Learning All The Things

When I began this cow ownership thing, I came in a total novice.  I had never even been very close to cattle at all, save the few times I was hanging out with my Uncle while he was working his cows.

So, to say that I know nothing is pretty much perfect truth.  When we brought Winnie home, I knew all I could know from reading a book and watching YouTube videos of other people with cows.  That, my friends, is not very much knowledge.  But you gotta start somewhere, right???

The first thing I learned is that cows, even a smaller breed like a Jersey, are big animals.  And they are not really into you forcing them to do what they don’t want to do…..such as, let’s say, loading up into a trailer when they have never been loaded before.  Yeah, that was mine and Winnie’s first fight.  I am pretty sure it was a tie because, even though we got her loaded, she proceeded to attempt an escape through the closed back door.  That was an experience that has scarred me for life.

Then I learned that cows slurp water.  I didn’t know they did that!!  See……doesn’t that just seem like something you ought to know before getting so deep into this cow thing!?!?!?!?

And cows don’t have top teeth.  Did you know that ????  Because, Im gonna be frankly honest here, I didn’t know that until about two months ago.  Like, 6 months into being around her all the time, I didn’t know she only had bottom teeth.

So, I’m thinking that to say that I know absolutely nothing about the calving process is pretty obvious at this point in the story.

Now, when we brought Winnie home, we were told that she should be calving at the end of February or beginning of March.  Great.  That’s plenty of time to get all the stuff done that we need to do to be ready for another cow on the farm (a baby cow!!!!! how exciting is that!?!?).  And it will give us plenty of time to become best friends―which is my plan for being able to milk her, despite the fact that neither one of us have ever done it before.

Plenty of time!!

Then, in mid December, she started bagging up.  And having other signs that I won’t really go into right now because, chances are, you probably don’t really want to know the up close and personal side of mama-cow ownership.  Anyway, just trust me when I say that she was showing signs of impending labor and delivery.

Or so I thought.

That was three weeks ago.  THREE WEEKS.  TWENTY-ONE DAYS.  ALMOST A MONTH.

And, because, as we have already established, I am a total novice, know-nothing, I have been obsessively watching the back end of that cow every three hours or so for THREE.  SOLID.  WEEKS.

I have seen every single picture google has to offer on the subject.

I have taken approximately 374 pictures of Winnie’s rear view, and obsessively compared each one to previous days’ pictures to see if there was any change at all in the ligament location.

So far, I have become really good at being really bad at reading cow labor signs.  Because every few days she looks like “Today’s the day!” to me.  But, obviously I have been very wrong.  A lot of times.

So, for now, I will just continue to watch and wait and hope.  And make midnight treks to the barn and back.  And google.  And snap pictures.

Because the most exciting part of this whole experience is going to be watching that little calf take its first breath.  And I do NOT want to miss that wonderfully exciting moment.  

​I’ll keep you posted!!

Lori