Long Awaited Arrival

It is days like today that make all the hard work and money spent all worthwhile.  It seems like I have been waiting forever to see our first new arrivals of the year (pretty much since the bull was here) and we are calving much earlier this year than any previous year.  

I have been keeping a close eye on the cows out in the pasture with binoculars from the house when busy doing housework and everything else.  Today after lunch I noticed the cows were within sight so I whipped out the binoculars to check on them.  To my shock and amazement there it was, a little black white faced calf running about near it's mother, Maria.  Yep, Maria was the first to calve and a first time mom who did it all by herself without a hitch.  What a tremendous calf she has(as I believe they all are).

Of course, I headed out to check it out and snap some pics of it.  We still cannot tell for sure if it is a heifer or bull calf, although my husband thinks she's a girl and I sure hope so.  If so, she will definitely be a keeper!

I then had to go into town to get our weekly ration of feed for the goats and chickens.  Driving by the field on my way home I noticed Mabel was in the corner of the pasture again as she was when I was out earlier.  I had checked on her then with no signs of labor.  She was now standing kinda funny with her tail straight out, but she wasn't eliminating anything.  I just had a feeling she was maybe in labor.  I ran in the house, grabbed the camera and my phone and headed back out determined to see the whole thing.  I did get to see it and it was an amazing hour.  I got lots of pics of the whole thing, some of which I will be posting maybe tomorrow in a "step by step of labor post".  The end product is a beautiful little boy that is as black as night and also oh so wonderful.  

Mabel is a wonderful momma and let us pet him this evening.  What an experience that was.  She is an amazingly gentle cow who is one of my favorites if not the favorite as far as temperament.

We still have 3 to go and each is sure to be as amazing as the others! My son also has a heifer to calve.  With all the events of today, one never knows what tomorrow might hold!