Abby Delivers a Calf

Today was a cold, raw, rainy day. I let the horse out around 9:30 this morning, but I put her back in the barn just after noon because it was raining so hard. When I was putting her back in the barn, the big, black and white cow escaped into Horse's paddock. No matter how hard I tried, it still took me twenty minutes to chase an enormous pregnant cow back into the cow pasture! It is amazing how fast a very pregnant cow can run. It was a very long twenty minutes. I was nearly knee-deep in cow poop and mud, trying to push open the gate to force the cow back into the right pasture.

Once Abby came home from school, around quarter to four, it was no longer raining, and Horse was neighing for company. Abby decided to go talk to Horse. While she was outside, she noticed the big tan Jersey cow lying in the field by herself, mooing. Abby surmised the cow was in labor, and ran inside to call Contessa. Contessa told us she was on her way, and the cow should be fine as long as we could see two legs coming out. Abby went back to the cow just as she was calving. She was happy to see that there were two legs coming out. Abby went over and helped ease the calf out of its mother. As soon as the calf was nearly out, the cow suddenly stood up and the calf landed on the grass. Soon Contessa showed up with Mark and Terry to take the calf home to Contessa's barn. The mother cow had nearly finished cleaning the baby off, and all the other cows were gathered around us. Contessa got the calf on its feet and announced it was a bull.

Soon it was getting pretty dark, and Contessa was concerned about coyotes in the woods. Quite a few farmers have lost newborn calves to coyotes in the area. Contessa made short work of carrying the calf to the truck. Mark sat in the truck bed and held the calf while Terry drove. Contessa walked behind the truck leading the mother cow, and since it was by now completely dark, I followed along behind Contessa with my flashers on as she and the cow walked alongside the shoulder of the road.

Traffic on most all roads in PEI is sparse but very fast; most people drive along at 50-60 miles an hour. None of the country roads have sidewalks, and most are lined by ditches, which makes it pretty similar to trying to walk along a highway back home. Country roads are only good for walking if you are nimble enough to jump out of the way when a car blasts past you. Walking a cow along the road on a rainy night at near-freezing temperatures can be pretty dangerous, but there was no other choice. I am happy to say that Terry, Mark, Contessa, the cow and her calf are all well, dry and safe. There will be more calves soon. Maybe next time I can get some photos.