My assignment, which I chose to accept, was to capture a live birth on film. I was determined to catch a live, unassisted birth to share with all my non-farming readers.
When I checked in on the maternity ward there was one mama just starting to get down to business. So, I pulled up a pail, grabbed my book and was ready to wait. And, wait I did. After sitting on the pail for a few hours I did get some footage of a calf being born, but mama had a few issues and needed help in delivering her calf.
I was determined. There was another cow that was in labor and was expected to deliver in a couple of hours after the first one. So, I went home, got a little work done, came back and sat again. This calf took its own sweet time, also. Mama would push a little and make progress and then things would stay pretty much the same. Then she would push a little more and more of the calf would be exposed. It was obvious I wasn't going to get a nice start to finish video that wouldn't last so long you'd need a bag of popcorn to go with it. Which by the way would be pretty gross if I say so myself.
Finally, she made it. I got it on film. I put the camera down shortly afterwards to make sure the calf was breathing and all was good. This was a little boy (bull). Just what we don't want. We want girls (heifer) because making milk is our business. It's not so easy to do with bulls.
