We headed out the door at daylight to see what had happened overnight. It’s 57 degrees, an extremely balmy February morning in Missouri. Checked on the heifers first. All quiet except for the heifer walking around with her tail up and a bag of waters showing. We’ll give her some time. Time to check on the older cows. Surprise! The first set of twins. Two nice little heifer calves. We worked one and loaded the other one in the ranger. We never leave twins with a cow, even one who takes both of them, for two reasons; cows can’t count so we would have to make sure the calves stay together for a couple of weeks and it’s hard on the cow. She might raise two 400 pound calves, but she would probably be open in the fall so we let her raise one and put the other one on a nurse cow. Then we have two 600 pound calves and she will be bred next fall.
Twin heifer calf waiting to meet her new family. 
Drinking breakfast with her new brother and adopted mom (Pumpkin).
We start back through the cows and immediately spot a problem. There is a cow walking around with a calf leg sticking out of her. Two feet with the bottom of the feet pointed toward the ground and the head laying on the front legs would be a correct presentation. The bottom of this foot is pointed toward the sky meaning the calf is trying to come back legs/butt first and there is only one leg showing. This is not good.
Back to the house, put the twin in the warming box, set the gates, and grab the four wheelers. We get the cow pulled out of the pasture and to the barn as quickly and calmly as possible. Mitch gets the other leg up,chains on and hooked to the calf jack. It only takes a few minutes and we have a live calf. Time is critical with a backwards calf. The cord breaks as a calf comes out, but because he’s coming backwards he can’t breathe so you have to get him out quickly.
Back to check on the heifer. No progress there. We give her about thirty minutes and check her again. Still no progress. It’s time to see what the problem is. The heifers are in a pasture that is not easy to pull from, but she is very cooperative. In the chute we find that the calf is positioned correctly, but he is bigger than we like for a heifer. It’s a tight fit, but another live calf!
Okay, now we can go in and eat breakfast! Welcome to calving season where you never know what might happen.
Until next time.
Don’t forget to close the gate!