There is nothing like the anticipation of spring after a long winter. Especially when you have new baby calf due to arrive! Poor Mabel was not feeling it, but let me tell you, this time I was ready for the worst and hoping for the best. Per the old farmers words from her last horrific delivery, she was walking through the checklist like a breeze. Her udder development was enormous again and her joints were popping. It was a week prior to her due date and all signs were pointing to an early delivery. She was no longer comfortable and she was clearly heading out to find herself some peace and quiet. The poor girl had no idea that we were not going to let her do this alone.
My old farmer friend met me at the gates and we walked out to find her looking like misery. As we approached, she just stood and stared and then begrudgingly turned to the barn, as if she knew. The first thing I noticed is that within the last 12 hours her udder did the unthinkable and actually grew larger than before. This girl had both edema and milk filling her udder so much so that it was causing her to waddle. Her ligaments had finally sunken in next to her tail bone and I am fairly certain we even saw a mild contraction while we moved her. It was go time and the vet was on call. My only objective was to let her get as far as she could on her own, uninterrupted, because I needed to see that she could do this alone as her last fiasco left for no confidence.
It was nice to have fair warning that we were within hours of delivery. It allowed me to throw straw down, get a few supplies ready and prepare an inside stall for after the little one arrived. We also had a second calf on hand that we purchased just two days prior, so he would be ready to graft on immediately. Considering mid March is not exactly warm in Colorado, we had the barn nursery ready.
We left Mabel in the largest outdoor stall so we could see her from the kitchen. She halted all beginning signs of labor due to our interruption, but she settled down nicely licking her sides and appreciating the pile of straw we made. It was just approaching bedtime and I had my husband run out one last time just to get a quick peek before my midnight shift. Fortunately, he came right back into the house announcing that he could see feet!
Coveralls, hats, boots and we were out the door in a flash so I could catch this on video. Our farmer friend was on his way (we had instruction to call all house lines no matter what). While it was tempting to jump in and help her out, it was more important to just watch her progress naturally. Within about 5 minutes and a whole lot of whispering, Mabel stood up and turned around just long enough to spit a tiny little calf out. She had no idea what just happened and stood there in a bit of relief. As with any cow, you never know their reaction to motherhood and so naturally I sent my husband in to get a quick look and dry towel on the baby. Headlights were next in the driveway and the farmer walked straight past me into the stall and grabbed the calf by its two back feet for a quick upside down spin to get any fluids out. Its not that my husband or I couldn’t do all of this, but I think we found a soft spot in the old farmers heart and he was going to ensure we had a live calf this year! He worked his magic a few times over and left the stall with a smile. Being some what of a stranger to Mabel, he ignited her motherly instincts and she realized that the calf belonged to her and hence the mooing and motherly talk began. It was the sweetest thing. Silence was not her thing…she talked non stop to that baby for as long as we were there.
I quickly realized that the guys were so excited with their duties that they had forgotten to check if we had a boy or a girl. Since Mabel was just starting to get serious about this mommy business, I instructed the guys to grab the baby and make a run for the barn stall in hopes that Mabel would follow. Outside was all of a sudden out of the question for these two as I found myself shivering in the single digit temps. The baby was swiftly moved, Mabel swiftly followed and out came the announcement that we had a little GIRL. You have never seen a human cow momma so excited! My husband set me up a small propane heater in the barn and we sat for an hour to ensure everyone was perfect.
Mabel enjoyed a warm bucket of molasses water, found her appetite and was literally the most content momma I could have ever imagined. She took that big ol’ body and laid right next to her baby to settle in for the night.
