Baby!!!

Mingo had her calf today, March 30. We had been waiting, each night proclaiming that the time was at hand. Finally she went into labor and produced the baby in less than an hour. I thought that she was due the end of February but I was only off by a month! Ironic then, that I won the baby pool within 5 minutes. I guessed March 30 at 5:00 p.m. and Mingo's calf was born at 4:55. The baby is a beautiful chocolate brown. Mother and baby are in the barn in a roomy box stall. I called Darrel, the former owner for some pointers of dealing with a new mom. It is nice that this time she will be able to keep her calf at her side. We will try letting the calf drink and milking her too. Right now her udder is so big, it might have milk for the whole town. Milk fever is something you have to watch in new bovine mothers and sheep too. When too much calcium goes into their milk production, the muscles don't have enough and they can get stiff to the point of not being able to move. You can avoid this by not stimulating milk production with rich food and not milking her out all the way. I will try this and keep a close eye on her.