A Cow is Born - Revised

For all you that have me on feeds ... sorry you're getting this again, but due to the higher power of the farm, aka the upper management, or my husband if you may ..... I am revising my post to be a little less graphic with what only represents a beautiful loving birth! I am only doing this to keep peace on the farm since I do have to live here. Talk about an infringement of my rights ... and Mama's. Ha!



I shall speak only of the gentle wonderful birth of a sweet baby calf that my kiddo's named Cloudy. I shall not speak of "assistive devices," and we shall only visualize a natural birth and not get the farm shut down. Okay?! ... and this shall make the neighborhood happy.


Meet Mama. The Littles named her Mama after they met her this evening in a dark barn while she was giving birth. I'm sure she could have done without our presence and an audience ... but being that my Littles live on a Dairy farm and Cows are our bread and butter, and someday soon they'll be out there in the mist of all the excitement, I thought they might want to witness the miracle of birth and the beginning of new life on our farm. Plus, they always get to name the new babies.

They watched with big eyes and had lots of questions. One question in particular that was really cute came from Meg. She asked, "Where are the rest of the babies?" I don't think she has the concept that not everything born is a triplet. Then once we got home this evening, they fired off questions like a rocket.

First of all, they wanted to know where the baby's Daddy was. I just couldn't add to their confusion, but I did snicker when Marlboro Man caught my eye. You see, this sweet little calf doesn't have a Papa. His Papa lives in a Nitrogen tank with about 100 other frozen straws of Cow DNA (semen). MM artificially inseminates all our ladies, and BINGO .... he was successful with Mama about nine months ago!

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Cloudy was just your ordinary miracle that happens in a straw filled barn. Her Mother, aka Mama, Moo'd loudly with each contraction. Push push push Mama! Being a Nurse and Mother myself, I wanted to pant for her and teach her Lamaze, then give her a shot of Morphine and get her an Epidural as fast as I could. Then I wanted to call 911 and have her air-lifted to a real hospital with real Doctors.


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Our entire family stood on the other side of the fence watching this beautiful miracle unfold.

No one had electricity out here due to the wind storm we had today .. and the only lights were run by a generator on our farm. So this evening, we all just hung out in the barn and Mama just happened to be in labor ... so we had a cheering and pushing party.

After Coudy's birth, my first question was, "Is it a boy or girl?" MM just grunted at me and got busy reviving the baby after they laid Mama's little 100 pound bundle of joy in the center of the birthing room.

Keep in mind, this is entirely different than a human birth. Marlboro Man was kneeling down doing something to the calf's nose, and I couldn't see what he was doing ... so I had to ask. He said that he was tickling it's nose with straw so that it would sneeze. WHAT??? No one did that to my babies after I delivered them. Instead, they got flipped upside down and received a first class massage. I guess MM does the tickle technique since baby calves are born so big and there is a 1,500 pound Mama standing by watching his every move. They do that so that when the calf sneezes, it sucks in air and starts to breathe. Pretty amazing, eh?

Once the baby started breathing, they let Mama have him. She immediately took over and started licking him clean, and giving him some well deserved loving. Licking a calf stimulates circulation. That's very similar to how when human babies are rubbed and dried ... it too stimulates circulation. So close and yet so far ....


Mama, your baby is beautiful, and you did such a good job!











Our babies aren't generally put to the teat of the Mama. Mama's milk goes to you instead. Well, maybe it goes to Sam's Club or IGA, Buehler's or Kroger's or some where. They will give the calf a bottle about an hour after it's born and then it will get up and walk. This little calf won't be living on our farm in about three days ... he just happened to be born a little guy. Little guys don't stay here since we have no need for bulls since we have a Marlboro Man and a Nitrogen tank. He'll be sold to someone who most likely will raise him and ... well, you don't want to know do you?










I also don't want anyone to think we're cruel out here on the farm. As soon as I post this, I'm going to call our local Animal Psychiatric Clinic and schedule Mama an appointment to help her process her lack of bonding time; and the fact that she didn't get to nurse her first born baby boy, related to the fact that she wasn't allowed to make a choice whether to breast feed or bottle feed.










Then next week , Mama and I are going to fly to Washington DC to lobby in congress to change the farm laws of bovine dairy births. We want them to get to room-in for at least the first 48 hours after giving birth, and we want to do away with the mandatory adoption of baby boys! A Mama should have a choice! Just don't tell MM my plans okay??!!











