Cows are sneaky like that. Keep you up all night in suspense then wait til you have your feet up and your teeth in a buttered scone before slipping one out

Thinking about it the bull shouldn't have looked knackered, cos cows gestate for nine months like humans so November would NOT be a great time to be born!!

I was thinking that about the bull but I am not very knowledgable about these things. I thought farmers tended to line off spring up for spring. I am assuming that cuts down costs as they can be fed by nature and the risk of young animals getting lost in bad weather is less. But then again if we want milk all year round I suppose cows have to be mated all year round too.

Sneaky indeed. It had 23 hours and twenty minutes to get on with it and picked the 40 minutes during Vikings. It as if it knew.

I expect the cow was peeping through the window and when the action on Vikings got a bit too bloodthirsty she got overexcited and out it popped

Attention seeker.

Very likely!

Last year my daughter and her BF decided to walk to the pub from mine, some two miles across the countryside. En route they encountered a cow in the throes of labour so decided to watch...............and watch....................and watch...................gave up in the end and went on to the pub, on their way back the poor beast was STILL at it!!

Ohh now actually I think that might be a problem.

I seem to recall from my studies that it is only really humans that have protracted labour (its to do with having to have a narrow pelvis to stand upright and walk on two legs and also having big brained babies). We are he only species that need help with normal labour too because we are unable to reach down and take the baby out the right way around. So human birth usually involves a midwife role not seen in other species even apes.

My understanding was that most animals will plop them out quite easily and quickly unless somethign has gone wrong (like a leg caught the wrong way around etc)

We went back the following day and she was sure the same cow now had a tiny calf with her. This was quite mild weather in late May as I recall. So hopefully all went well. The only time I have witnessed a birth was years ago while staying on a farm B&B in Cornwall. The farmer knew a cow was near her time and they woke us at 4.30am, went out to the field with the kids then quite young, all misty and dawn breaking, and saw the birth and then I remember the farmer chucked the afterbirth over the hedge to stop the mother eating it and possibly choking. I daresay she'd have been fine. It's just nature after all.

Now that sound magical. A wonderful thing for your kids to see.

Oh it was magical! An August morning with the sun just rising up and the cow as quiet and well behaved as you like. Farmer said she was an old hand Left her licking the newborn all over and we all went and had a cuppa in the farm kitchen!

I wonder if TK is feeling the nagic right now. I suspect the novelty wears off when you are freezing cold and up to your welly tops in slurry at 2am.

I've a feeling you'd be right. The bit I am not looking forward to is when the calves are separated from the mums after a few weeks. Then there is all night long crying and bellowing fair breaks your heart it does.....

Ahh that us sad. This is a dairy farm I assume. I don't think TK does any dairy so 'her' calves probabaly get to stay with their Mums.

No, like tk this is beefers. So the little ones stay with mum a few weeks and feed directly from her....but then they are separated off when weaned. We have sheep for meat not wool as well, and then there's the pheasant chicks....raised for posh gits to come and shoot!

Hi I'm back! Calf will be with us by tonight, hopefully not too late.

Ooh a scone, lovely. You two have been busy! Yes it's a busy time of year, usually the cows manage quite well on their own, unless labour has gone on a bit and they are tired, or they are a first timer, or as An said a leg might be in the wrong position.

It is rewarding though, but you have to remind yourself of that at 3 am in the cold. Oh and our lot get to eat their afterbirths, they really clean the place up, throwback to living in the wild.

OH thats interesting. Do you know why? I get in the case of dairy where milk is in effect the crop so calves are taken from their mothers, but for beef I would have thought the calfs could stay withtheir mums after weaning.

Yes it seems a cruel business but bear in mind none of these animals would exist at all if we weren't eating them and their products. Pigs in particular.

We wean early Autumn, so calves would be 7 months at least, and their mums are pregnant with the next crop so need the rest. After a day or so the calves are having fun charging round together like teenagers and the cows are happy putting their hooves up! After a week, if you were to re-introduce the calves to the cows, the cows would butt them away in outrage!

Eta, yes, wasn't it J Clarkson who advocated that the best way to save the panda was to start eating them?

I think your way is kindest tk. The calves are only about 8 weeks with the mums here....the wailing commences late Spring

Yes by 7 months or so the calves are drinking a lot less milk, and getting their nourishment from grass, later hay, silage and concentrates. But they have had the benefit of all those months of milk, which makes them stronger and heavier. Which is the point of rearing beef

Wey hey! A lovely white heifer, and in time for me to watch Happy Valley. Gods our Vikings have more humanity than some of those characters!

See you tomorrow

White, little and not a bull? Something went wrong there!

I can't have heard that song since I was a small child, on the radio.....but now it's playing in my head as clear as day!

Alright Tommy

Once upon a time there was a little white..................heifer

Bloomin' weirdos! http://smiliesftw.com/x/rolleyes1024.gif

Righto, I've got horns of g & t, cheeses and biscuits in the chins proof safe, shields and axes are in the corner, furry cloaks warming. Giles is on standby with the trolley/mattress combo in case of casualties. Is there anything else we need as we wait for The Dead?