Done In

 I regret my offer to go out everyday and help Robert...God help me I do...call me lazy, call me lazy and fat... I don't care...I  just can't do that kind of work anymore...let's see, yesterday I got up at 7 am...put Roberts coffee on and went to walk on the treadmill... 30 minutes and two miles later...I was making breakfast...as soon as we ate breakfast we headed outside...tagged a few calves, bedded the calving pen, that's spreading two 1500 lb bales of straw with a pitch fork to cover a 70x 80 ft. area...then Robert rolled out a bale of greenfeed down the hill and we let the cows out to eat.. then he started up the CAT and went to push snow..to make another pen ready for the cows and calves that we need to turn out into bigger pens..while I spent the afternoon walking up and down the hill checking for cows that might start calving...their instinct is to go to the farthest corner of the field and hide in the willows to have their babies...can't blame them since it's only natural to them but we want to catch them before they have the water bag..or we can't get them to move closer to the barn.. So while Robert was clearing snow...I had two heifers calf and an older cow had a set of twins...all alive and I had to haul them all into the barn in the calf sled.  Hard work for a cripple.By the time I was done, my ankle was on fire and my back was killing me and I had a splitting headache from being out in the bright sun...it was a gorgeous day, I must admit..sunny, light breeze and +3... so that was all day...luckily I had taken and a banana and orange out to the barn ...but I never got to go back to the house until 7 pm...and then when I did...I had to crawl over the enormous bank of snow that had slid off the house roof (yes it has tin on it too) and landed on our deck, where the key to house was left...turns out it was completely buried by heavy wet packed snow...I had to dig with my hands to free my shovel from the snow and then shoveled all the snow off the deck back to the door...snow was even piled up against the door... now, shoveling snow is not so bad but the damned banks are 6 ft tall now so you have to lift and throw the snow a long ways...I was wasted by the time I finished...and I hobbled into the house and had to make supper...thank god for leftovers is all I can say..

Robert insisted I take muscles relaxers last night before he went out the barn...so I did, (I always do what I'm told, I'm such a good little girl) and by the time I brushed my teeth, got my jammies on and carefully crawled into bed (my back kept spasming) I was done... I picked up my book, put my glasses on and fell asleep...I woke up at 4 am to my bedside spot light shining in my face...my skin was actually hot from the light being on so long. That's never happened before...my glasses were bent...and book, well, let's just say it will never be the same again...

I wasn't up quite as early this morning as I was yesterday...or a spry...no treadmill for me today...I figured it would pushing my luck...robert came in for breakfast, he was watching the State of the Union address by Obama when I went outside to check cows...and followed me up to the barn after about an hour...we tagged another 5 calves from the day before and re-bedded the calving pen...(everyday chore) fed more hay, I spread some straw in the pen where the cows go after they calf, that's an important pen to keep dry so that the cows udders don't get shitty. If they do, then the babies could get sick or just not suck the dirty teats...so now that there is a number of cows in that pen it will need to be bedded everyday as well. Because unlike hogs, cows will shit anywhere...they will be laying in the nice clean straw...stand up, crap and then lay back down....while pigs will shit in a far corner, away from their bed and food...not so cows...  Two more heifers calved today and another couple of older cows...so we started on the 20th and  30 cows have calved already...not bad..

When a heifer calves...Oh God, it is the most frustrating thing.... first they start off by not feeling right...you know maybe the pains are starting and they feel wierd...some of them get this expression on their faces, like they wanna cry...some will kick their belly, there's usually a lot of pacing and walking the fence...rubbing their butt against the fence.. laying down, getting up...turning around...laying back down...some will stamp their feet and bully the other cows...they don't understand what's happening to them...when things progress...and they start pushing to have the water bag...it is comical...they'll bellow and groan...thrash their heads around on the bedding..kick in the air and put on quite the show...and when the water bag finally comes out...they think it's over...they get up start mooing and sucking up the jelly like fluid...now they are pretty much married to that particular spot...since that's where the water broke...it has their scent and that is nearly always where they will have their calf...then the contractions start coming stronger and closer together and the calf has to spread the cervix and pelvis the rest of the way open (the water bag spreads them most of the way) funny though, some of them will be quiet as church mice...and not make a sound and the next one will bellow and rant like she's birthing a steam engine...  Patience is the key...to wait...while she goes through all this...takes lots of patience... Robert would like to slap the chains on the feet and drag the calf out..but that doesn't help the heifer...she needs to learn how to push and prepare herself for the process...if you help them it makes them lazy...then as cows they are pussies, and as cows they will have much larger calves than they do as heifers, by natural choice and our bull selection.   So it's best to wait and watch...so Robert will leave them and go and do other things and that's where he runs into problems, if the calf sooner than expected and it's head is folder under the body or the emrionic sac is still on it's head...it will suffocate...heifers don't always get up as quick as they should to lick the calf ...they feel sorry for themselves... I wait and watch...take a book ...I time them....so much time to get to this stage, so much time to get to that stage...and if after a couple of hours nothing is changing then we walk them into the barn and have a look see what's going on... So yah, heifers are a pain in the butt...then you get the ones that once she has the darned thing she wants to kill it.... it's only hormones and shock from the pain...but we have had to remove the calf from her pen until they calm down...it can take hours...but they will bunt them and slam them into the wall..especially when the calf moves...which it wants to do right away...intinctually...to get that first suck...had one of those yesterday...

Well I wanted to write more about calving but Robert has just buzzed me that he's coming down to the house for supper, so I have to go...a man may work from dusk til dawn but a womans work is never done...