Anyway, my kiddo's went to bed tonight talking about the fluffy little Cloud they saw take his first breath tonight, and they thanked Jesus for letting him be born. Tomorrow evening we'll go visit him and take pictures of him, as we go to feed animal crackers to the Goats!

A Cow Named Tammie

This brand new little girl didn't have a name until this morning. Now she does. Her name is Tammie. Marlboro Man calls her "#272." That is just so totally impersonal! I try to tell him that we woman are not just a number, but he didn't listen to me. He just rolled his eyes and shook his head at me, then ask if I was going to be hormonal today.

I named her Tammie because my virtual friend Tammie and the Hellions said, "I love cow's. Is that weird? OK, maybe it is weird, but I swear they are so adorable and sweet looking that I just want to run up and hug their sweet little necks. I am HIGHLY doubting that in suburban California I am going to ever have my chance to touch a cow, let alone hug it."

For a moment, I thought about mailing this one to her because we have way too many cows. Only thing is, when Tammie Jr. grows up ... Tammie and the Hellion's entire neighborhood won't be too happy.

I think I need to tell Tammie that Cows get really nervous in the city ... and they tend to raise their tail a lot and poop! Trust me, Cow poop is not like kid poop. I know Tammie and the Hellions does her share of poop, because she has triplets too (go check out her cutie's) ... but it's not Cow poop! She might not think this little baby cow is so adorable if she saw how often it poops.
Meg loves the baby calf's. She could play with them all day if we'd let her. It would probably upset her if we mailed her new baby to suburban California ... so we'd better keep her here on the farm and just invite Tammie and the Hellions to visit us here in Indiana this summer. The calf barn is Meg's favorite place. That and playing in the hay!

I have to tell you ... I quit following her around with a bottle of hand sanitizer! I finally figured it out that country kids need germs to grow, and besides that ... my sweet Mother-in-Law didn't have hand sanitizer in her day, and everyone grew up just fine. So these days, we'll just wash the cow poop off at the end of the day! I kid. I kid. Maybe a little more often than that! Maybe. Cute country kid, huh?

Be Blessed Everyone.

Kids and Cows

Yesterday evening, we did the nightly "walk down the road" thing. It's a ritual, and we religiously do it every evening once Spring comes. It's also called "entertainment to keep the kids occupied" until help arrives. I'm very smart like that ... knowing when to choose my battles with these kids. Ha~

See that concrete long thing in the background? I don't know what it's called, but I certainly know what to do with it. I pour "cow food" in it so the cow's come up close and eat the stuff. I guess I shouldn't call it stuff ... for it's not. It's highly nutritious. I know that, because we pay a Cow Dietitian a small fortune to tell us exactly what to, and how much, to feed each cow that ground up stuff in the bucket. All I know is that it brings the cows up to the fence and the kiddo's are very entertained. Tell me that's not using my noodle! ... and who says you have to be farm raised to know how to feed a cow?

Our Cows are kind of like my kids. They're on a tight schedule. My brother-in-law, Marlboro Man 2 (MM's identical twin brother) feeds these ladies like clock-work. Right on time twice a day, because the Cow Dietitian says too.

Then I come along and feed them twice a day. Once as we start walking down the road ... and once when we come back up the road. Sometimes I feel sorry for them and feed them even more. They follow along in the pasture as we walk, and the kids love them. Now these Cows are our pets, and we have them trained well. They wait for us every day at the fence as we pull in, .... just waiting to be fed again, and again, and again.

Especially this gal. She's pregnant and I like to think that I'm contributing to her overall good health ... so I feed her quite a bit more. Just the other day while she was standing there eating, she ask me how it felt to have triplets. I had to tell her the truth, so I told her I felt like a Cow towards the end. Let me tell you, she took it pretty personal and got really mad at me. Now she's not speaking to me. What nerve that hormonal heifer has!

MM and MM2 would be livid if they knew that the cows in the barn by our house get fed about five times a day. They'll never figure out where all the feed is going, because they don't think I have it in me to know what that long concrete thing is .... so I'm never telling.
My help arrived and took the kids on down the road. Same road. Same rocks. Same water puddle in the field. Everyday they play, "throw rocks in the water" ... and everyday it's as if it's a brand new game. It truly is great to live out here and have built in entertainment surrounding us right outside our door.

This should be getting filled up with rocks pretty soon. We've been throwing rocks in here for the past two years ...

I did forget to introduce you to this expecting young woman. Her name is Martha. I named her that because she has "Martha Davis Eyes" and she really does love me ... even if she's mad at me for the moment. She's a beggar, and she knows that if she poses for pictures, I'll feed her. She's smart like that.
Well, we'll see you on the next walk! It's time to hit the water hole again on the walk back up the road. It's a must ... Martha is waiting!

