months of age; I entered ‘Showboy’ for the
second year as he is only 26 months old, he
will enjoy the day out. I also entered ‘Junior’
another Charolais cross in the calf class.
‘Harper’, Harriet’s show heifer was due her
first calf and just before midnight on the first
Tuesday of June, Chris woke Harriet and me
to say Harper had started and the water bag
was out. After monitoring her for an hour or
so, I was becoming anxious, having already
checked the calf was in the correct position,
the feet were extremely big and nothing
moving, a worrying sign, so time to
intervene. Having attached the calving ropes
on the calving jack and using plenty of
lubrication, after some effort the head was
out but the calf became stuck at the hips.
Having seen hundreds of calves born and
assisted in many, you know when things are
wrong and despite all our efforts the
extremely large bull calf with overly
developed hips did not survive the birth. To
say
we
were
devastated
is
an
understatement; making sure ‘Harper’ was
stable we all walked home in daylight, totally
exhausted in disbelief.
The priority now was ‘Harper’ she was in a
bad way with severe nerve damage and
tearing on her outer wall. My vet, Gordon,
arrived and stitched the tear, “The least of
her problems” he voiced. Anti-inflammatory
antibiotics given, it was now a matter of time
and her will to survive. The next twenty-four
hours were extremely difficult as ‘Harper’
was in shock and kept trying to stand, but
having had an epidural, she repeatedly
became cast (stuck on her side) and several
times blown with internal gasses, her
internal organs then in danger of becoming
crushed, constant surveillance required . A
Huge thank you to neighbor Sean (a first for
him) and friend Tony for their help
repositioning her throughout that day.
Over the following week ‘Harper’ was
relaxed and luckily had not lost her
enormous appetite which is always a good
sign. ‘Heidi’, the new Charolais and a
surrogate calf joined her in the paddock for
company. Surrogate calves are not always
accepted but they can stimulate the cow.
‘Harper’ had little movement in one leg, with
some in the other but within 10 days was
pulling both legs up to stop the calf suckling.
The inflammation finally was subsiding and
the nerves repairing but still a way to go.
Vet, Gordon made another visit during week
two to further treat the tear, still “The least of
her problems”, have faith, Gordon. We had
a couple of cows down with similar problems
some years ago, both made a full recovery
and stood after three weeks, not time to give
up yet. She was looking and eating well, all
her needs catered for so no animal welfare
issues.
The Sunday of the third week, ‘Harper’ was
making efforts to stand and a wonderful
surprise on the Monday morning to find her
up and walking about, although very
gingerly. Now making a full recovery, she
has adopted the calf and hopefully in time
will ha ٔ