The last day of January was vicious in Cork.
Colm and Diarmuid were putting up a gale breaker to keep draughts off the baby calves.
The wind and driving sleet made a mockery of their efforts, pushing cold air through the shed. I was struggling with Lady Jane.
She was the third calf born and decided that she didn’t want to suck.
Consequently, I’ve spent long stretches of time trying to cajole her and stimulate her sucking reflex.
I could hear Emer Kennedy’s voice echoing in my ear as she told us that calves should really not be stomach tubed a second time.
I nodded in agreement that day in Moorepark thinking; “Absolutely, I will never do that again.” I mentioned to Emer about a calf that might not suck. She was not convinced.
Stubbornness
Yet this baby girl beat all calves for stubbornness. She would not suck the bottle or the feeder.
Her tongue was firmly withdrawn to the back of her throat and she threw her head at my efforts.
I was concerned that there was something wrong with her. Maybe she couldn’t bring her tongue forward.
Tim reminded me that years ago I tried icing sugar on my fingers. I wet my hands with milk and applied the white powder. Again my efforts were rejected.
So I continued to feed her via stomach tube, giving her just two litres at a time so as to avoid the milk going rancid in her stomach.
I was getting very worried, explaining to Colm that I feared she would die on me.
I knew I couldn’t continue to feed her via stomach tube. But I couldn’t stop either.
The start of calving
The first calf had arrived without the usual fanfare. I was ready, but not prepared.
I checked my phone on my lunch break. There I saw Philip’s smiling face. He had sent me a picture with the caption: “Look what I found!” In his arms was a small Jersey X bull.
He took to the bottle quickly as if determined to have jumped ahead before his mates arrived.
He focussed our minds quickly to get all our ducks in a row.
A few days later a red and white heifer arrived, and then a lovely brown heifer. I named her Lady Jane because of her stubbornness.
On that last day of January three bulls were born and the rain continued. On my way home from the yard I had to go around the back of the house for something.
In a lone flower pot I saw a single perfect daffodil in bloom. I’d given it no care and yet it returned like a faithful friend.
I began to look around and spotted lots of snowdrops bobbing in the weather, undeterred. The rhubarb was also bursting ground.
The first stirrings of spring were visible and the few calved cows were out on grass. The long wait for spring was quickly coming to an end.
Spring everywhere
On 2 February, it was like the world had changed. I was out early in the morning.
The full moon was spectacular; casting its moonbeams along the shed and finishing on the ripples in the puddles. Apparently it was a super moon.
Lady Jane was waiting and ready to suck whatever she was offered. Who knows what changed the little calf.
A few weeks back I was detailing the findings from the calf study from Teagasc Moorepark. Some samples had tested positive for cryptosporidium.
There is no definitive treatment except for rehydration therapy. We learned Halofuginone lactate can prevent and reduce symptoms.
It must be given for seven days. It sounded like a mammoth task.
Neck tags
I set about making neck bands for easy identification. Colm had learned this trick in New Zealand. An old tractor tube is cut diagonally. This slips onto the calf’s neck.
Simple tags can be placed into them to make it easy to identify the calves while they are being treated. I planned to use different colours for each day. I was getting organised.
Meanwhile, Colm was finding out about the product. Unfortunately it was going to add a serious cost to the calf-rearing part of the business. So discussions were reopened again.
Our vet recommended that we acidify the milk for the calves. Moorepark also does this. Colm investigated a number of products and decided to go with the vet’s advice.
Anecdotally, other farmers who have had scour problems in the past have experienced good results.
It’s all about that gut health and antibody build up from good-quality colostrum given within two hours of birth.
So calves are being fed acidified milk this season. Time will tell if it is effective in staving off disease.
Hygiene regime
Meanwhile, this is supported by a robust hygiene regime. All feeders are taken out of the pens and rinsed with cold water after each feed.
They are washed in warm water and detergent every two to three days. Each pen has a disinfection point and pens house eight calves.
So with just a few days into February, there are 20 cows calved and gone to grass.
As I look around the garden, I realise that spring is quite early here in Cork.
The daffodils are coming into bloom big time. There are coloured primroses in the garden.
Beautiful hellebores are out. The early flowering camellias have opened their buds and the white hardy osteospermums are starting to bloom.
I missed the start of them because I was so preoccupied with how busy I was going to be once the cows started calving. Sometimes we overthink it all.
There is always time to enjoy nature, especially at this wonderful time of year.