Juicy FINALLY did it!

Meet Godbless Lebron JL Apple.  He was born the night we came home from Tulsa State Fair.

Juicy has been at MawMaw and GrandDad's, but we were afraid for Juicy to stay there during calving with us at Tulsa.  She was due the day before we left.  Luckily the dairy owner let us drop her off early, so we took her when we took all of the cows back after the OK State Fair.

This was REALLY lucky for us, because Juicy had big problems.  JL only stuck one hoof out.  He had to be pushed back in, his other foot found and pulled forward.  By this time Juicy was worn out.  She couldn't push any more, so they had to pull him out.  Then she was too tired to stand, so they got her up and standing, and she started to clean him off.

He's a big one, and he's super sweet and oh so CUTE!!!  I'm selling him to some friends.  If Juicy's udder comes in good, they are even going to keep him to use as a sire later on.

Juicy had LOTS of edema.  She was swollen up as much as Faith was.  We have to wait for that swelling to go down before we can make decisions.  If she looks good, we will enter her (at the very last minute...probably AT the show) for the SNBSS next week.  I kind of doubt that her swelling goes down that well that fast, but we will see.  Who knows, maybe next year!

I'm bummed that her first calf was a bull, but at least we know her plumbing all works!  We'll try to breed her back using sexed semen and see how that goes.

Posey's got calving on her mind!

Looks like the Super Moon didn't do what we were hoping.  I was imagining Posey just spitting that little calf out lickety split.  Instead, Posey's just moving along as scheduled.  Last night she started discharging and spent all night/morning lying, stretching, pushing, walking, pushing, stretching, pushing.

We are hopeful that it is a heifer.  We used sexed Burdette semen on her.  She settled with it the first time and she had Prim, but she was a heifer then.  Now since she's a cow, it's surprising that she settled the first time AND with sexed semen.  Someone told me that they knew of two bulls that were born from the Burdette sexed semen to the same owner.  So there is never a guarantee with sexed semen, especially with cows.

We are also hopeful that it is a heifer because Posey is calving on time.  If she were a week late or so, we would be thinking it is a bull.  They say that bulls arrive late most of the time.

We're just praying that Posey has a healthy heifer calf that THRIVES!

So today is going to be interesting.  We will have to go check on her.  I know it sounds goofy, but  I'll probably check on her with binoculars.  I don't want to disturb her process.  She needs to get this done.  Who knows how long this will take.  We may be up all night.  Time will tell.

Super Moon Calf???

I'm waiting on Posey to pop!  She's due the 24th, but the SUPER MOON is coming on the 23rd...I just wonder.

If she is born under the super moon, I just know my mom is going to call her "Moon Baby" no matter what I name her.

From PTD in November

This is a copy of the latest post for Progressive Dairyman's Proud To Dairy site.

Month 4: If you could shadow someone's career in the dairy industry, what would you choose? (Veterinarian, nutritionist, dairy farm owner, etc.) What questions would ask him or her?

Do I have to pick just one? There is A LOT I donʼt know about ALL careers in the dairy industry, but if you make me pick just one, I would choose a veterinarian.

I guess I am choosing a veterinarian because in Ag class I am currently studying for the junior CDE competition in the Vet Med category.  We have over 100 tools and 100 breeds of animals to identify.  Some of the breeds I already know from experience.  Some of the vet tools I already know from experience, too.

My first experience with a vet started out very scary, but the he made everything all right.  We had just lost my first Ayrshire calf about four months before because of a dysfunctional stomach that caused her to bloat, but I had my new Ayrshire calf, Posey with me at the Sooner State Dairy Show in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  We were keeping a close eye on her and realized she was bloating up.  It was just before midnight when we had fed and our chores were done and we had come back, and had seen it and had told the breeder what was wrong.  He decided we should go ahead and call the Oklahoma State University vet hospital.  (Go Pokes!!!)  

