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Anxious wait as the cow goes into labour Anxious wait as the cow goes into labour
(4 months later)
I’ve been waiting weeks for the phone call: “There’s a cow calving right now and I can see its feet.” Grabbing my notebook and extra layers of clothing, I drive up the valley to High Studdon Farm. “We can watch from a loft above the pen”, says Nick Howard, indicating the ladder to a hayloft.I’ve been waiting weeks for the phone call: “There’s a cow calving right now and I can see its feet.” Grabbing my notebook and extra layers of clothing, I drive up the valley to High Studdon Farm. “We can watch from a loft above the pen”, says Nick Howard, indicating the ladder to a hayloft.
Sitting on a bale, I can look down into a barn thick with straw and a group of cows, some with new calves, others about to give birth. There’s the sweet medicinal smell of silage, and quiet rustlings mixed with the slurping sound of this morning’s calf suckling at a teat.Sitting on a bale, I can look down into a barn thick with straw and a group of cows, some with new calves, others about to give birth. There’s the sweet medicinal smell of silage, and quiet rustlings mixed with the slurping sound of this morning’s calf suckling at a teat.
The cow in labour is six years old, an Aberdeen Angus cross Friesian and this is her third calf. “They’re lovely mothers, attentive to their calves, and tend to be placid.” These are Nick’s first calves by his new bull: “He’s not a huge bull but he’s throwing big calves.” She moves restlessly, repeatedly heaving herself up before slumping down again. I watch a contraction surge across her back, a muscular ripple beneath her shining black coat, her eyes flaring as she pushes. Now and then she nuzzles and licks another’s calf, driven by the instinct to nurture. The one born just three hours ago gives a little gambol, a hop, skip and jump, playful already on tottering legs.The cow in labour is six years old, an Aberdeen Angus cross Friesian and this is her third calf. “They’re lovely mothers, attentive to their calves, and tend to be placid.” These are Nick’s first calves by his new bull: “He’s not a huge bull but he’s throwing big calves.” She moves restlessly, repeatedly heaving herself up before slumping down again. I watch a contraction surge across her back, a muscular ripple beneath her shining black coat, her eyes flaring as she pushes. Now and then she nuzzles and licks another’s calf, driven by the instinct to nurture. The one born just three hours ago gives a little gambol, a hop, skip and jump, playful already on tottering legs.
Related: ‘There is something magical about watching a newly born calf take its first steps'
We wait. Nick doesn’t like to intervene too early, but feels she now needs his help. He enters the pen holding two knotted ropes, feels around the calf’s emerging hooves before calmly attaching one above each fetlock. He pulls gently but firmly, moving with the cow as she shifts position whilst blowing through wet nostrils.We wait. Nick doesn’t like to intervene too early, but feels she now needs his help. He enters the pen holding two knotted ropes, feels around the calf’s emerging hooves before calmly attaching one above each fetlock. He pulls gently but firmly, moving with the cow as she shifts position whilst blowing through wet nostrils.
I sense gathering tension as Nick fetches the calving aid, a metal pole with two arms that he lays over her rump. Ropes attached to the aid, he ratchets and pulls in rhythm as she strains. The calf’s head appears, covered in opaque film, then in a rush his body flops onto the straw. “Come on, lad, breathe.” There’s a moment of fear, then “He’s breathing! He’s a beauty”, as the mother frenziedly licks her newborn.I sense gathering tension as Nick fetches the calving aid, a metal pole with two arms that he lays over her rump. Ropes attached to the aid, he ratchets and pulls in rhythm as she strains. The calf’s head appears, covered in opaque film, then in a rush his body flops onto the straw. “Come on, lad, breathe.” There’s a moment of fear, then “He’s breathing! He’s a beauty”, as the mother frenziedly licks her newborn.