Another surprise

This year's calving season has been so full of surprise and intrigue.  This week's latest was an unexpected set of twins!  Unfortunately, the little (and I use that word literally) female was stillborn, but the bull calf appears to be doing well as of this writing. 

 



We'd been watching Swallow most of the morning because she was restless and wandering the pasture alone.  I had to run (okay, drive) to town for an appointment, so Chris was in the pasture checking on her when I pulled up to the house.  He met me inside with a serious face and the news that Swallow had calved and that it was dead.  He asked me to come with him to remove the calf because momma was frantically trying to revive it.  Imagine our surprise when we got back to the birthing spot to find a just born second calf!

Poor Swallow.  She was still attempting to revive the first calf,  then she'd rush over to the new one and give him a quick lick.  Since he needed all of momma's attention, we knew that we needed to get the dead calf away, but momma wasn't having any of that either!  Chris finally edged the ATV over the dead twin while Swallow was attending the live one for a moment.  He was able to pull the dead calf underneath and lay her in the back of the ATV.  We backed away and watched as Swallow's confusion left her and she became a momma to one.

The dead twin was a heifer who apparently didn't thrive well in the womb.  She was sunken looking, weighed next to nothing and didn't take a breath after she was born.  Since she was the female twin of a bull, she'd have also been a freemartin (sterile) had she lived.  The horned male will probably be "Swallow's steer" as that will be his destiny and we don't usually give the steers "real" names. 

We're sure hoping the rest of the season is uneventful.  Ten live calves on the ground and five more to go for spring.....we're a few weeks away (I think) from the next one.

Everybody Loves a Good Fight...

This morning, like most every morning, I take a walk to the pasture to check on the girls and the calves.  It's usually early, so the deer and turkeys are often around as well and most of the time, it's live and let live.  Not being a turkey expert, I can still guess that it must be mating season in turkey land.  The boys apparently fight over the girls.

This is what was going on - two males dueling in the pasture.

This is the audience!  They called and kicked dust and generally behaved like a bunch of drunks at a bar fight.  Then they realized that the kids were watching too -- so they ran as far away as fast as they could go!

Still acting like total goofballs, but headed away from the fight.

Several of the girls just couldn't help themselves and had to go take another look.....

All in all it was really an entertaining morning!

***My apologies for the quality of the photos.  Usually I have the camera and my smart phone in my pocket when I go out for my morning walk.  This morning both had lower than low batteries, so I grabbed Chris' not so smart phone.  It did take pictures, so I guess it's not so dumb after all.

It's a very Red spring

We are fortunate this year - so far, all of our new heifers are red.  Not that we won't be happy with a black heifer, but we just Love the little red girls! 

 

 

Born March 18, here's Swing Dance, daughter of Brezes and Dance.  She's red, polled (we think) and a sweet little beauty. 

This little fireball is Moosters RiverDance, daughter of Saphire and Dance.  She's also a great-granddaughter of Brezes (above).  She's only a few days old, but she doesn't stop moving!  And, like her mother, she's really people oriented already. 

This is Meara's FlashDance.  She is a character.  She's built just wonderfully, but even better, she likes us and I swear she has a sense of humor.  Flash is living up to her name as she is truly photogenic as well.

And here's Dance Machine at a little over two weeks old.  He's a stud!  And even better, his test is back from UC Davis - he IS homozygous polled!  I predict that he may be sticking around for a while...

We're still battling winter vs. spring around here.  Back to the deep freeze tomorrow with high winds and a possibility of snow.  We'll be out checking on the herd often.  Swallow is getting very close to calving so we're especially concerned about her.  Spring can just stick around after this - we can hope, right?

Our adventurous heifers

This is our newest heifer, Moosters Tap Dance, red horned daughter of 'Dance and Rally.  This is Tap Dance getting her ride in the ATV because....she managed to get through a 7 strand barbed wire fence.  When I woke up this morning, I could see Rally literally running along the fence line, attempting to climb it.  A look through the binoculars confirmed that there was a calf on the other side of the fence.  Really?  I'm still trying to figure this one out.  That fence line was originally put up to keep goats in.  We didn't find any holes either.

We loaded her up and brought her back to the pasture where all the cattle are supposed to be confined.  Hmmm. 

She's another gorgeous little heifer and all's well that ends well.

Five and counting

Acqua di is doing very well despite her watery beginnings.  She's been joined by (as of yesterday) four more baby Moosters.  Spring must be just around the corner!  We're still on calf watch for a few more - this week, we hope - then the rest of the spring girls will stretch out over the next month or two.

