If Kevin wouldn’t have caught them when he did, they probably would have froze to death. Being a farmer is sometimes a 24/7 job! Kevin got about an hour of sleep last because of these two calves and then he had to pull another one this morning at 5:30. When a cow is having problems giving birth to their calf by themselves, sometimes they need a little (or a lot) of assistance. We usually try to get the cow penned up so we can wrap straps around the front hooves of the calf. Then Kevin will pull the calf out of the momma cow. Sometimes if the calf is larger, we have to get the crank out which gradually pulls the calf out. Both of these ways of pulling a calf would be similar to when a doctor would use forceps to help deliver a baby.
Kevin just went out and check on the cows and none of them look like they are going to have a calf tonight. Things he looks for is if a cow is off by herself, if she’s holding her tail away from her behind, if her water has broke or if he can see hooves sticking out. Since none of this was going on just now, hopefully tonight will go a lot smoother so he can get a little shut eye!
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