stuff in case the mother to be has a problem with her milk or worse?? I always consider it a safety measure since often our cows don;t have enough for a calf the first go. We will also pre milk any cow that is leeking or getting a lot of edema, this eases the transition and help with the impatient waiting .

Dear old Lucy leaking mucous and looking a mite "slobbery" around her business is now laying down and from time to time straining a bit.

In between these "contractions" she continues her thoughts on the Gordian Knot. If I may make so bold as to speak on her behalf, she seems to be at odds with the more modern interpretation of Alexander thinking "out of the box" in his cutting of the knot to untie it. It is her humble opinion that Alexander nullified the riddle by destroying the challenge. Alexander, she recons, solved the riddle of untying the Gordian Knot in the same way a farmer might solve the riddle of repairing a sagging barn roof by burning down the barn.

Then it's back to pushing a bit and wondering why I spend so much time staring at her backside (Herself is starting to wonder too!).

The other five bovines sharing the barn paddock, the five Peafowl, 12 Embden geese, 2 barn cats, and numerous refrugee chickens at large from their coop show no interest in Lucy's progress. I tried explaining the situation to them but was interupted by a young man asking permission to coyote hunt on the back 60. After some strange looks from him when he inquired as to whom I was talking, I have decided to cease these "out loud" conversations with the livestock; at least until I have checked about the barn for visitors.

Haggis, Are you sure that cow is bred?

any news yet? Our first cow to calve was pregnant for a good 15 months ... no not really it just seemed that way!

If your cow is up and down, up and down and obviously straining you should have a calf within an hour or two. If there is no sign of progress (no legs starting to come out, etc) call the vet as there is a problem.

If you are not sure if the cow is really in labor, ask a woman to look at her. Labor is labor and us females know when we see it!

Jena

Calf
 

I know your weather has been cold. Does she have a good dry stall with lots of straw to calf in. She may be waiting on the weather and a protected area might help her "decide"...Joan

Maybe if I had went out to the barn at 3:30 instead of 4:00 this morning I could have saved the little guy. Herself made me bring him into the house to warm him, but his eyes had already turned to glass and he wasn't shivering.

Herself cried, but I told her it was about -15 in the barn and the wet hair on the calf would have frozen the moment it was born. Hypothermia would have set in even before he was out of the birth canal.

The after-birth has not yet passed but the vet says not to worry for another day or two. He also said that milking her a bit might trigger its expulsion.

I milked her out as much she would let me, but she wouldn't let her milk down, so I got less than a gallon; and she's a heavy milker.

I knew when I bought her and the fellow said she was due the 7th of January that it would be hit or miss to save the calf, but these things happen. I could second guess myself for the next 20 years and it wouldn't change a thing; the little guy had the odds stacked against him from the moment of conception.

Note to self on this one; breed to calve during the short Northern Minnesota summer: June, July, and August.

So it goes at Wolf Cairn Moor,
Haggis

Haggis, I'm sorry it ended poorly for you, that's one of the drawbacks of buying bred cows from others. You always seem to get stuck with their dumb ideas or mistakes, if breeding her to calve now was a mistake, they could have spent a few dollars and aborted rather than that kind of mess. I sure hope your luck improves cause I know you've had a hard year.

Sorry to hear about your loss. And this will sound insensitive but isn't meant to be, but at least it was a bull and not a heifer.
To help her clean, offer her lots and lots of warm water. The milking does trigger contractions and that is why milking helps, too.

Haggis, I am so sorry. Me and the kidlets have been following this story since the first post. Not sure how I am going to tell them. Better luck next time.

Liz :(

Lucy, the Jersey cow who had the calf, is naturally beside herself. She sniffs the spot where the calf was born and then comes to me mooing as if wanting me to fix everything and give her calf back to her.

I know that animals are not human and I know their understanding of the world around them may not extend much beyond a knowledge of where to find feed and water, or how to get out of the wind, but there are times, special times, when they appear to have a much better grasp of their personal affairs than a husbandman would prefer.

These situations tear at the heart strings for weeks and sometimes for years into the future. This little calf's life was short and full of suffering, but he has taken some part of Herself and me with him in his departure. We waited all of these months for his arrival and weren't able to save him when he came.

Such are the tradgedies of homestead living. Maybe this is why homesteaders have such a deep affection for their wards. They aren't just animals, they are part of our extended families bondng to us, feeding us, entertaining us, and drawing us into their worlds for better and for worse.

