It's a BOY!!!

I can't even believe it. I wrote to Pioneer Woman asking her to show photos of a cow giving birth. I'm not the squeemish type by any means. Come on... I got more ER stories that you could even handle. lol. So anyway, PW said she doesn't have any photos of the cows birthing, because they never catch it. They have so many cattle, they can't always find/follow the knocked up ones.
So today, we went to the Michigan State Fair. We went with Nana, Aunt Audrey (my sister), Uncle Mark (my brother), all of their punks, and my two punks, plus a punks friend, the punk. ;o)

We started off doing a few things, then trotted off to the Miracle of Life exhibit. MSU (Mooooo U veterinary students were on hand for their learning experience). As we made it through a couple exhibits, we happened to walk up to the cow pen just as one was giving birth!!! FOR YEARS and YEARS I have wanted to see this and never have. No one was actually in labor when we went before.

So after a lot of moving around for the right "view", we got our seats... right next to the shute. The put lil' momma in to check her. Momma was NOT happy. It was obvious by all the mooing!













Next is the Veterinarian and his students from MSU. They all took turns reaching into the cow to see why the baby calf wouldn't come out. Here you see him taking his turn, and the white thing under his arm pit is a baby cow hoof! (remember to click on the photo if you want to see it bigger).

After they checked her, they found out that not only was the calf breach, but it was also upside down too! Upside down and backwards! They told us that they would have to assist her in getting the calf out. They had to put chains on the babies legs, and working with her contractions, they would pull the baby out.

This happened SO FAST that I barely had time to snap the photos! Next year I'm taking the video camera!!! It was amazing! The students helped lower the baby to the ground and the crowd went wild. Poor cow. :o) We were so excited! It's a BOY!!!














Here is little "Norman" after his birth. He was very weak and trying to pick his head up to figure where the heck he was. It was AMAZING!
In this photo, it is the back of his head. He picked his head up and was trying to look around. He was a bit dazed to say the least.

We had a wonderful time at the Fair, but seeing the birth of a calf was something we have never seen before.

Happy Birthday Little Norman!