Paula Hynes: Celebrating a calf poo
The little premature calf was straight away christened little Pat after our vet Pat from Coolcower Vets. Picture: Paula Hynes
An early evening milking on Friday with the calves fed, it was a quick change of clothes as we headed to the IHFA All-Ireland Awards in Portlaoise. It was our first time attending the awards and we had three nominations.
We had two heifers nominated in one category for heifers born after the June 1, 2024, with Rathard Sidekick Jagerbomb winning the All-Ireland Champion award and Sizzler Rompen Rouge Red ET taking the HM award.
Our focus has always been on top-class cow families and breeding from our best, so it was an extra special occasion to win an award with a homebred.
In the four-year-old cow category, we had Eedy Rubicon Acclaim and it was wonderful to win Reserve Champion, with her claiming an award for us with a milker.
Acclaim is in superb form since she calved freshly recently and she is already milking nearly 60 litres a day. Her first daughter also calved this week and is looking very promising, so we will see how she shapes up over the next few months.
We arrived home from the awards at 1am, but it was still an early start the following morning due to the fact the cows had been milked so early on the Friday afternoon. We don’t like putting too many hours on the fresh calvers as they can get very uncomfortable if their udders are too full of milk.
As I mentioned in my last article, we have a new little miracle visitor in the house. We had an unusual calving early last week — a heifer who was due to calve in early March to an Angus AI bull.
She had been showing signs of calving for a few hours but was making no progress, so Pete decided to examine her. Not being able to feel any calf, he then went out to double-check the cubicle shed in case she had already calved there, but no calf was found.
He re-examined her and could feel something very small deep down in her uterus, and we decided to call our vet. Pat arrived promptly and, on first examination, also wondered if she had already had the calf.
However, he then agreed with Pete that he could feel something deep in the uterus and they felt the heifer may be aborting, presuming the calf would be born dead.
Once Pat managed to get the calf up and the head and front legs out, the calf suddenly showed signs of life and a tiny little Angus bull calf was delivered. Suddenly, the tiny calf sat up and started calling, showing real strong signs of life.
With freezing temperatures outside, Pete immediately grabbed a box, stuffed it with straw and Pat put the little calf into the box before putting it straight into the jeep.
The biggest issue with premature calves is that their lungs are not fully developed, so Pat injected him straight away to ensure his lungs were protected. Pete drove him straight up to the house where he could receive extra care, before returning to the farm to milk colostrum from the heifer.
Georgie and I were amazed to see this little premature calf — no bigger than a cocker spaniel — arriving into the kitchen. Of course, he was straight away christened little Pat after our vet Pat from Coolcower Vets.
Weak and fragile, little Pat drank 128ml of colostrum that night from a baby’s bottle and drank 400ml a few hours later. Unable to stand, he was continually fed colostrum for the first 48 hours, drinking 400ml every four to five hours.
Every morning when I went into the kitchen, he would call for his bottle and four days later, he stood up for the first time with a little help.
It was crucial to get him standing as it is better for his digestive system if he could drink standing up and also good for blood circulation. There were further celebrations that evening as Pat finally had his first poo.
We had been getting concerned that he may have had bowel issues when he hadn’t pooed prior to that. Within another 24 hours, little Pat took his first steps in the kitchen and is now able to walk slowly around the kitchen.
We have a little dog jacket for him, and he will return to the farm today to be placed in a small isolation pen with a heat lamp, as it would be far better for him if he had the space to stand and walk more often.
Sometimes animals die, and we as farmers feel they shouldn’t have, but when we come across an animal like little Pat, which is fighting to survive, we give it our best shot and give it all the help in the world.
Hopefully, he will keep progressing and meet up with his namesake again over the next few weeks. Both farmers and vets need little success stories — standing back and seeing miracles happen keeps us going through the tougher days when we don’t succeed in saving an animal.
In stark contrast to our freezing temperatures here, out in Australia, Becky has been dealing with temperatures of 40°C as Victoria has been hit by extreme heat. So much so that a State of Disaster has been declared in Victoria, with over 300,000 hectares already consumed by bushfires and firefighters drafted in from all over Australia to try to manage the disaster.
A meeting was held earlier this week on the farm where Becky is, and all staff were made fully aware of where animals need to be moved to in an emergency.
All vehicles are kept fully fuelled in case they need to evacuate and all staff carry walkie-talkies. A complete fire ban is in place in the state of Victoria and on days of extreme heat, tractors cannot be operated in fields in case they go on fire.
Thankfully, the temperatures seem to be easing for a few days, but Becky said they are expected to climb again during International Dairy Week.
She leaves for the show on Tuesday to set up before the animals arrive there on Wednesday — a journey she will be glad to have over, as the six-hour drive to the show is straight up through the worst-affected bushfire areas.
Our thoughts go out to those who have lost homes and buildings in the current disaster, to those who have lost a loved one, and also to the firefighters who will be battling these bushfires for weeks ahead.
