Our baby calf has arrived. Both mother and baby are doing just fine. I am going to let the images tell the story. A few of these shots are of the actual birth which was perfect. Magic in the field. I thought I would warn you of the birth photos ahead of time, in case you are a little fragile and want to whizz down the page to the pretty ones at the end.
We started at midday. And it was all over by 1.30. I was very lucky that the breeder was free and able to come over and support me. Of course Daisy was fine and managed it all herself. I was the one that needed propping up. I was on a steep learning curve yesterday.
First your new calf. This is Baby Bobby Blanc. He is mostly white and a very big boy! He has one white nostril and one red one, like a minstrel.
He is big but not that big. 
Now here are three shots of the birth, You can close your eyes and scroll down but I cannot censor these three. It is too wondrous. 
Big feet said the breeder. 
Big head, said Daisy.
Ok. Awesome but pretty graphic so lets get to the cute shots! We pulled her baby around to her head and Daisy mooed and cooed and licked and got him all cleaned up. 
We had to force her to stand up as she was on the ground a bit long.
Time for Bobby Blanc to stand up. He tottered about and was ready to suckle quite quickly but Daisy kept backing away from him so I left them for a while.
Later and Bobby Blanc was nursing.
There now.
When John got home we loaded this incredibly heavy calf onto the back of the pick up truck and I held him with Daisy trotting alongside and into the barn we all went.
With Bobby Blanc alongside, I milked Daisy and tended her udder. Daisy just stood beautifully while I milked. To get the cups onto her ridiculously swollen udder, in my unpracticed cack-handed way, I was almost knelt right under the cow. A prime target for a good kick, but she just waited. I will get better at this I told her as we finished. Once she was free, with the smallest switch of her tail, she sauntered back out into the field and began to eat like a starved teenager, leaving me with her baby.
Good morning. They both had a quiet night and very shortly I shall go out and milk again.
And so it begins. Suffice to say I did not get a cup of tea yesterday either. It was all too new to me and I could not settle for a smoko break at all. But I did have that glass of wine you recommended as the sun went down on a very successful day.
Have a lovely day. I am back on that learning curve. There will be a lot of calf gazing today too! And lots of prettier pictures tomorrow. And plenty of shuffling chores into a new routine!
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
107 responses to “Introducing Baby Bobby Blanc”
Woo hoo! Congratulations :))
Many congratulations to you, Daisy, the farmie, Mother Nature, and welcome to the world Baby Bobby. I hope that you’re Not disappointed that Daisy’s first a boy rather than a girl. 🙂
I hope you’re happy rather than disappointed!
As you can imagine I am just relieved all went well and I have a live calf..have a lovely day misky and viv! c
I am constantly appalled by what happens in many farms when a male calf is born. With so many people in the world going to bed hungry, I don’t understand why those calves can’t be raised for meat. It’s not as if dairy prices are like gold, right?
I fixed your typo for you Misky! I do stuff like that all the time! funnily enough I READ it as you thought you had written it!! and you are right about the dairy bull calves, we are happy to give this Bobby a few years on the farm..c
Thanks so much Celi for fixing that. My brain needs a re-wire lately. Can I still blame jetlag for it? 19-hours flight, and it’s my 5th day home? Say yes. Say yes. Please say yes…. LOL!
YES! (laughter!).. c
If you feel like you’re spinning in circles, just read this. 😀 http://miskmask.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/the-straight-man/
M.
This is so wonderful, and just what I needed today! Bobby Blanc is massive, and I’m always amazed by how fast animals are up and on their feet. What lovely eyelashes he has, too. Sounds like a great experience all round. Congratulations on your successful milking, I’m so glad to hear it went well and Daisy behaved herself.
She was great, no kicking works for me! c
Wonderful news! Great job, Daisy! What big feet he has, does that mean he’s going to be huge?
If he takes after his mama!! morning celia! c
Well done the both of you, and welcome Bobby Blanc. He is gorgeous and posing so beautifully only 1 hour after birth! Laura
Absolutely gorgeous! Congratulations Daisy!
Awesome start to the morning, C! He’s beautiful, and so is the Proud Mama!
Have a wonderful day, and thanks so much for sharing him with us!
Wonderful news and photos!
Wow! That’s so exciting! Congrats to Daisy and to you, and welcome to little Bobby Blanc!
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! Beautifully done Daisy.
C, fear not I will be your proxy with tea drinking until things settle down.
🙂 Mandy xo
Thank you, have a good strong pot of the stuff for me! today will be wild! c
This is so wonderful and I thought the photos were amazing – thank you for managing to take them while all the action was going on. I feel quite emotional about it all and he is just so beautiful. Animals are incredible the way they can stand, walk and feed so soon after birth and Daisy looks to be taking it all in her stride. Sigh, this is fantastic! Now go and have yourself that cup of tea and then wine later on…yuo deserve it!
Morning tanya!!
Of course now I am offline the excitement happens. BB is a beauty. Congrats to all esp Daisy & C! 😀
Congratulations Daisy! You have a beautiful baby :-D.
What an amazing story to read, I am still in bed, iPad on hand, smiling and in awe with the images!
The “baby” is soooo big, hard to believe it all can work so smoothly!
congrats to all, I look forward to more and more posts about the family….
What a beautiful baby! Congratulations!