It's a girl (finally)

Yesterday I spent a lot of time walking out in the pasture, checking on Bonnie.  She seemed to be staying in hiding.  She was holding her tail up most of the time, and those two sunken-in places by her tail-head were evident.  Her udder was so full and tight she could hardly walk.  We knew she was going to calve before too long.  

She changed locations from time to time.  

When she moved, I followed.  

As the sun set, Bonnie was showing more signs that there would be a calf soon.  I went to the house, got a flashlight, and went back to wait.  But it was cold, and I finally gave up watching.  I hated to do that, because we were in for our coldest night yet, and a calf's ears and tail can freeze if they don't get dried off pretty quickly.  

I woke up this morning at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep, so at 4 A.M. I bundled up and went to see the calf.  I knew it would be there, and I figured Mama would have it all licked dry.  

Obviously, she had just had it before I arrived.  I am so glad I went on to bed at 10 P.M. last night, because it would have been useless to have stayed out in the cold.  Of course, since the calf was just-born and soaking wet, that meant a long walk back to the house for towels so I could help get it dried off.  It was 17 degrees.  

Now that I have so many cows that I really didn't care whether Bonnie had a girl or not, she gave me a girl.  This would be a good one to keep, though, with the beef characteristics of a Hereford combined with extra milk that the Jersey genes would give her.  She won't give as much milk as her mama, but she would give enough extra to raise a fine, big calf; being half Hereford, it would be a beefy calf if she were bred to a beef breed.  I wonder if I could find someone who would want such a cow?    
Oh, her name?  I believe she will be Crystal, as in ice crystals, although that isn't set in stone yet.  

I told Cliff last night that I wouldn't be taking a walk today.  My knees, both the real one and the artificial one, ache from all the walking yesterday and this morning.  I'm pretty sure my orthopedist wouldn't approve of all my shenanigans around here.