Maddie Moo - MIDWIFE!

Wah Hoo!!!  It FINALLY happened!!! Posey's calf has arrived!
Here's how it all happened...

Posey around 5:00 check

Wednesday evening we checked Posey around 5:00.  She was with all the other cattle standing in the shade by the water tank.  We noticed that she was breathing really fast like we saw Faith doing for days before she delivered.  She was sweet and loving and did not shy away.  I had a meeting, so I got dressed up (like a little lady), went to my meeting, and then came back to do chores and check on Posey again afterward.  We joked on the way about the moon looking full and how a full moon can make a female go into labor.

Cutting open the sack.  White hooves.

When we got to the farm it was dark.  Mom shined the flashlight across the fence to see who was up at the feeder waiting on us.  Everyone was there...except Posey.  That was a good sign.  So she shined the flashlight all around the field.  She said she thought she saw white out of the corner of her eye.  Sure enough, it was Posey's white belly glowing in the moonlight.  She was lying flat on her side.  When we got down to the bottom of the field, we could see a liquid filled sack with two white hooves sticking out of her.

Christy was out of town at the Ag teacher conference, so we called her to find out what to do.  She talked us through it all a little at a time.  We must have made four or five phone calls.  We were at the farm two years ago and saw a birth, but we didn't touch anything until after the calf was born.  We wanted to make sure that we didn't do anything wrong.  Mom had even watched a YouTube video that evening in the truck while I was in my meeting.  She was trying to refresh her memory on how everything was supposed to look.  (Awesome timing, Mom!)

We let Posey push a little more.  Then I cut open the sack.  We cleared off the nose with clean white cotton shop towels.  We kept the calf alert and breathing by touching her lower jaw and bridge of her nose.  That was weird.  Two hooves, a nose, and a tongue sticking out.

Nose and tongue, white feet and hooves.

We held her just above her hooves and pulled ONLY whenever Posey pushed.  We weren't trying to pull the calf out or remove her.  We were just making Posey's pushes more productive.  Posey got up and walked around and pushed for five minutes or so and then laid back down and pushed some more.  The calf's  head just wasn't moving out well, so Mom laid her hand on the opening (vulva) and just gently pushed it up and over the eyes and forehead.  Posey didn't tear or anything.  We were glad.  It was weird because the calf's head was sticking out and it opened its eyes and started looking at us.  Then the pushes got really productive and we had the calf on the ground before we knew it.  We checked, yep, it was a girl!  Yea!!!

Two seconds after touching the ground

Posey took to her right off and licked her good.  Then the calf started stirring like she was trying to stand up!  We had to move fast.  I ran and got the wheelbarrow.  We loaded up the little slippery sucker and pushed her up the hill to the pen.  I led Posey and Mom pushed the wheelbarrow.

Momma is cleaning her up.

We laid the calf on the soft hay beside the hay ring.  Posey licked her more.  I got to use my new Vetericyn umbilical cord spray!

We waited while she (Prim) tried to stand.  Then we worked with her on nursing.  Worst nurser EVER!  She would just barely get the teat in her mouth and lose it.  We would push her up closer, and she would resist us.  We would get her on and Posey would shift over one or two inches and we had to start all over again.  It was SO TIRING!!!  Much more tiring than helping with the delivery!  Finally she had enough and wouldn't nurse anymore.  She was even more tired than we were.  We were worried that she wouldn't have had enough nutrition to last her through the night.  She made it just fine.  She was just tired of us messing with her.  The next morning she was rested and alert and was a MUCH better nurser!   She filled up good.  She's been prancin' and dancin' every day since!
Welcome to the world, Godbless Burdette Primrose!!!  Everybody, this is Prim.  Prim, this is everybody!

Baby Prim, less than 12 hours old.

We can't BELIEVE how much she looks like her momma!  She's just got less white.  Even the triangle on her forehead is like hers, except in reverse.

(2010) Baby Posey's first day.

                                                                               






See the resemblance?

(2010) Baby Posey less than 24 hours old.

                                                                                   

Posey went to the dairy to live with other Ayrshire show cows.  It's the same dairy where I sold Faith.  So they won't be lonely.  They will be friends again! 

I can't wait to see what kind of condition Posey is in by TULSA STATE FAIR time!  That will be my next opportunity to show her.  I sure hope she is good.  People have always thought that she would be a better cow than she was a heifer.  She did okay as a heifer, but it would be nice to see her do even better as a cow.  We also wonder what her udder will look like after the swelling (edema) goes away from pregnancy/delivery.  

You just never know what could happen.  I hope she stays healthy.  I feel really good about her being at Hall's Dairy.  She will get great care there.  I sure do hope that other people think she's as great as I do!   I wonder if she will "track better in her back legs" since she has a big ol' udder to keep them apart?  At least I hope it's a BIG ol' udder.  It sure looked big the last time we saw her!  

After her first trip to the dairy parlor!

I miss her.  She's the first calf I raised up.  I know I've only had her for two years or so, but I feel like she's been with me forever.   

I can't wait to see her at TULSA!

Little Prim follows me around the pen just like her momma did.  We run and jump and play.  She's like her momma, but I think that Prim just might have a little more personality.