Emerald Freshens!

This is Emerald. As you can see, she looks quite pensive.  She has been expecting her first calf for quite

some time and it looks as though that time has come.  She is 3 years old, a little old for a first calf, but she is a big girl and should have no problems.

We left Emerald alone for a while to let nature takes its course......

........after a while though, it looked like she was going to need a little bit of help.

With a few bale strings, and slow, steady pulling...........

..... a few pushes from Emerald and a little assistance from Dr. Dan..........

............the new baby slipped right out!

As Emerald begins to clean off her new baby, Dan took a quick peek.....

.......it's a boy!!

Since he's a boy, obviously we cannot milk him.  So for the next 4 months he will live a

grand life, eating all the mother's milk he wants and getting lots of exercise in his

outdoor pen.  Then he will become veal.  This is a much better alternative than

sending him off to auction at 2 days old, where many Jersey calves are not even

accepted since they are generally much smaller than other breeds. Some farms even

put them down at birth to avoid the cost and labor of raising them.  This way,

he leads a good life which has an end purpose.

Here is a short video of the little guy as he stands up for the first time, 

only 10 minutes after his birth.

(please excuse the poor quality.... our camera is old and tired)