"Want to take pictures of a C Section?" Farmer asked.
"Silly man" I thought.
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| She is numb and her hair is shaved and her skin has been cleaned. All ready to go. |
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| Carefully cutting through each layer. |
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| This layer is the peritoneum. |
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| The other girls are watching. |
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| This is her rumen - stomach. |
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| Moving things around looking for the calf. |
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| The calf inside the uterus. |
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| Here is the calf's back leg. |
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| Cutting the uterus. |
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| One leg. Hold on while I find the other one. |
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| She's coming out butt first. |
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| Clamping her umbilical cord. She was bleeding. |
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| Starting the clean up. |
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| In the warmer. |
I debated whether to tell the whole story.
We want life to be this nice, neat package and have such romantic and idyllic ideas.
This calf was due to be born in another week. But, mama had a very bad abscess on her foot that we've been treating for some time and it just wouldn't get better. She could not get up. We did everything we could to help her, but it wasn't enough. She was going to have to be put down.
Everyone felt bad that once the calf was born the cow would be euthanized. But, we were able to save the baby which is a small victory considering we were losing the mama BEB (Brown Eyed Bossie).
I cried. The herdsman spoke quietly to mama and Farmer was left to take care of it.
This is one of the hard and unpleasant aspects of farming. And, if I didn't show and tell it, this whole blog would be a farce.
So while we have a new little BEBette warming up in the warmer we also had to say goodbye to one of the girls. It doesn't get any easier as time goes on.
