A trying night....

Last night, My Farmer checked the cows after he got home from his other farming job. He noticed one of our cows in labor & things just seemed a bit off. He watched her, then left to let her labor for a bit. He went back about 15 minutes later & not much had changed. So we all went down as a family to check her again. My Farmer & I thought we had better walk her up to the corral to keep a closer eye on her. My Farmer started walking her from the back field up to our corral while the kids & I drove the 4 wheelers & opened gates for them. Two hours later, we got her in! What should have taken 15 minutes took us 2 hours! She decided she could do things on her own, so she ran thru hot wire, decided to go for a swim in one of our ponds, and would tease us by getting within feet of the corral gate, then turn & go the opposite way! We finally called the rest of the herd up & just ran them all thru. We just separated her out once she was up there. She felt more comfortable with her herd nearby. (She's one of our younger cows.) 😉 

My Farmer was able to check her and it looked as if the calf was really big, making her delivery difficult. So he decided that she would need help during her delivery. My Farmers dad stopped by & was able to help out! Actually, My Farmers dad has even more experience with farming & was able to jump right in! (It's so nice having family nearby!) they were able to get the calf delivered pretty quickly, but sadly. It didn't make it. It was a huge heifer calf & was so pretty. Sadly, the labor & delivery was just too much for it since it was so big. 

I am so glad that all 3 of our children were able to be there with us & witness the entire process. It's a hard lesson, but one that they took in stride. We've watched countless births from 4-wheelers, trucks, our yard and porch, but this one was different. This one was hands on. 

After checking the cow, we decided she would recover just fine. So we let her out of the corral and she walked to fresh grass, ate a bit, then moved right back in place with her herd.