(no subject)

[rootofnewt]

cows make a helluva lotta noise while in labor. and they produce a wee calf (okay, pretty damn big) and a LOT of afterbirth. They proceed to eat the afterbirth (as most mammals do) slowly but steadily, picking up the huge mass to separate it from time to time. Watching this does wonders for easing my own appetite.

it's windy enough to keep the kite aloft today. :)

note to self: when playing evil weedwhacker goddess of d00m in the backyard, wear long pants. you know you're horribly allergic to grass and even after showering, soaping one's legs down, and then taking an antihistamine, you will STILL itch like mad.

gah, this itchiness is driving me mad. and the hair on my legs is drying, so it's moving a little, tickling and compounding the itch.

going mad.


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Comments

[jkatj.livejournal.com]

squick

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Dare I ask why/where you were watching a cow being born?

[krasota.livejournal.com]

the house we rent is part of a 1300 acre black angus plantation farm.

all pasture-grazed. it seems there were two staggered calving times this year--one in april-may, one now.

y

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I once found what I thought was a wet, red/white/blue silk scarf on the sand in a rainstorm at Ano Nuevo Reserve, and vowed to mention it to the docent leading the walk (you do *not* visit the preserve during breeding season without docents who know how to avoid 4000-lb. elephant seal bulls) as we looped around back to where it was. We looped around, and the docent saw it before I could mention it, and said, "It's rare to find an intact elephant seal placenta like this, usually the gulls eat it immediately after it's expelled."

I was fascinated.

[circumspectly.livejournal.com]

calves have such a hard time being born...heiffers die a lot during the first birth, and even older, seasoned cows have a hard time...their pelvic bones are so narrow...and they are generally *quite* full of calf...especially if they are grain fed cattle. lots of times it takes a tractor and a stout chain to finish the task of actually getting the wee one out. it can be quite....unpleasant.

i ran an appaloosa breeding farm for a few years, so am used to seeing foals born...usually a pretty easy (comparatively) birth...seems that cows have a harder time than most domesticated creatures.

and you are sooooooooooo right...it can be *loud*...all of that bellowing...yeesh. *guess i'd beller too if i was birthin' something that big*

sorry about the itchies :(

geez...i wrote a book.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

these cows are all pasture-raised. i'm not sure whether they're considered organic beef or not, but it's a big ol' black angus farm in virginia. calves abandoned (often twins) by their mothers are hand-fed (for milk) and given grazing pens closer to the main farm where they don't get lost.

i don't know what they eat in the winter, but the farm cuts both corn and hay to store up for winter, so i assume it some o'that.

[circumspectly.livejournal.com]

m'uncle raised black angus for years...beautiful cattle, they are.

i miss living in the country...this city livin' thing is something that i'm not sure i'll *ever* get used to...though chris informs me that this is *rural* compared to downtown boston...i'll agree...it may be rural (ha!)...but hardly agrarian.