The miracle of life is beautiful

And slimy.

In the last five days we’ve had three calves born on our farm. We’re only waiting for one more, and that should be any day now.

Lucky for us, none of the births have been eventful, and everything has gone smoothly.

One of the calves was born backwards, but he still came out fine and did well after he was born. (He’s about an hour old in this photo.)

Cows are curious animals, and they always come to check out the new additions. On the left is one of the yearling heifers. This little bull’s older brother hung around for a long time (on the right). I guess he was excited to have another brother to play with!

Even the big boss cow came to check things out. She gave the new bull her stamp of approval and moved on.

Finally, he managed to get his legs underneath him (with a little help from yours truly), and figured out how to nurse. Good baby!

He took a little longer to stand and nurse than I would have liked (about 2 hours), but he looked great later that night. Part of his sluggishness is probably because he was born backwards and labor took a little longer than normal, and part of it is because he is a bull calf. And bulls are just lazier than heifers.

We had a heifer born 3 days later, and I managed to get to the farm in time to catch the whole thing on video! I know you’re super-excited about this…

This was the most perfectly normal calving you could hope for… Hubby Doc found her in the pasture starting labor around 6:20pm. He called me, and I jumped in my truck and headed out to the farm. By the time I got there (15 minutes), her feet were showing! Thirty minutes later, there was a baby on the ground!

This kiddo came out normally. Calves should be born in the “superman position” – with both front legs straight out and the head facing forwards.

This little heifer had a lot of spunk. Within 30 minutes of being born she was standing and nursing already. A big difference from the bull a few days earlier!

Now six of our seven registered Angus cows have had their babies… one left to go!

Psst… Are you my brother?