First Calf of 2009

Our first calf of 2009 arrived! We had my mother visiting from South Carolina, and my brother Tim's family from the northern part of Dickinson County down for a cookout. My brother and I decided to check on the cows after we ate and it was perfect timing. We counted the cows and were missing one. Tim spotted the heifer (now a cow) in one of the pasture valleys and sure enough, it had just dropped a calf. I called up to the house and everyone came down to see the new calf and bring the ear tags, the bander and other supplies. We ended up ear tagging but didn't need the bander - it was a heifer. So the first calf arrived unassisted. We checked on them this morning. We sat and enjoyed watching the calf and the cow. The calf is still on wobbly legs and the cow and calf hadn't moved much from last night. The calf kept wanting to go into high grass which at this point is outside of the electric fence. It was an early lesson on electric fences for the calf. We'll keep an eye on this new heifer, now know as 389 by her ear tag, to make sure she doesn't find her way outside of the fence. We have a lot of coyotes here and wouldn't want her getting on the other side of the fence where the cow couldn't defend her.