Thursday, February 3, 2011

Tick...tock...tick...tock...

The clock keeps ticking away as we wait for Matilda to pop her calf.


She's been looking wider and bulgier in the last few days; doubtless the calf is moving into the right position.


I'm sure Matilda is anxious to get things over with too....

14 comments:

  1. Patrice -
    I got my money on a little bull calf late Monday afternoon :-)

    Will you keep the calf with her for a couple of days or do you take the calf right away?
    Here's to Good Luck and no pulling!

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  2. I'm quite excited about the whole thing, too! I LOVE all the barnyard babies!

    Thanks for keeping us posted.

    Mara :)

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  3. We'll keep the calf with the mama. We don't need to separate. When the calf is a couple weeks old I might start separate the calf only at night and milk just in the mornings, but I may not. I'll wait and see how Matilda's mastitis issue looks. Since she's prone to mastitis, I may leave the calf on her at all times to lower the severity.

    I don't anticipate any pulling because the sire, Gimli, is a Dexter and is therefore smaller than Matilda. The calf should be smaller than a purebred Jersey, so mama shouldn't have any problems.

    - Patrice

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  4. Poor Matilda. I remember what that feels like. :)

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  5. Perhaps this is a "False Pregnancy"? Now and then someone's hormones get mucked up and everything decides it's pregnant when it's not.

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  6. Poor Matilda...tell her it could be worse...could be August with stifling heat and humidity!
    Could it be twins? She is awfully big!
    I say a girl calf...after 9 pm on Monday!

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  7. Wow, that poor heifer looks miserable! I can tell she has ...
    Had Enuff

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  8. Her face is so sweet!

    Margaret
    CA

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  9. Sheesh. And I thought MY breasts were tender when I was pregnant.

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  10. Look at those big brown eyes. That resigned look on her face. The constant frustration of not knowing when (or even if) a calf will be forthcoming. I'm talking about Patrice!

    Anonymous Patriot
    USA

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  11. I think it will be born on Reagan's 100th Birthday on Superbowl Sunday and will be a boy called Reagan.
    K in OK

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  12. Well, it could be a girl called Nancy Reagan born on Reagan's 100 Birthday.
    K in OK
    P.S. We are still unable to get out of our Tulsa home after Historic Blizzard on Tues and now 6 inches on Friday! It was Minus 6 degrees this week..a record. That's 4 days of being snowed in and counting!
    We're preppers in a way, so we're fine.

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  13. Oh Matilda. After seeing that picture I will never again (maybe) complain about how I felt when I was pregnant low those many years ago. It hurts just looking at her.

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  14. LOL AP you never fail to make me laugh. Thank you.

    Patrice, I know I keep saying it but have you tried "Natural apple cider vinegar", the kind with the "Mother"? "Jack", and old fellow that my Dad used to work with told me one time how he bought a cow for next to nothing because she had mastitis. He took her home and mixed her grain with the apple cider vinegar and it cleared right up. He said that he gave it to her 2 or 3 times a day. It won't hurt her and his cow loved it. In fact, his only regret was that after he mixed the grain (or oats, not sure which) with the vinegar he put it into a wooden trough type container and she liked it so well that when she finished the grain, she licked the trough...and licked it...and licked it...and licked it some more until she pretty much ate the darn thing. Lesson learned, he told me.

    Since she is proned to mastitis you might start now, (if you wanted to try it) and get a head start on it. According to Jack it wont affect the milk at all.

    I wonder how "little" Pearly is going to feel about a new baby; :) Isn't she due on Sunday the 6th? She is just going to wait for you to go to church again and then try to slip down the driveway, since you foiled her plan last time to have her calf clear down in the ravine. You aren't expecting any UPS packages are you. Wasn't it the UPS driver that left the gate open last time?

    Well good luck and keep us posted. Have a great weekend.
    Dawn

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