Cutest Calf Ever

After what felt like a long weekend pacing the field, watching Agnes‘s backside for labor, waking up at all hours of the night to check on our heifer, she very kindly started calving early in the morning.  Of course the wind was blowing, but the sun was up and Our Friend the Farmer (who was my ‘help we the calf is stuck’ go-to-person) was conveniently baling alfalfa in the field next door.  My Loving Spouse went off to work leaving all three of us ‘city people’ behind as ‘cow mid-wives’.

Number Two Son, My Girl and I were able to view our heifer up close with her labor, but stayed far enough away to keep Agnes ‘comfortable’.  (Oxymoron… labor & comfortable…none of these go in the same sentence!)  My Girl was photographer all the while muttering, “Oh my blank-blank, this is the best birth control ever!”  Number Two and I were concentrating on the hoofs that were coming out, relieved to see two and both presented in the way Mother Nature intended.  My Loving Spouse was texting for updates and I lost count of the number of phone calls to Our Friend the Farmer, but I was concerned at how long it was taking.  He assured me that Heifers just take more time and to be patient.  With this assurance that it would still be awhile, I ran inside to use the bathroom, Mother Nature did a little giggle, and our calf was born.

My greatest concern at this point was that Agnes, would be stunned (duh!) and going ‘Holy Hannah what just happened‘ and not clean the baby’s nose.  Agnes, now upgraded to Mama Cow, was doing exactly that, while the baby was blinking in the sunlight.  The city midwife crew and I calmly walked toward our calf, as we drew near Mama got on her feet and began doing a proper job of licking up our little calf.   We got to stand about 8 feet away as both Agnes and Elsie joined in to care for the little one, watching as the little calf struggled to its feet.

Watching a birth is exhilarating… successfully adding a new little calf to our herd was beyond exciting, sharing it with my kids was very special, and sharing it at work with anyone who’d listen was just plain fun.  Our Friend the Farmer says we now will have to change our name to Glory Ranch as we are officially raising livestock.

B14 is the cutest calf in Kittitas valley!  It is a boy, a bull calf.  Number Two Son was trying to talk me into naming him Angus or Roberto…so I guess his full name can be Angus Roberto Walton, but you can just call him Bob.