Thank you to everyone shown an interest and concern in this event. I have really needed and appreciated the support.

Hello Haggis,

My computer at home is fried, so when I was checking on the posts Fri., befroe I left school, I was going to jot you a note saying I couldn't wait until Monday came around and could read all about your little one's arrival. Here it is Monday and no arrival. These gals are lucky we love 'em so much. Then again, I guess it was a good thing no one was pushing me to have my kids on a certain day (especially the one that was FOUR WEEKS LATE!!!!!!). My fingers are crossed that you have a break in the cold, a daytime delivery, and a heifer for all the wait. Blessings to you!!!

Well, shoot. ... sigh ...

ann

They really do understand things more than most people give them credit for. When Frosh calved the first time she had a dead bull calf. We went down to bring her up and she did not want to leave it at all. It took forever to get her up to the barn.
Then Adeliene (older sister) calved a couple years ago in a snow storm, early. I went down to bring her up and was crushed to see she had calved early. She is the last in my line of animals. She took me to where her calf was and I searched adn searched for it but could not find it anywhere. She kept looking at me expectantly, hoping I would uncover it and bring it back to her. No such luck. Inches of snow had fallen since she had had it and it was covered. I found it later. It was a bull calf, who looks as though he was born dead. It was horrible seeing her looking at me and wanting me to find it and bring it back to her.

They can definitely tear at our heartstrings and sometimes you just have to harden your heart in order to move on with those you still have. Rejoice, she is still here and help her to move on.

So very sorry to hear of your loss, Haggis. It's never, ever easy.

Offer Lucy some warmed, watered down molasses and continue milking her. Save that precious colostrum - you never know when one of your family or one of the animals will need that special nourishing.

Sorry to hear that Haggis, it really bites when the anticipation is dashed like that, I know when ours are ready to calve I have trouble staying away from them, and just can't wait for the little ones to show up.
It does take a chunk out of you when you lose one.
You've had a tough year, hopefully things will take a better turn, good luck.

So sorry to hear of your lose. Things things always seem to happen when you least want them too. A couple years ago a beef cow at had a calf late one cold winter night. Since I was working night and milking very late/early I came upon this poor ,little calf. We put her in the tub warmed her up gave her colostrum with a syringe. She lived in the basement for a long time. Eventually she would lose the tip of her nose, ears, tails, and hooves were deformed. She never did walk normally and went around on her front knees. We did raise her for a couple of years and are eating her. I feel guilt for this, because even though we saved her( even just to eat her later) the quality of the life pains me. I'm not sure if this makes sense but maybe I should have not found her ???

Lucy's after-birth delivered about 1:30 this afternoon in the exact spot where her calf had been born. She isn't bawling for her calf as much as this morning, and she is eating her hay very well.

Lucy came 'round to the milk shed after I had milked Dorsey and waited her turn. She still kicked a bit when I took hold of her teats, and she didn't let her milk down very well, but she did come to be milked, and she did stand. I milked out all she gave and gave her a ration of dairy feed in trade.

God love her old heart.

Well, its your choice but, GET A CALF! Find a youngen from a farm, work with her, and she will take to it. Jerseys make awesome mothers, we did the same thing to our Jersey. Got a holstein steer, and she took to it after a couple weeks. In fact, she mooed for the darn thing when they got seperated. We had a hereford loose its calf, came out, and was dead. We had to articulate its head to get the calf back in, and then pull it out. We went down, bought two calves. One was a Jersey Heifer, the other a Jersey bull calf, and stuck them on her. She kicked, but we worked with her, and she took to the heifer over time. She had enough milk to supply two hungry beaslys. The heifer we still have, and will be calving late August into September. It wont hurt her, and will be a bonus calf for you. Get after a heifer IMO, will be worth the time and effort.


But I was going to say "it might be a bull calf". I figured that because we had some do this, and take forever before they calf. They look ready, act etc. Then don't calve! Well it seems the late ones tend to be bulls, atleast from what ive seen. The heifers seem to come faster. With horses, the males take longer to develop. But, there is a possibility, unless you did see it alive when it came out. It might have been a still born. That can and does happen, and happened to us once. Hereford calved, was a still born. It was warm and wet, but dead on delivery. As the saying goes $h1t happens!



Jeff