Winter
With Paddy returning to his usual home across the valley the early weeks of, what we hoped were, four pregnancies went smoothly. All we had to do now was look after the cows and ensure they had sufficient nutrition to feed the growing calves and keep themselves warm and dry throughout winter. For our older black cows, Daisy and Bramble, they were feeding both the developing calves inside as well as their youngsters on the outside who weren't both weaned until December.
In preparation we built a pen inside the polytunnel where they would be able to seek shelter from bad weather but otherwise left them with access to the Quarry the whole time. Whilst they would definitely make their way inside during heavy rain and most nights, with the thick coats they'd grown they spent most days out wandering, even when there was thick snow on the ground.
An unexpected extra?
In late April we noticed that Gorple was definitely looking rounder than Swinden and seemed to be developing more of an udder. Surely she wasn't in-calf too? We did the maths and worked out that she would have been just 5 months old when the bull left and, whilst it seemed unlikely (we had considered this when planning dates and been assured that they'd be too young), a quick bit of online searching revealed it wouldn't be unheard of.
By this point there was nothing we could do about it - we would just have to keep an eye on things and hope for the best.
First time mothers
Because we'd kept track of when the bull had been showing interest in each of the cows we had a reasonably good idea of when they would calve. Average gestation in Dexters seems to be 283 days plus or minus a fortnight. As it turned out Clover delivered at 284 days, Buttercup was spot on at 283, and Daisy and Bramble both ran a little later at 287 and 288 days respectively.
With this being the first calving for Buttercup and Clover we were anxiously keeping watch, but needn't have worried. We saw Clover's calf flop out onto the ground from the bedroom window one evening and I sat and watched the late stages of Buttercup's labour in the field the next afternoon. Both of them were really good with us and, although protective, weren't aggressive at all. Swinden and Gorple were incredibly curious too!
Daisy came next and allowed me to stand nearby in the field late into the night while she had her calf, surrounded by the rest of the herd. Whilst I could watch it all happen, Daisy was far more intolerant of our presence for the next few days and would definitely try and see us off if we approached!
Just like last year, Bramble was very sneaky about her birth and the first we knew was when we found a new calf following her at the afternoon check!
Last arrival
By now there was just Gorple left and she was definitely in-calf! As we hadn't seen the bull showing any interest in her, or suspected he would, at the time, we didn't have the same feel for likely arrival dates as we had with the other cows. At least we knew the latest she could be, based on when he departed.
Then, late one afternoon, she was showing the classic early signs of labour. I watched from a distance as she would lie down to push, and could see the tip of a hoof visible. After an hour there was no progress and we spoke to an experienced local cattle farmer who advised giving it another hour or so, since she was a first-timer.
At that point we could see the second hoof, but also a tongue! Despite this, there wasn't really much actual movement and as it was heading late into the evening we spoke to the vet. She was concerned and shortly afterwards arrived to see her. By this stage we had somehow managed to coax Gorple the whole length of the field and got her into our, fortuitously renovated, cattle pen, complete with brand new calving gate.
After an examination it became apparent that there was only one choice ...
Caesarean needed!
There was no way the calf was coming out the way nature intended so we had to proceed with a Caesarean. Although the decision was made against the backdrop of a beautiful sunset over Pendle Hill, it quickly went dark and preparation for the impending surgery had to be made in the deepening gloom. By the time of the first incision it was pitch black all around and both of us and the two vets were operating by torchlight.
But Gorple was really good and stood calmly for the whole thing, not once kicking out or fighting us. My job was to keep her in position against the side of the pen while the vet was up to her biceps trying to find the calf's feet through the wall of the uterus. Gradually they were brought to the outside, the uterus was opened and a calf pulled out. I had to push the end of its nose and front feet back through to release it and then there were a few panicked moments to find out if it would start breathing.
Bonding
Thankfully the calf did eventually take a breath and Helen kept a close eye on it, rubbing it dry and ensuring it was sat up while the vets focused on stitching up Gorple - first her uterus and then the abdominal muscles and skin in several layers.
By midnight the surgery was done and the vets had collected up all their kit. We left the calf with Gorple to see if she would bond with it and retreated inside for a drink and a rest.
An hour or so later Gorple still wasn't showing any interest in her calf and we had to figure out a way to get it suckling from her. Once again the calving gate came in useful - after all our other efforts failed - and around 2am we finally heard the welcome slurping sounds of the calf gulping down some colostrum.
I had to repeat the process at 4am to make sure it was getting as much colostrum as possible, and again at 6am. As the day wore on Gorple became more and more interested in the calf, started licking it clean and by the end of the day was encouraging it to suckle and standing still.
We kept them both in the pen for a few days - partly to help strengthen the bond and be able to see any issues, and partly because we had to administer antibiotics each evening. During this time it became apparent that Gorple probably wasn't producing enough milk yet, so we had to start providing some extra by bottle. The calf quickly became used to this and by the time they went back out with the rest of the herd she would come over for it when we approached.
Tagging and naming
The other anxiety we had was about tagging the calves and castrating any boys. The latter was made very simple for us by all five cows having heifers! With last year's calves added in this made 7 girls in a row! Although both heifers last year were red in colour, all five were black this time - although several look brown they will go black at their first moult.
Tagging also went well. We managed this in the field for a couple and used the pen for protection from the more overzealous mothers!
Then there was just the job of picking out suitable names. We stuck with our convention of a local feature followed by a shade of their colour and have chosen:
Thursden Jet
Pendle Midnight
Extwistle Ebony
Ell Scar Shadow
Holden Pitch
