"First Hours"  

We have so many babies on the farm that it takes two full time farm workers to keep us all full.

You saw my first picture when I was only a few hours old. The Veterinarian (animal doctor) had been checking on my mom when she was pregnant with me. He and the Herdsman, knew just about the exact day I was going to be born on, so they brought my mom into the Maternity Pen.

The Maternity Pen is kind of like a 3 sided barn and it has hay bales stacked up around it to help the momma cows and all the baby calves stay warm inside.

In the Maternity Pen, they watched my mom and the other cows who were about to Calve (that means have a baby cow.) The Herdsman is responsible for watching the cows in the Maternity Pen, but, he can’t always be there to see when a cow starts to give birth. So all of the other farm workers help watch and wait too. There are about two calves born on this farm every day of the year, so the helpers are always busy watching for the big event.

When a baby calf is born, the Herdsman helps the cow and helps the calf. Sometimes it is hard for the cow to give birth and the Farm Manager helps too. They know how to clean up the calf and help it start to breath. It is always exciting when a new baby is born.

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