Dan and I were checking cows the other evening and noticed one of the cows had separated herself from the group. She looked like she was ready to calve so Dan planned check on her again later.
He returned to the field a couple hours later, right before our bedtime, and still no sign of a baby and she didn’t appear to be pushing. He decided to come back up to the house. He laid down to catch some zzz’s wearing everything but his boots. Then a couple hours later, he was up again and drove out to the pasture to check on her.
When we awoke the following morning, Dan told me she still hadn’t had the calf. He had been out there at 1 a.m. to check her again. So we got up and dressed and headed down to the pasture once again, crossing our fingers she had a new calf on the ground. She was up and walking around, ready to eat but still… no baby.
At this point, we were unsure about the calf’s survival because she had been in labor so long. Dan tells me the chances of the calf surviving are much more slim after four hours. If the cow had been in labor all night, it had been at least 6 hours already! In a hurry, we gathered up a squeeze shoot and some calf-pulling tools. Dan would have to pull this calf since she couldn’t have it on her own.
I felt for the mama because she was nervous and shaken that morning. Thankfully, Dan’s dad and brother came to help as well. I watched and prayed from a distance as they worked to pull the calf. Luckily, the pulling didn’t last long but the baby was completely breached and had to exit hind-legs first. We were all amazed when we saw the calf was breathing and opened its eyes!
It was a miracle!
We were stunned! They released the cow from the squeeze shoot and she quickly began to clean off her new baby. I couldn’t believe what I was watching. I had emotionally prepared myself for a dead calf and here they were… mama and baby… as if nothing went wrong at all!
I now call this calf the miracle baby.
I was also very happy to see the calf standing up by its mama the next time I went to check cows with Dan.
Where’s Waldo!?!
Looking stronger and oh-so-cute!
Darrel, Dan’s dad, told us we should go buy some lottery tickets that night!
We were pretty lucky! AND so was the miracle baby!
-Lauren
Always love it when there is a happy ending at our farms. I love every little new baby….
They are so fun to watch! I love it when they start running around and playing!