We loaded Posey up and ran her there as fast as we could.  The breeder thought she had bloated up even more on the short trailer ride to the vet.  The man on call was really nice.  He was a giant, but he was a gentle giant.  He let us see everything.  He explained everything.  We figured out that Posey’s halter was tied too long which let her get into two other feed pans.  She was taking in too much grain for the amount of hay she was eating.  The doctor also had a student with him.  He taught her how to run a tube down Posey’s throat into her stomach.  We thought the girl would NEVER get it.  She would mess up, and he would demonstrate again.  Then she would try again.  Finally they got the tube in Posey’s throat and he poured mineral oil into her.  They kept her over night.  They said she COULD go with us, but she would have explosive diarrhea all night while the oil did its job and the gas came out.  So we left her there.  :)

Before we got there, I cried.  I didn’t want this calf to die.  The next morning, the breeder brought her back to us from the vet.  I hugged that calf and stroked her hair and petted her like I hadn’t seen her in forever.  If there weren’t a vet on call at a facility so close, I don’t think Posey would have lived.

The next visit to a vet was very interesting and not stressful.  Posey was born with six teats instead of the normal four.  We took her to the vet to get her shots, and her ear tattoos, and her extra teats removed.  I got it all on video.  The vet used a clamp on each teat and then removed the teats with a scalpel.  When he took the clamps off, there was no blood.  He sprayed a thick liquid on them to fight bacteria, and off she went!  She didn’t need stitches or glue or a bandage or anything!  Her scars are not noticeable unless you are looking for them.  As a cow, her udder is beautiful!  

I would think that the work of a vet can be interesting.  I think it can also be stressful working with some animals (and some owners) that are crazy.  I think it would be stressful to do your best to heal an animal and it died anyway.  I think it would be hard to see people not follow directions or not take your advice and not take care of their animals properly.  I can also see it being rewarding seeing the results of your hard work or seeing people that do what they need to to keep their animals in good shape.

I think my favorite vet med area would be reproduction.  That’s what the dairy business is all about, right?  You raise a healthy heifer to the proper breeding age.  You track her heat cycle.  You get her artificially inseminated with a semen that will improve her offspring.  You track her cycle to see that she passes over.  You wait a little bit to get her preg checked, and if it’s really important to you, you wait a little bit and have a fetal sex ultrasound done on her so you can see if she’s carrying a heifer or a bull.  There are several questions I would ask about ultrasounds and stuff.

   

  

How many fetal ultrasounds do you do per month? 

How long does it take to be certified on an ultrasound machine? 

What kind of education do you have to have? 

How much does a portable machine cost?

Where do I go to learn how? 

Same set of questions about learning how to do artificial insemination: 

How many do you do? 

How long for certification? 

Education? Equipment cost (a.i. gun, etc.) 

Where do I go to learn how?

I think veterinarians are a very important part of the dairy industry.  They can perform vaccinations, surgeries, and treat/fix things like hurt hooves.  One time, one of my friend's cows was standing cross legged, and the vet figured out her foot was hurt, so he made a set of blocks for her to walk on to take pressure off that hurt side of her hoof, and she walked normally while it healed up.

Veterinarians can teach owners how to better care for their animals so they don’t have to come to the vet so often.  Veterinarians can help with dairy cattle health in many ways I don’t even know about.  Sometimes, vets can help by doing a necropsy (which is like an autopsy in humans) so the owner can find out why an animal died and hopefully keep it from happening to any more animals.    

In the dairy industry, the animals need to be well.  The animals need to be free of antibiotics in order to sell their milk.  They need to be able to walk to feed and water in order to stay healthy to produce milk.  They need to calve in order to continue produce milk.  They need to have healthy udders. They need  to have as many heifers as possible to have future milkers!  Veterinarians can help in all of these areas. 

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.    


  

Any day now...

My Ayrshire Posey is officially due in two days.  Praise the Lord she didn't deliver early while we were gone to the Sooner State Dairy Show.
I sure wish I could have taken her to show.  I think she's great, but I wouldn't want to make her uncomfortable in her condition.
We are praying really hard that everything goes beautifully and that Posey and baby are both perfect and healthy and strong.
I sure hope we don't get a sexed semen surprise bull calf!  I wonder what the coloring will be.  I wonder what the markings will be.  The suspense is awful!

