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Blogs by Linda Watson
Warwick and Low Arvie - two exciting events! 6/5/2010 9:27:58 PM
Well, here I am in Warwick preparing to attend the wedding of my niece today. I hope the weather holds out for them. It is to be at the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick with the reception at the Warwick Arms Hotel - all very convenient for me! (LwtLoLA) The main celebrations are to take place at next weekend fiesta in Spain where the bridegroom's parents live and all the young folk are jetting off there next week. The groom is a serving officer in the British Army and has recently returned from the front line in Afghanistan. He will be married in dress uniform. More on all that next time!
Back at Low Arvie, Richard is preparng for another exciting event - the arrival of Lady Heather and Lady Zoe's first calves. Yesterday he separated them from the rest of the herd and they are now in the 'maternity wing' (aka the old byre). They are already showing signs that the calves will soon be here as their udders are filling with the first milk or colostrum (see both books for the details of a calf's entry to the world and how their immediate needs are fulfilled by both their bovine and human carers). Both of these heifers were served by artificial insemination nine months ago and the semen came from one of John Finlay's (both books, but mainly LwtLoLA) bulls called Glenkiln Dynamite, so we are hoping for good strong calves. Usually all our cows, including the first timers, manage the calving by themselves unaided and it is a wonderful thing to see how they instinctively know how to proceed. After the calf is born, the mother immediately gets up and licks it all over from head to tail, and within a very short time (usually less than an hour) the calf takes its first meal of milk. I never cease to be amazed at it all, especially thinking back to the birth of Catherine and all the help I needed to get things up and running! Nature is so marvellous and I wonder where we humans in the Western world lost our natural instincts and became so reliant on others at these times. The one thing we have to watch very carefully is that the cow sheds the complete afterbirth because sometimes part of it can remain inside her and fester. This can cause her to become sterile. Usually it comes away soon after the birth and she eats the placenta to take back all the nutrients from it. (I am glad that that part of the process is not necessary for humans, though!)
Tabitha and Michael remain where they were for the moment (up by the lake - see previous blogs) and I will give my attention to them when today's activities are over. I think I know what they are going to do next, but when I start writing, they may have different ideas!
