Another Day on the Farm......

Warning! this may not be for those with weak stomachs.

Yesterday I saw something I haven't seen in awhile...... We had a heifer (young cow having her first calf) cow that was having problems having her calf and so after getting her in the barn Dad and Shane tried to pull the calf but it still just wasn't coming so they gave the Vet a call. The Vet (I'm trying not to be too graphic here for those with a weak stomach, just use your imagination on how they do this - it's not just fingers - it the whole hand and arm that goes in) could feel that the calf's head was twisted way back and to the side, also, by now he could tell that the calf was not alive anymore. The doc gave her an epidural to ease the cow a little (even cows get tired of labor pains). After much work trying various things to get the calf's head to the position it should be, a second Vet, with much more experience (whom we would've preferred in the first place) was called in. He tried for a while as well and decided the only next option was a C-section. Now, for those of you ladies that have had one of these, it really is quite similar except they make the incision on the cows side rather than underneath on their tummy. Could you really imagine a cow laying on her back with her feet sticking up in the air? Not going to happen! They shaved the hair on the cows side in the area about the size of a basketball, and gave her a good wash with soap and water (they try to make it as sterile as possible - even for a cow). He numbed her up in that area and then the doc begins with the knife and cuts about a 6 - 8 inch incision. That's all the farther I'll take you on that - it really is the same as surgery on a person. I'd hate to gross you out with the finer details, if I haven't already, but it was simply amazing.

Through all of this the heifer just layed their, wide awake, calm as could be. After they pulled the calf out the Doc dumped an entire bottle (about a quart) of antibiotics into the incision area (don't want a chance of infection). When the Doc was all done stitching her back up (which was about three different layers to stitch), we untied her and she stood up just as perfect as could be (well, she did look a little worn out).

We decided that since her calf was dead that we would put a different calf with her (one that had belonged to a cow that had to be sold the other day). Cows go by the scent of their calf and so to get the heifer to take this other calf we had to make it smell like her calf. Well, the easiest way to do that is to take the "afterbirth" from the dead calf and smear all over the new calf (gross and disgusting -I know - I had to hold down the calf while Shane smeared - EWWWWW). Anyways, it worked like a charm. We put the new "smelly" calf in the pen with the cow and almost 2 minutes later the calf was drinking from it's new mama. YAY! It doesn't always work that smoothly - many times a cow just won't take a different calf.

I've seen C-sections performed on cattle before - but it truly is amazing each time. I guess if you made it through all of that without losing your breakfast or your coffee - you're doing pretty good. I had honestly thought about taking some pictures for you to see, but thought some of you "city" gals just might not appreciate it so much. So, no visuals. I hope I didn't get too detailed for you, but I thought some of you would find it pretty interesting. If not, and you're totally grossed out - Sorry!