8. Mud-calving

No, mud-calving isn't an extreme sport I have discovered out here, it is a phrase I have just invented to describe what is happening on the farm at the moment.

Since the start of August, the weather here in New Zealand, and in particularly North Otago, has taken a turn for the worst. There has been a lot of rain, and the authorities have issues a number of 'Rainfall Alerts'. I don't think the Kiwis are ones to overemphasize weather warnings. According to a local climate report, the rainfall reached a rate of 75 mm in a day and has been ever present in the form of cold drizzle. It is comfortingly miserable weather and is ensuring that I am not getting homesick.

I am taking all steps necessary to ensure that I remain warm and dry whilst I work;

My coat has neoprene cuffs on the wrist which are great at preventing water from running down the sleeve. Unfortunately, they are also great at retaining water, and will not dry out. It is the single worst feeling, at 4:45am, having just won a close battle at getting out of bed, pulling on cold wet clothes from the previous days work. The same damp torture is repeated after breakfast and again after lunch.

The cows and heifers haven been calving at a serious pace, which reached heights of 25 per day during the wettest part of the week. It has quietened down now though, to a steady rate of between 10 and 15 per day. We now have about 250 cows and heifers calved, and they are mostly getting into the swing of the milking routine, as am I.

Unfortunately, the incessant precipitation has caused the ground to become decidedly soggy, and when home to a large amount of cows, it becomes incredibly muddy. Lose-your-welly, need-two-quads-to-get-the-trailer-out, kind of muddy. It is starting to become reminiscent of the Somme. Cows calving on this kind of ground can be problematic and makes usually simple jobs a little more tricky.

I would have taken more photos of the mud, but I wasn't sure that it would mix well with the camera.

The cows are not particularly happy with the weather either as they trample half of their food before they eat it.

Normally to collect the calves from the paddock, we would drive the quad and trailer up to the calf, and put him/her in the trailer. When the ground becomes inaccessible to what are often incorrectly called 'All Terrain Vehicles', this becomes impossible. It is then necessary to wade through the mud, try and catch the calf, who is undoubtedly covered in mud and therefore very slippery, and then carry it back to the trailer. After a few steps in the ankle deep mud a calf, even when only a few hours old, becomes really quite heavy. As does ones clothes which become really quite muddy. But it is all good fun and really brings out the characters in both livestock and farm-workers!

 A freshly born calf is cleaned by its mother before the ground inevitably gets turned into mud.

After the calves are rescued from the mire, they are taken to the sheds where they are kept warm on a bed of sawdust, are fed on milk and meal and grow at an exponential rate. 

The sun made a rare and brief appearance when I took these photos of a couple of happy calves who have graduated to the outside pens:

On the whole though, calving is going well. Obviously there are always a few problems preventing successful, healthy parturition (a word I learnt at university), which mainly affect the birth of twins, or particularly big calves presented upside down, backwards, or with a leg pointing in the wrong direction. Assistance with calving is occasionally necessary. I had planned on getting a photograph of the next time I was pulling a calf out of its mother, but we have recently been lacking in dystocia (another degree level word), which is good news for the health of the herd. It is also good news for those of you who didn't want to see a photo of me with my hand somewhere warmer than usual and my sleeve drenched with various bovine bodily fluids!

That is all for now regarding the farm, I will be continuing to update this blog relatively regularly.

Thanks for reading and keep sharing.