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And a dun one at that too!

Just after tea break at work, 10.40am, I had a phone call from OH saying the neighbour had called him. She told him Isobel had gone into labour. So he rings me and I ran out the door, I think I managed to tell somebody I was leaving![:I]


She was in the paddocks and making big circles around where her waters had broke. I went up to her gave her a scratch and shifted the other two girls into the next paddock. For a while she seemed happy to stay where she was, then it started to rain so I went and got my coat, When I came back she had shifted to a different spot. I stood by armed with the camera as I knew I wouldn't be forgiven if I missed anything[:p]


She was restless and making low moaning sounds and was up and down, fluids still draining when she contracted. At this point my neighbour wandered over (the one who rang) and she had a look during one of the contractions and said that she could see two feet, so that was encouraging.


Soon we began to see the feet emerge, tiny little white hooves, and soft to the touch...it was a hands on birth![;)] Isobel so was so good and almost looked liked she was happy we were there, she kept looking at me with those big eyes as if to say, 'What is happening to me' and she would lean against me.


With each contraction more seemed to emerge, I could see the sack of fluid alongside the feet.



Then after a while I saw a nostril. By this time my friend turned up with lunch, after a quick look she disappeared inside with the neighbour just as it started to pelt down with rain, my neighbour came back out with a coat for me, as I was getting rather wet by this time and cold. They returned with a toasted cheese and onion sandwich!


Isobel was still restless and was up and down and the feet were in and out![:D] It was nearly 1pm by this point and poor Isobel was beginning to look quite tired. At this point my 2 resident midwifes thought that maybe a little intervention was needed to pull the head out as it didn't seem to be budging. So I was sent off to the barn to get some baling twine....I was thinking that it would be just my luck she'll plop it out before I get back! Isobel was making some quite loud mooing sounds by now....well you would wouldn't you?


All that noise attracted the attention of all things cattle in the neighbourhood!



The baling twine was looped around both feet, and my friend strategically placed to pull and my neighbour was stretching 'ISOBELS' vulva, I had camera aimed and ready to shoot and on the next contraction with a bit of a tug...a new life emerged into the world!



A quick lift of the leg revealed a heifer!

I cried![:I] Isobel bellowed! My neighbour pulled the calf in front of Isobel and the next few moments were amazing. Isobel stood up so fast and stood over her making such a racket! She started to lick her and we decided some more lunch in order and a hot cup of coffee while she bonded.


When I went back outside the calf was up and feeding. The miracle of life, truly amazing!


Two lessons learned today:
1) Don't feed the cows too much food while they are pregnant, you get BIG calves
2) How to use baling twine for a speedy delivery

Many thanks go to my friend and my neighbour for their help and support. I'm very lucky to have 2 experienced cow experts to hand!

great pics, I have only ever seen a kitten born before and that was amazing enough.

Thanks for sharing those wonderful pics. And congratulations!

Jandra

Congratulations and great pics. What are you going to call him (is a heifer a him, I don't know!?)? Fancy being able to just up sticks and leave work because your cow has gone into labour!!!

Sorry! A heifer is a female, her name is Cara it means precious jewel.

Our stud name here is Little Gems

you know...I think it's lovely that you were moved to tears, thanks for sharing.
I'm gonna go get my kids to see this

Thanks Bonnie! I do know the difference between a cow and a bull , but I get so lost when people are talking about the names of young/baby male and female animals....

I would've just called it a baby cow, but there you are!

great - handy you have experienced people to help!

what are you going to do with her?

Mum Isobel is a Grade 2 Dexter which means she is 2nd generation.

A lot of dexters are bred up from jersey cows, so Isobels grandmother was a jersey that was put to a dexter bull.
Then the same for Isobels mother (grade 1).

Isobel (grade 2) was then put to a dexter bull and produced Cara a Grade 3.

So we are one grade away from a pure bred. If that makes sense. Which is what we are aiming for, so Cara will stay with us.

The reason why dexters are bred up from jersey (milking) cows is because dexters are a dual purpose breed producing milk and wonderful beef, so they ensures, hopefully a good milk producer.

Being small in stature too they make an ideal animal for people with smaller blocks, farms etc

Awww that was lovely. I've just shared the piccies with my teenage daughter, her name is Isobel too.

I looked at the pics this morning and I went of to work with a smile on my face. I had to have a look again tonight - they really are wonderful - thank you for sharing!

so she is a Dexter -Jersey cross and you are aiming for one with more Dexter than Jersey? How come you did not get a pure Dexter in the first place ? hard to get? Or have I misunderstood something. So you plan to keep both mother and daughter. will it be meat next time or are you planning on a large herd?

We considered having a Dexter.. they are afterall considered the best house cow - but we really don't have enough land.

What cracking pics, how did you manage to keep such a steady hand at the time?! lovely,

She looks a good doting mum there

kind thoughts
Deb

red wrote:so she is a Dexter -Jersey cross and you are aiming for one with more Dexter than Jersey? How come you did not get a pure Dexter in the first place ? hard to get? Or have I misunderstood something. So you plan to keep both mother and daughter. will it be meat next time or are you planning on a large herd?

We considered having a Dexter.. they are afterall considered the best house cow - but we really don't have enough land.

Technically I suppose she would be a cross, but they are classed and recognised as Dexters and registered as such. In New Zealand the main bulk of animals are descendants of animals introduced here. So more often than not pure breeds aren't common or can prove to be expensive. I had never really intended to breed Dexters we just wanted to breed something for the freezer, but as this new calf will produce a pure bred when she calves in 2 years she's definately a keeper.
Should Isobel produce a bull calf next time he's will be for the freezer, and if Cara produces the same, the same fate awaits that bull too.

To import a pure breed of any animal here in NZ is dine so under very strict quarantine conditions and it is very expensive, it's just not affordable for many. So breeding up or artificially inseminating with imported semen(another costly exercise) is the only way to improve your herd.

I now have 2 dexters. I also have a Pedigree Welsh Black who should be pregnant but I don't think she is!!! Also I have an Angus cross, she should calf a bit later on. What she produces will be a Fresian/Angus/Dexter cross, so a bull calf would be better as he will go in the freezer. I don't like eating heifers!! I have no qualms eating a boy!!

Congrats on the healthy heifer!!! We have cattle and I still haven't seen one born. this last spring the cow turned her butt away from me (watching from the barn so not to disturb her) just when the calf was coming.

We eat either heifers or steers, they both taste good and I know some farmers around us prefer the taste of heifers.