Seeing the light of day…

…is a big topic at Zittrauerhof at the moment.

Around 19 cows on the farm calve once a year. And especially in late autumn it regularly means: The calf might come tonight. Cows usually seek out a quiet place for birth, away from the herd, or the night to bring the calf into the world in peace. Farmer Matthias knows very well how to read the signs of an approaching birth and can thus prepare for the work ahead. Just as he knows how to read the signs, over the years on the farm he has also learned which maneuvers he must perform during birth and what needs to be watched for. If there are extremely difficult births, the vet is called, but usually Matthias is the birth assistant :-)

As soon as the birth is over, the newborn’s initial care begins: water in the calf’s ears, mucus out of the mouth, and homeopathic birth remedies for calf and cow. Afterwards it is important that the cow stands up and takes in plenty of fluids. For this she gets warm water, as much as she wants, mixed with cola.

The joy is especially great when it is a heifer calf, since Farmer Matthias wants to use the animals for breeding and bull calves are not useful for this.

Afterwards the calf is licked clean by the mother and we disinfect the little one’s navel. Calf and cow then get homeopathic remedies from us for three more days – for strengthening on the one hand, for uterine involution on the other.

Afterwards the little one goes into the calf box and is fed the mother’s milk using a feeding bucket. And just as with humans, the colostrum from the first milkings is particularly important and very precious! We call this milk “colostrum.” The colostrum from the oldest cows is frozen and kept in reserve for emergencies. This only makes sense with milk from the oldest cows, because they are more familiar with the germs in the barn.

We are delighted about every new farm resident all over again! The main thing is healthy!!!