She didn't even seem to be in labor when I chored at noon ... when I went out at 3, on my way to town, there was a calf up and standing beside her ... yikes! This is our first calf, so I am pretty excited ... and IT'S A HEIFER! I named her "Liberty Belle." She's 3/4 Jersey, 1/8 Guernsey and 1/8 Belted Galloway. She basically looks like a Jersey, with a couple white splotches here and there! Mom and baby both seem to be doing fine ... got 'em bedded down in the barn for the night.
. Sounds like you have a winning pair their. Hope everything goes well with them. I know it won't do any good to tell you to try and calm down :dance: a little bit either :haha: Congratulations ! ! !
I agree, that is super. Please write and tell us how it goes. My jersey is suppose to have her first calf around the first week of May. We are total newbes to this and a little bit afraid. When will you milk her? Congratulations!
Thanks, ya'll! Well, calf was having a little trouble getting hooked up with the milk supply, and I wanted to make sure she got colostrum, so I went ahead and milked Dawn (cow) and bottled the calf. Dawn is such a sweetie, I didn't even have to tie her up ... just stuck a pail of grain in front of her. (I put it in a 5-gal bucket so she would have to work a little to fish it out of the bottom ... took her longer that way, heh heh!) About an hour ago, I went out and milked her again ... she wasn't real bagged up though, and this time the little darling turned up her snout to the bottle ... but her tummy felt round and full ... so I think she figured out how to "help herself"! I was going to leave her on the cow for 3 days, then separate them during the night and milk in the morning ... but I'm wondering now if I'm going to have problems getting the calf to take a bottle. We're new at this too ... although I work on a dairy farm ... of course, there the calves get ripped away from their mommas just a few hours or even minutes after they're born. Sometimes they don't even allow time for the mommas to clean them off. :waa:
Mom and baby both seem to be doing fine ... got 'em bedded down in the barn for the night.[/QUOTE] Congrats!! To You and the new Mom!! We've got one due in a few days, another in June and another in Sept. Good luck and green pastures to ya's all!!
We have beefers - 2 Charolais and Simmental mix heifers that were due any time and 2 herefords due any time. We had to be out of town today and came home to find the Momma Charolais had given us the most beautiful little heifer. We hate not being here in case they have trouble but this one was so small compared to the bull she delivered last spring that we figured she coughed and it popped out :haha: It is so exciting when it happens. We have already gotten pictures on our digital, printed them off and delivered them to all the neighbors. Our farm is kind of a show type farm ... all the neighbors walk by and show their kids, families dogs etc our cows, pigs, layers - even our garden a time or two. We keep saying we should charge admission. They have all been stopping to see if the girls have delivered yet. This Momma hides her baby in the woods for a week or so so the show is a delayed one. Congratulations on your new little heifer, we are all still smiling too. Isn't it a great feeling!
