Hot Cocoa started talking loudly about 7:30 on the morning of May 21 so I was sure to watch her carefully that day. I was starting to get worried when I had seen her have a contraction here and there, vocalizing and pacing, but nothing steady.
Finally, about 3 or so in the afternoon while the boys were down I snuck out to check on her, AGAIN. Woo hoo...she was laying down but when she got up I saw that she had a nice softball sized amniotic bag exposed. She was going to move from her chosen spot so I walked on down the rest of the drive to get the mail, hoping that when I came back up she might have delivered. No luck.
Half an hour later I checked again after one of our sons was up from his nap. As we approached, she stood up and delivered a single black buckling. By the time we got down to her, she was working dillegently to clean him up and he was anxiously trying to stand, walk, flop, whatever it took to get to her teats! After sucking on her neck for a bit he finally found them and did that happy little tail wag.
So now the question is...will he have white cashmere like his sire or light brown like his dam? Oh, further patience be granted, please! As if waiting for birthing wasn't enough.
Both are doing well as we await our last arrival(s) of the year...Flicker's kid(s).
Later in the week, the new red bull calf was sluggish and found to have fly strike on his back. Hot Shot had been bellyaching over him that day. After getting a bath, a picking over for creepie crawlies, and a fly spray he's doing just fine but we'll be checking him closely. He has learned to keep moving, swat his tail and not lay down on a brown pillow so hopefully there won't be a recurrence. Other than a missing patch of hair or two on the top of his back for the time being, he's a beauty.
