We having a baby…actually 2

Well there you go… we have a beefie in the oven!!! Yip, Lucy is preggie at last! But what a palava to get this highly strung Missy beefed up! You know that she cleared 2 gates when the vet first came around to started the course of A.I. And then we had to get all the other yearlings in to give her moral support to have a 2nd go and ask the vet to leave his ute up at the house, so she wouldn’t bolt again! so, yesterday the vet came back for her ultrasound and yes.. we have successfully A.I’d the girl.

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But like us, we need to cautious for the first 12 weeks and if all goes well, end of October we will have another addition to the Little Gwelo family and hopefully we don’t have the same issues we had when Sophie was born in April.. Mmmm… remember this little 3 day episode!

1 April 2018 Dear diary….. I’m delighted to introduce the newest member to the Little Gwelo family, please meet Sophie. Mom, Lucy has had a bit of a tough day, so we lent a bit of a helping hand. Needless to say, the support team have been keeping a close eye. Yip, all 23 heifers raced down to meet the new addition

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2/4/18
One truly doesn’t realise how old one is, until one has to pick up a 30Kg calf and carry it 65m. OMG….I thought I was going to burst a poop string! 🚑 But…. I stayed strong! Any Personal Trainer would have been impressed with my technique! Using my legs, I squat down, bum almost in the other paddock. I wrapped my arms around Sophs legs and then “tried”to stand up. Oh fek…. she not as light as I thought she would be. But Luc needed to know she was fine and I had to get Sophie to her. I couldn’t walk her in, I mean…her GPS to find mom’s udder is non comprehendo, so you can imagine trying to walk her 65m to the dairy shed. Nah…that was going to work! So still in my squat position, I take a VERY deep breath and shoot myself up, as if Lucy had poked her horn up my butt! Tucking my butt in and squeezing tightly( still not sure why…maybe trapping my insides in) I scurried along the fence to the shed. Breathing in through the nose out my mouth clearly resembling a freight train with a calf as a mascot!
Lucy was being milked because Sophie has not found the tuckshop as yet! It’s painful for Lucy to carry all this milk, so she has to be milked twice a day. Finally I reach Lucy and tried desperately to put Sophie down with grace but it more like a fall from grace!
Anyhooo, we took Luc’s milk, poured it in a bottle and shoved it down Sophs gob! At this point, I didn’t really care as I was still hyperventilating and trying to stop my legs from shaking. After awhile I managed to compose myself in front of a cow… what was I thinking 🙄… and everyone was happy. Mum was lighter, baby was full and I was fekked! T and I headed straight back to the house for hot cross buns and coffee. From now on… I walk Sophie in, even if it takes a bloody week!

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2 days later Dear Diary…so remember when I said Soph hadn’t found the tuckshop….well she has, but not the one we had hoped! Nope…. I’m the tuckshop! 🙄 that said…it’s is just sooooooo cute when she looks up, realises it’s me, her ears go straight up and she comes bouncing over. She’s like a little grasshopper but she bounces all over the place then fiiinnnaaalllyyy gets to me! No wonder she downs the entire bottle in seconds, she must be exhausted be the time she gets to me! 😁😁😁
But Luc is having a bit of a difficult time. She producing very little milk due to mastitis, which seems to be in all quarters. We have given her medication to night so hopefully she will be feeling top tomorrow and Soph can start drinking from her. Otherwise…… I’m going to have to be the feeding Mum and Luce the very tentative, loving and cleaning Mum! I have my limits!

7 days later Dear Diary…. well there you go….I’m pleased to announce that Sophie’s GPS has kicked in! Yes… on the 9th she discovered she could get milk on tap. It was a bit of a mission but we got her there.
The problem was that she wasn’t going low enough to find mums teat. She found her udder ( totally impossible to miss it… Dolly Parton has serious competition) but Soph was not going under the udder. So as we were milking Lucy on the milking ramp I decided to take the teat from the bottle and put it behind Lucy’s teat. It was the perfect height, Soph had no trouble finding it and she was away! Hallelujah!!!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻💃🕺🏻💃🕺🏻💃🕺🏻 But was she going to find it once Lucy was off the ramp?? As expected, Soph went looking for the teat and needless to say she was too high. Then, I was totally gob smacked as to what happened next….Lucy lifted her back leg & pushed Sophie’s head downwards with her leg. 1st time Sophie stepped back and it didn’t work. But then Sophie came back in, once again too high and again Lucy lifted her leg, gently pushed Sophs head downwards and gold was struck! It was amazing!!!! Why the bloody hell Lucy didn’t do this 9 days ago is beyond me! Maybe she was just not ready.. who knows🤷‍♀️. I’m now OFFICIALLY off calf duty. Mom & baby are doing fine! 👍 Just love the animal world!

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Lets hope after last years daunting experience, things will go a little smoother for Lucy and her new moral supporter. Which brings me to our newest Little Gwelo family member. Everyone… this is Blue. Blue is a Friesian and is a rather large girl. When I mean large, I don’t mean fat either. And I’m pleased to say, that she will be calving in the next 10 days. She introduced herself as she came charging off the truck, down the ramp and straight to the field for lunch. Lucy huffed and puffed and bounced around like raging lunatic to show she was boss of the paddock, (which she is not, Bella is) but as Bell can’t jump around like a cow on smack.. Lucy did it for her! But, 10 min later, the two were heads down and sharing lunch. Think they will be okay. And there you have it! One baby soon and the other in October.

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