Obstetrics on the farm

Weekend on the farm

We visited two volunteers who work on a farm run by an English couple. About 40 minutes drive from our current place of residence. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. We were warmly welcomed.

They own 420 hectares of land and the main source of income is milk production.

The highlight was Saturday night. We girls were sitting in the guesthouse when Richard (the owner) knocked on the door. A cow is about to give birth, who wants to come along?

Oh, how exciting! Johanna and I immediately said: Sure, we are midwives. We have to see that with a cow too!

So in the middle of the night, we drove across his fields in the Jeep, tried to catch the cow, but failed. So she was driven into the stable.

The cow went into the stable, then Richard followed and asked us to come in and close the door.

So there we were, in the middle of the dark. In front of us a cow about to give birth. Another cow on the right. We were in our evening loungewear and flip flops in the middle of cow dung. What an experience.

We pulled the calf out using ropes, the mother licked it off right after the birth and we just wrapped it in warm hay for now.

Two hours later we went back to feed the calf with colostrum (the first milk of the cow). It was too weak to drink on its own.

It was very similar to humans. When we give birth, we always emphasize the importance of the first breastfeeding right after delivery.

Although with humans it's a few milliliters, the newborn calf received 1.5 liters as its first portion. Impressive.

I don't need to experience this every day, but it was definitely worth it.