Abby had Twins!

1/26/2017

If you've been following us on Facebook, you know that we have been preparing for our milk cow, Abby, to calve. What we weren't expecting was that Abby would have TWO calves! And both heifers at that! Talk about growing the herd ;)

Abby licking her calves clean after giving birth

Warm & Dry!

Abby had her calves early Wednesday morning during the snowstorm that we had. It is common for cows to calve during inclement weather - I've heard it's due to the atmospheric pressure changes but who knows for sure? Abby did a great job of cleaning her calves off and I helped her finish the drying process. Luckily, Abby did decide to have her calves in the shelter of the nicely bedded shed we provided her instead of the muddy pasture!!

After moving the calves safely to the side, I milked Abby to harvest the life giving colostrum. We then fed the calves each an overflowing half gallon of the liquid gold (read more about colostrum here) and moved them to the hutches that will be their homes for the next 2 months. Once the calves were good and dry we also put blankets on them. Between the blankets and the deep straw bedding in the hutches they should stay cozy and warm! You can read about why we use calf hutches here. I was thankful to have my dad on hand to help feed, bed, and move the calves! Between the snow and being pregnant, it would have been challenging to do by myself!