Mrs Down's Diary February 25 2009

AFTER keeping us on tenterhooks ( whatever were tenterhooks?) for a week, the biggest and oldest cow in our herd has eventually calved. John even called the vet in last week to look at her as he was so concerned that the birth was imminent and that she was not getting on with it. The vet took in her enormous girth, her distended bag, the drip of milk from her teats and said there's nothing I can do.

Apart from a bill in the post of course. You can't induce a cow. There is more danger for the calf in bringing it on too early and anticipating the birth than letting her go into labour when the time was ready and having to intervene then.

As it was nature took its course. After several more days with friends popping in to see if we were parents yet - the interest in the cow had grown so much - she produced. With a tug and a pull from John and the calving aid.

Last year this same cow had given birth to twins. One died and the other, Freddy, remains our special needs calf; now a bullock. Freddy now takes his place in with the heifers ( he would be bullied by the bullocks )pushing and shoving to get to the rolled barley, but he still takes very slowly to any changes in his diet or care.

He would not be weaned off his bucket of milk for months, and it took him weeks to learn how to drink out of his bucket in the first place. John had to hand feed him till then.

When he eventually started to cautiously nibble at the calf mixture in his bucket, it took some persuading to get him to eat enough to justify withdrawing his milk.

Then he had to be introduced to hay. Now the heifers are on barley straw as well as their rolled barley. Freddy is not keen and it will take him a few days to appreciate that is edible and he had better get used to it.

But back to his Mum. John's worry had been that the calf was getting too big for the cow to calve unaided. The moment he spotted she was starting to look uncomfortable and was possibly in labour we walked her into the crush.

A brief investigation revealed one one of the calves' hooves coming forward, just ahead of its nose. John threw a halter back around her neck and walked her back into the foldyard and tied her to one of the gates to stop her dropping down when she started to calve. Such a big cow would be very difficult to manage then.

With a quick rummage ( that is the nicest way of putting it) he found the tip of the other hoof, brought it forward, made sure the nose was clear and then attached the rope of the calving aid to just above the calf's ankle.

It works on a ratchet principle, perhaps a little to indelicate for human deliveries, but quite acceptable for a cow. In a couple of minutes the biggest calf you have ever seen was flopped down onto the straw.

He is huge. Dwarves some of his peers who are a couple of weeks old. Very alert. Quickly on to his feet and trying to get under his Mum. Who is now pouring milk. The difficulty is her bag is so big and low the calf is having problems getting hold of one her teats to suck.

Ah well. Another technicality to sort out.