Monthly Archives: April 2012

So the other night, we got to witness the birth of our first Red Poll calf here on the farm.  It all started at softball practice with a call from the neighbor.  He called to say that a heifer was in labor…with a bubble hanging out the back end.  We were just done with softball practice, so we quickly jumped into the van to head home for the show.
Upon arriving home, I noted that one of the girls was off on her own with her tail raised.  Indeed she was in labor.  So we set up near the barn to see how things would transpire.  We watched as she laid down to push, then stood up for a bit.  I was surprised to see her eat some grass in the midst of laboring.  We clearly saw her water break.  There was a lot of clear fluid the came out very fast at first and continued in small bursts as she pushed.  Finally she laid down for several contractions.  At this point, her tail and back end were facing away from us.
I decided to walk around to the corner of the filed where she was laying.  I stayed outside of the fence line, but got close enough to watch through the video camera.  I taped the whole event from this vantage point.  I watched as the calf appeared to be stuck.  I could only see one foot and a head.  My veterinary instincts started to kick in, but luckily I decided to wait a little while.  Upon zooming in, I could see both front legs and the head.  The legs were crossed in such a way that it appeared to be only one.  I was still a bit concerned as a few minutes passed without any progress.  I knew it was best to wait it out, but I was questioning this mantra in my head.  I waited a few more minutes and could see that the calf was shoulder locked.  As I was mulling over what to do inside my head, she began to make more progress.  The shoulders were starting to come through as her back end likely relaxed a bit more.  Finally,  the shoulder came through.  After many contractions over about 45 minutes the calf was about to be born.  Three or four final contractions and pushes and the calf was out.
We had a live bull calf.  I was amazed to watch him stand and nurse within 20 minutes.  This is so amazing to me.  We are excited that he was born without any problems and is doing very well.

And now the kicker……remember I stated that I was watching through the video camera?  Well, I was recording as well.  Apparently when I began to walk around for a better view I hit the record button.  Our video camera has a delay on the light enough that I messed the whole thing up.  Every time I thought I was recording, the camera was off.  When I thought it was of….it was on.  So when we went to view the video, there was nothing but grass.  The stinker is that I had a great video (Or so I thought).  O well Maybe next time.