Be Blessed Everyone.

Moo!

Yesterday evening we went over to one of the barns where the new babies are kept. There are nine brand new babies right now including a set of twins that was born two days ago. The calf's were very frisky and were bucking and jumping and running back and forth in the pens. .... they also were licking the kids hands. My kiddo's were loving it! Of course it helped that the calf's liked the sticky sucker hands that the trio of terror had all over them! I used to freak out if they got dirty ... now it's just, "ahhhh kids, it's only a little cow poop ... just wipe it on your shirt!" Sam doesn't have a problem wiping cow poop on his shirt, or anyone Else's shirt either! Sam also doesn't have a problem picking the dried flakes of cow poop off of Marlboro Man's shirt either! I believe that boy is going to be a farmer!

It doesn't pay to be born a boy (cow) on this farm. All little boys (except Whitey ... and he's going to be steak in a couple of years) are sold. Talk about discrimination! If you don't give milk .... you're a goner! If you don't have big boobs .... you're a goner! If you're not super mama cow and don't have not only one teat, but four giant milk giving teats ..... then you're a goner! ... And if you're born a boy (cow) on this farm and are lucky enough to stay, you're definitely going to get your nuts cut! OUCH!

Makes me thank God everyday I was born a girl!

Be Blessed,
Tan

COW LESSON: Did you know when a set of twin calfs are born, and one is male and the other is female, the female calf is sterile. They are callled Free Martins. In this case, on our farm, the heifer calf is sold along with the bull calf when they are a few days old.

This is "Whitey"

"Whitey" the cow!

This is Whitey Siekman .... he was born two days ago. Me and the kids just happened to stop by the barn about 15 minutes after he was born. I think he is so cute and being the city girl turned country girl that I am ..... I am attached! We just had to keep him. It took a lot of begging and when that didn't work ... I simply pulled rank! I'm the farm wife you know! The Mother to Marlboro's Mans children, the woman that he married and brought from the city to the country. I pulled rank! We get to keep him and Whitey is staying on the farm.

Being dairy farmers, we don't keep Angus bull calf's. They are sold at three days old. If this little guy was born a Holstein heifer, she'd be a queen some day, but he was born a boy and boys aren't good on this farm! Nope! They're quietly shipped out like they never existed. So here I am thinking I saved this little guys life and he's going to be a great little pet for the kids. I have visions of them riding him ... nuzzling up to him and walking him on a rope. I believe that he'll know his name one day and that he'll come running when he sees me or the kids. We'll be out there yelling, "WHITEY" and this humongous 1,500 pound black bull will come running! We'll have no fear because we've raised Whitey since he was a baby. He'll be gentle because he's our pet cow and Jay named him!

Marlboro Man, being the realist that he is thinks I'm nuts! Whitey is only staying because I pulled rank and because he will make good steaks one day! That's two years down the road and right now Whitey is a cute little baby and I love him!

Be Blessed,

Tan

McFarmers!

We went to see Daddy,Uncle Don and the Cows this evening. It was so much fun! We visited Cows, a new baby kitty and a new baby calf. They watched their Daddy and followed their Uncle Don all over the place. Uncle Don on the left and Daddy on the right are identical twins.... kind of funny to see them with the triplets. They were all talking about the cows!
Jay is ready to move on to see something else interesting!
Megan looks like she's listening to what her Daddy is saying.. but really she was yelling for Jay!

Be Blessed,

Tan

Cows!

I love these cows! Everyday when I pick the critter's up from daycare we come home through the country to see the "girls." We stop in the middle of the road and they all run up and stop at the fence .... They all line up and look at us. We're not more than 10 feet away from these "beautiful young ladies." They're heifers! Young ... and never been bred. They play and run and frolic, and the kids love to watch them run back and forth to the fence.

We talk to the cows when they're all lined up and have our attention. Sam says, "Cows", "Cows", Cows!" .... Meg yells at the cows ..... just one long, "COWWWSSSSSSSS!" at the top of her lungs, and Jay is screaming, "COOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWSSSSSSSSSSSSS" the very loudest! They love these cows too! ... and trust me, if I go the wrong way out of the driveway and don't turn towards the barn and the cows, I get all three of them screaming and crying, "MY COOOOWWWWWWSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

I have learned that I always turn right instead of left when I leave the driveway if I don't want my three backseat drivers yelling at me!!

Be Blessed,
Tan