Reagan Had a Girl!
Monday, December 26, 2022
Hello friends,
We are still celebrating around here! We had the white Christmas, we had the family here, we had cookies and presents, and football. What more could we ask for? Health, yes, we have our health, and we are very thankful for all of our blessings. Now it’s time to get back into a routine again after so many fun events. Regular hours begin tomorrow.
Thursday’s storm was a doosey (spell check can’t seem to help me with this one). As I suspected, Reagan had her calf early, right in the middle of the snow and cold to be exact. We prepared for the storm by putting out big round bales of hay, straw bedding in the loafing shed, a layer of hay on the open floor of the chicken house, water in stock tanks with heaters on the ready, and a place for Reagan to labor if she looked imminent. And she did. Yep, Thursday morning she was in obvious labor when we went out to do morning chores. The snow was blowing, and the temperature was dropping. Front baby hooves were already presenting so we knew it wasn’t going to be long. We loaded the cows for milking, and they were all pretty excitable, with a lot of slipping and sliding on the concrete. Every so often one of us would go check on Reagan’s progress. Not yet.
Finally, we finished milking, and she still hadn’t had that calf. The temperature was down to about -5 by then and we decided that we needed to help her. Our morning worker, Gayla, has a lot of experience with cattle, so she was not at all flustered. She carefully exposed the calf’s nose, and with the next contraction Reagan pushed that calf out. Towels and more towels! Quick! Dry her off (yes, it is a girl) ! Calves are born very slick and slimy to make the birthing path easier, but that makes picking them up to carry them inside very difficult. Gayla grabbed the front feet, and I took the back and we managed to get her into the milking parlor on some carboard with a heat lamp overhead and a space heater nearby. We went through three big towels and got that calf mostly dry. Long story longer, she spent three days in the milking parlor in a makeshift pen and is now outside doing well. Whew! Reagan has since passed the colostrum phase and is officially contributing to the milk supply. Little Erin is vigorous and healthy. Praise the Lord!...