Ultrasound Appointment

I went to Cross Country Genetics and got an ultrasound for Ayan, my Brown Swiss nurse cow.  We needed to find out if she is preggers or not.  If she's not, we have to see if she is cystic and treat her for it.  If she's all clear, then we have to watch her for heat and A.I. her again.  If she is preggo, I do my happy dance and I get a calf in nine months!

Ultrasound results:
No cysts.
No fetus.
No happy dance :( 

Breeding breeding breeding

We took Ayan (Brown Swiss nurse cow) to my good friend Alan to get A.I.ed awhile back.  I've got an appointment on July 6th to see if it took!  I'm praying for it, and for it to be a heifer...of course.  We're taking her for an ultrasound at Cross Country Genetics.  I can hardly wait!






Juicy (Brown Swiss heifer) should be coming into heat in the next day or so, and she will be A.I.ed too.  It's hard for me to believe that she is already old enough!  In my mind she's about the size of a six month old, but she's over a year old now.  She dwarfs the other heifers in the pasture.

Posey is due the first week of August.  I'm nervous.  Really excited, but nervous something will go wrong.

I've raised Posey since the day she was born.  It took a long time to get her bred.  She was one failure away from visiting a bull.  This calf has been a long time in coming.  I keep praying that everything goes beautifully, just like it did for Faith and her little Fara.

Countdown to CALVING!

The first calf to be born to one of my heifers is due on June 2nd.  Recently, one of my friends was surprised by her calf being born two weeks early (which is a normal, healthy thing, just like for humans).

I don't want to miss this event if I can help it.  So I'm plotting on the calendar, and I'm going to start looking for signs EARLY!!!

She looks BIG.  I can't imagine what she'll look like when her time comes!

Stay tuned.  I'm not afraid of all the blood and slime.  I'll be sure to give all the gory details!  Shoot, I'll probably post the VIDEO!

If you're the praying kind (and I hope you are) please pray that everything goes right and that my Holstein has a perfect, healthy, thriving heifer calf!

The Lord gives, and sometimes He takes away.

When you deal with livestock, you can't help but learn about the "birds and the bees", because if you don't get animals bred, then you can't make any advancements in herd size or profit or anything.

It's hard to say which is more exciting:  winning a purple ribbon or having a new calf born.  That's a tough one.

It's spring again and that is the ideal time for calving.  If you've got a March heifer, you can get more showing time out of her in the heifer classes before she is bred, has a calf of her own (hopefully a heifer) and has to move up into a cow class.

As exciting as calving is, it is also nerve-wracking.  What if it comes early?  What if the calf gets stuck and has to be pulled, and no one is there to help it?  The list of "what if"s goes on and on.

My friend's Guernsey aborted a fetus last year.  It was only about the size of a cat and it was missing part of its leg.  It just never developed those bones.

She bred her again and this time had to have a c-section.  It was a bull.  She decided to bottle feed it for awhile.  It died within the week.

Another friend had a Milking Shorthorn calve last night.  It was full term and perfectly formed, but in miniature.  It was too weak to stand or hold its head up.  They fed it and stayed up with it all night, but it just wasn't right, and it died.

The death of an animal can make you feel like a failure.  It can make you feel ashamed, like you did something wrong.  It isn't anyone's fault.  This thing happens in nature all the time.  I also lost my first heifer at six months due to digestive malformation.

The other kick in the pants is all the time and money invested in the lost animal.  You buy semen.  You pay for someone to artificially inseminate (A.I.) your animal.  You pay to have it fetal sexed.  You watch over it and care for it.  You fret through the weeks before calving.  You lose hours of sleep checking on her...and to wind up with nothing for your efforts...it's a very defeating feeling.

My family has been praying for months about my heifers and their calves-to-be.  We know how terribly wrong things can go.  We just pray that God protects them all and makes them perfect and healthy and strong.  I do what I'm supposed to, but the rest is in God's hands.