Yesterday was a cold, windy day with some snoflakes sailing sideways. A great day for calves to be born! Three safe deliveries, unassisted, and the 4th one was a problem. The cow was lethargic at daylight. These are cows that are not handled often, and like to have a bit of distance between themselves and us. This one didn't even try to walk away. She had a dirty string of mucous or something, indicating that she probably had been in labor, but she wasn't showing any signs of having contractions. Better get her into the chute. Easier said than done. We went round and round over about 20 acres, back and forth, and finally got her where we wanted her.
The calf's front feet were in the right place. Where was the head? Oh, turned back and sort of upside down. We already had chains on the front feet but needed to push the calf back to make more space while the cow was finally having some contractions. Long chains are a good thing, as are those heavy hook-on handles that keep the chains from disappearing inside the cow. A few minutes later the calf was pulled out, put on a bed of clean straw next to the front of the chute, and the cow was let out. She took about 10 steps forward, made a U turn and went right to her calf. The calf was trying to get up about 5 minutes later.
