An unexpected arrival!

This afternoon--around 3:00, I chanced to look out of our kitchen window towards the cows and saw something surprising... A heifer was in the process of giving birth! As it was very cold out (-4) we knew we had to get her in someplace--preferably before the calf was born. Dad thought it was probably one of Andrew's heifers as one of his was a little bit off by herself this morning, so I told Andrew the news. He then dug out the binoculars and announced that the ear tag was white (my color) and not yellow! As I look back on it, this whole process was a little silly, as we both knew that we'd dress up and go help each other anyway, no matter who the cow belonged to. :)

Dad, Andrew & I put on our many layers of clothing and then headed to one of the barns first thing to set up the calving pen that was still in pieces from when the boys cleaned the barn out this Fall. Then, we all went to try to get my cow in on foot, but she was too quick for us and, when we had her close to where she was supposed to go in, she turned around and ran past us, back to the herd. So, Dad decided to go get a straw bale to bed down the barn (where she'd be with her baby) while Andrew & I went to put a different battery in the Ram so that we'd have something faster to move around with out in the pasture. To make a long story short, after much bumping around and running around with the Ram and the tractor, we finally got her in a small pen and then into the section of the barn where the calving pen is.

Dad thought it would be best to pull the calf right away, as she was a heifer and the calf was good sized. He got a hold of one of the calves' legs and it pulled back, so that was a good sign! After a lot of pulling on Dad's and my part, out came a slimy, live bull calf. :) We pulled him over into a nice pile of straw; cleared the junk out of his nose; got out of the pen; and let his mama loose. She didn't know what to do at first, and was nervous about us being in the barn with her, so we went outside. A few minutes later, Dad and Andrew peeked into the barn windows (I would've too, but I'm too short to) and saw that Mrs. Heifer was licking her baby off. We left them be then until chores time. By the time chores were finished, the baby was up and walking around and drinking his colostrum like a good little boy. I imagine he and his mother will need to stay in the barn for a while if it stays cold like this...

I'm just so grateful that everything went well! New life is such a miracle!!!

I'll try to get a picture of the new baby tomorrow and post it here so you can see him. ~