Ranch Life is not all glamour!
****Turn back now if you find birth gruesome.****
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Pads pointing down are a good sign.
Pads pointing up means the calf is breech and you are going to need chains and pullers.
These pads are pointing up.
ALL HANDS ON DECK!
Breech births have a low survival rate for both mother and calf.
You need to place a half-hitch above the hocks on each hind leg with your chain.
The poll strapped over her tail is a puller. It has a hand-cranked wench on the other end that the chains hook into.
Once the calf is out, you need to clear his lungs. A breech birth will push the amniotic fluid into the calf's lungs.
If it is not removed the calf will drown.
Now, just stand back and let mamma do the rest.
As well that ends well.
Growing up on a farm, I saw this many times- so when I watched Yellowstone and the cow dropped a calf and it jumped up immediately and bounded off- I raised my brows a bit. ;) Great content for our western writer friends.
ReplyDeletethank you
DeleteLike Sherri, I saw it growing up, and now I've become addicted to watching Dr. Pol on TV, so...
ReplyDeleteYes, farm kid here, too. Even better than birthing is when the cow out in the pasture wants to chase you when you go to gather her and the newborn calf and take them to the barn. Some mothers are very protective.
ReplyDeleteI had one jump on the feed wagon when we put the calf on to take him to the barn.
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