Isabel started walking the fence line around 1pm and by 3 her bag was dripping milk and by 3:30 we had a nice little heifer calf on the ground!! This is the only picture I'm going to post of the process of birth :) Those are the calves feet :) Isabel had been laying the other way but turned around just before giving birth and we got to watch, and I taped :), the whole thing! Maggie was a royal pest during the delivery and we ended up, again, having to take the calf away from BOTH cows so Maggie couldn't steal it. Maggie stole the last calf that was born on the place and he didn't get that first critical colostrum and he's rather stupid to this day! Thankfully he's a steer and will soon be freezerised :) So because this is a heifer and we are planning on raising her to be a family cow we really wanted her to get the best possible start, and not be stupid! After a few tries getting her to nurse off Isabel we gave up and milked Isabel and fed the calf with a bottle.. we decided that was the best idea as we've also had problems getting the calves to STOP nursing.. so MAYBE if she's never nursed off the cow.. MAYBE we won't have the thief problem later in life??? We can hope anyway!
Right after the birth :) Papa was keeping Maggie off so Isabel could, we hoped, lay down and have the rest of the calf.. she 'hung out' for a while half out while Isabel looked for her and Maggie licked her!! As soon as Maggie was gone Isabel pushed the calf the rest of the way out and started licking.
Both of them getting their licks in :) Papa moved her on to the hay instead of the snowy spot she was born in.
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All four of the older kids and I got to see the birth.. Papa decided to let me watch the birth and he watched J3 and Baby G. Thanks Babe!! The cows had no problems with the kids this close as long as they were quiet.
Here she is in her little pen :) Wind proof with a heat lamp to help keep her warm. It has defiant advantages, it's right outside the front door and the kids can visit anytime :)
This was last night before we set up the heat lamp.. yes.. J3 is in his PJ's :)
I believe the heifers name will be Star. I need to get a picture of why yet and you'll hear about it when I do :) Because we plan on keeping her she gets a new letter, not I or M, for the first letter of her name instead of an I name so we can name her offspring after her to keep the offspring lines straight. For example if she'd been a bull we would have butchered him in about 2 years and so he would have had an 'I' name so we'd remember who's calf he was.
