Well, not a total surprise but the timing was. We thought all the four cows were due early May so I was astonished when Bonnie produced this bull calf yesterday. After brain racking, consultation of the movement book and medicine record, we know it's Storm's calf, concieved while the four cows (three of whom were in calf) were running with him from 15th March to 4th May last year. We had Bonnie jagged on 19th May since we didn't want her to calve in February
- the jag is 98-99% effective if done between 10 and 100 days of pregnancy - so our wee calf in one in a hundred
TBH, I thought she was aborting - I jagged them with Bravoxin on Saturday (more stressful for me than them) but I put two and two together... when I saw her with mucus coming from her back end. Phoned the vet in a panic. Then noticed the wee legs behind her - and there was the "abortion" sookin' for Scotland
Had to phone the vet back and explain. To be fair, he didn't laugh (much).
So Bonnie and calf have been moved to the byre where they seem fine; he was skipping about this morning, she's cleansed and he's feeding fine.
I'd dead chuffed with him - any healthy calf is great but I think he's a bonus because I thought it was all going horribly wrong.
Topic: Surprise calf (Read 2892 times)
