Babies, Babies, Babies!

We have had no lack for activity on the farm this month!

Last Sunday morning we went to the pasture to bring the cows in for milking. The dogs quickly went to work attempting to bring them out of the field (which is not an easy task with all the mamas and babies who prefer to lollygag or fight off the dogs who dare to make them move).

One cow was laying near the back and the dogs got her up and she started moving along with her tail up. I wondered if she was just going to the bathroom or having a calf. As she got closer, sure enough Savvy had two feet sticking out. And I had no way of knowing how long she'd been trying, or whether the calf was still alive.

Over 1/4 mile from the barn, we had a long, slow walk ahead of us (because getting cows and calves to move down the lane is no quicker than getting them out of the field...sometimes less so!). Silas and Ruthie try to move them along more quickly but as the saying goes, it's kinda like pushing a wet noodle uphill!

I called dad who had stayed back to get milkers ready to let him know about Savvy in case he could get her into the barn before Doug and I made it back with all the stragglers.

He did, and once we got the cows and calves all finally shut into the holding pen, I grabbed the chains and headed to check on Savvy. She was lying down, and surprisingly she allowed me to crawl up behind her and get the chains attached to the feet (we could see a tongue, so we were relieved to see it was coming correctly at least). And while I was attaching the chains, its tongue moved, so I knew it was still alive at that point. It was a big calf though, especially for a first-calf heifer.

Doug and I both pulled as she pushed, and little by little she progressed. It was not an easy delivery even with both of us pulling to help, but eventually we did get him out and got him breathing ok. Mama started gingerly licking him off and we left them to get acquainted while we milked the rest of the cows. The next day they rejoined the rest of the herd in the pasture.

So that made 32 calves born in 19 days. Fifteen of those were born in 5 days last week. There are a few more that should calve this week, and then the rest of them will be scattered throughout May. Sixteen more to go!

Sunday at lunch I checked phone messages and found our neighbor had been flying his drone that morning and sent me several photos of the cows as they were grazing. He had some great shots! Below you can see where they have already grazed the area to the left. The cows are gathered in one strip of pasture we gave them for the morning, and the portion on the right is what they grazed that afternoon and overnight.

In another shot (below) farther to the left of the cows, it's easy to see the contrast of armored soil anchored by living roots surrounded by conventional crop land that hasn't had anything growing in it since late last summer or early fall. In the middle of our green pastures there is a section where we fed round hay bales for several weeks this winter. Zoom in and you'll see a bunch of circles! This is the decomposing hay residue, which will add a lot of moisture-holding capacity to the soil. We'll soon be drilling a forage/cover crop mix into this pasture so new plants cover the surface, roots work their soil-aggregating magic, and the cows have delicious plants to graze this summer. 

Indiana is one of the states in which it is not currently legal to sell raw dairy for human consumption, so ours has a pet food label on it. To see all the options Fido has to choose from, visit the Grass-fed Dairy page in the online store!