So far,

 

Acqua di and momma Jasmine

 

 

Halo and Moosters Sledge Hammer (son of Moosters Yamaha)

 

 

Meara and her little Moosters Flash Dance (a 'Dance daughter)

 



 

 We have two more (we still need good pictures for the baby albums):  Moosters Square Dance, red horned heifer - daughter of  Thomas' RY Red Roseta, aka Wild Thing and 'Dance and Moosters Dance Machine, black polled bull, son of Dance and Bess.  We're having him tested to see if he might be homozygous. 

 

Toe tapping impatiently for the next babies......

 



A Poor Little Calf Who Had Lost Her Way....

Much like last year's calving season, this year started out with another splash down in the creek.  Unlike last year, I wasn't there to see it.  And, unlike last year, I didn't think that Jasmine was even remotely close to calving.  We check the girls every day as we head into the weeks leading up to calving.  No clue that Jasmine was going to deliver a calf the next morning.  Her bag was a little fuller, but then so are several of the other girls and we know they aren't due for at least another week or two.  No swelling or floppy back end that would have set our "imminent birth" alarm going.

So, I'm making coffee and thinking that Jazzy is scratching on the trees because I can see her moving up and back from the creek amongst the fallen tree trunks.  Apparently what I was watching was her trying to figure out how the get her calf out of the water at the edge of the creek.  Commenting to Chris that she was acting unusual, I picked up the binoculars just as Chris said "she has a calf!" 

It was a bitterly cold morning with strong winds.....  Baby is submerged up to her shoulders in the water and barely moving.  Jazz was amazing - she didn't attack as we lifted baby from the water, put her in the ATV and headed for the house.  We tried drying her out with the hairdryer, fluffing her with towels and blankets and still couldn't get her to stop shivering.  We couldn't get her dry either. 

The big ranch next door didn't have the calf warmer locally (we'd borrowed it once before), so we figured a hot bath was the only other way to get her warm - not dry - just warm.   In we go -- complete with audience!

 



Chris headed to town to buy a calf warmer while little miss and I turned into very warm prunes.  We were able to get a warm bottle of colostrum into her and by the time Chris got back, she'd quit shivering and seemed to gain more strength.

At this point, we were just hopeful that we were doing all the right stuff.  She was just too adorable to lose.

Into the new calf warmer parked in the living room where she got warm, dry and very strong!  She got a shot of LA200, her navel was painted with iodine, then she got rubbed all over with nasty placenta (so she would smell right).  Back to mom by mid-afternoon.

 

 



The meeting was successful.  Momma Jasmine licked her and recognized her, but wouldn't let her eat.  She moved away every time little miss tried.  We left them to bond, but the wind and cold got the best of our new little girl again.  By the time we went back out to get her, her mouth was cold, she was shivering again and mom had lost interest in her.  Back to the warmer and another warm bottle.  We decided to keep her in overnight and feed her a few more times in anticipation of a better day in the morning.

This morning, a totally different heifer greeted me in the laundry room.  She was up, mooing at me and ready to go! 

Today was a better day!  We moved Jazzy into the stalls, put down lots of fluffy bedding and brought a very fiesty little girl back out to meet her mom.  Our hope was that they'd have to bond because they were in such tight quarters.  No worries.  Miss fiesty girl went right to work (after doing the cutest happy dance I've ever seen!).  They are happily mother and daughter tonight. 

Meet High Pines Acqua Di - the daugher of Jasmine and Glenn Land Mr. Toney.  She's polled, red and sassy!  And darn lucky to be here today.

Time Flies

Whoa!  Hadn't really realized how long it's been since I'd posted anything here.  In the winter, it seems like most of the days are the same.  Outside it's generally overcast and dreary, so pictures are dull too.  But I'll try --

We did spend quite a few hours moving all the girls in from the pasture and through the chute.  We lured them into the corrals with a tractor load of alfalfa.  No complaints!   Preg testing for the fall calvers.  Treated the herd for lice since everyone is itchy and rubbing against anything they can find.  Gave all of the girls a thorough once over mid-winter.  And lo and behold, we (they) have ringworm too.  Yippee.  So, they all got those spots treated with betadyne.  We really need warmth and sunshine - the very best ringworm cure. 
 

Ray Ray was not thrilled about her blood draw or her pour on or the betadyne sprayed on her neck.  She's most certainly wishing for spring to get here!

That's Queenie in the feeder.  We weaned her a few days ago.  She doesn't seem to miss mom much, but she's sure not in any hurry to leave the feeder when it's time to load it with more hay.  It took both of us to shoo her out of the ring so Chris could load more for her to eat (and apparently sleep in). 

 

The almost yearlings are trying to teach our two weanlings how to eat.

 



Queenie is curious, but not ready to walk over and stick her head in the feeder.  She'll be our best friend forever once she gets a taste (which is all they get anyway...)!

Spring and calves should be arriving soon!  Can't wait!