Zora and her blessed Easter, Passover, and Spring Gift
“Zora needs to come up to the barn. She’s off by herself down in the field. Get the rope!”
With no due date for Shat Acres Zora to calve, as our bull had been clandestine about sharing his amour, we had been watching Zora closely for signs of an eminent arrival.
Using our ‘rope trick’ Ray and I each took an end of our 50’ rope, and walking slowly and methodically behind Zora, brought her up to the barn and into the clean straw-filled pen. Our rope trick allows just the two of us (having no employees or farmhands) to move cattle easily and avoid stress for cattle and humans.
When we got her into the barn, Zora was discharging thick mucus and had an enlarged udder. We did not know exactly how long it would be before calving, but with the cold, rain, and muddy Spring reluctant to arrive, we did not want to be scouring the field day or night looking for a chilled, wet newborn.
We had made the right choice, as within an hour Zora produced a water sac. Mature cows should complete birthing their calf 1/2 to 3/4 hour after the water sac appears. For first calf heifers the time can be 3/4 hour to just over an hour.
I checked the time that the water sac had appeared.
Zora is a Highland/ Shorthorn cow. Our xbreds grow faster and can be bred sooner than our purebred registered Highland cows. Zora, will turn four in May 2026 and soon would be birthing her third calf. Even with the rapid growth of our xbred cows, this is more babies sooner than we would normally want Zora to have.
(Search my May 27, 2024 post to learn more about Zora’s sordid history)
Allowing Zora privacy,, I sat quietly around a corner of the barn largely hidden from her in her pen. About 20 minutes after the water sac, two feet made their appearance. This was a welcome sight in more ways than one—the protruding hooves were facing down. Whew! Correct presentation for a normal birth is two feet facing down with the nose between the feet, as if the calf were diving into a pool. The tiny hooves disappeared and reappeared as Zora experienced contractions, normal during the birthing process.
Checking the time, I began to grow a bit concerned. It was getting close to the time that the calf should be completely expelled. Zora is an unusual cow in more ways than one. She is completely comfortable and relaxed with being handled by people. And she had no horns, which although we love our pure Highlands, does make her a bit easier to handle. I expressed my concern about the time to Ray.
"Bring me the chains. And the hook."
"I think you should put Zora in the squeeze chute if you are going to try to help deliver the calf," I said, with more than a gentle suggestion.
"Nope. This is Zora. I think I can do it right here. Get the chains."
Making a loop in one end of the chain, Ray slid it over one of the feet, being sure to get the loop far enough up the leg over the fetlock. Reaching inside Zora, he procured the other foot, repeating the loop in the other end of the chain, and securing the second foot. Locking the hook through the middle of the chain, Ray crouched low so that the pull would replicate the direction of a normal birth.
Zora was a champ. She stood perfectly still while Ray pulled.
With a whoosh, the calf slid out of Zora onto the soft straw of the pen. Chains were unhooked and thrown aside. Nostrils and mouth were cleared, the calf rubbed vigorously with clean towels to dry it off and stimulate breathing. The BoSe injection of Vitamin E and Selenium was administered, the navel trimmed and dunked in iodine. Zora immediately took over and began licking her newborn, mooing gently to it while cleaning and stimulating it. (Remember the pink flagging tape I tied around the chains and hook? They had never been so easy to find and retrieve after tossing them hurriedly after the birth!)
A newborn calf should attempt to stand--albeit wobbly and unsteady--within twenty minutes to a half hour after birth. Calves need to get colostrum into their system within 12 hours, or they will not be able to absorb the antibodies through their intestines. Vigorous calves should attempt to nurse within an hour; we strive to ensure calves have colostrum within six hours at the longest.
Shat Acres has been raising Highland cattle since 1966--sixty years this year--and on April 2, 2026, we were privy to something we had never witnessed before. Let me tell you about Zora's new calf. Two minutes after birth the calf lifted its head. Two minutes! Ten minutes after exiting momma Zora, the calf was attempting to stand, fully upright at twelve minutes post birth. At sixteen minutes past Ray assisting Zora with delivery, the calf was independently sucking vigorously, precious antibody-rich colostrum flowing down her throat and into her hungry tummy! Precocious? You bet!
Ray and I watched in awe the vigor of this newly fledged, blue-roan heifer. It is possible that Zora might have delivered her calf without assistance. We will never know that. It is also possible that the extra assist, facilitating a less stressful, what could have been prolonged birth, allowed the calf to have more strength at birth to rise quickly and head for the milk bar with astounding energy and speed. We are smitten with this first of our 2026 calves.
Zora is patient and gentle, willing to share her baby with her humans. We invited our resident guests at Highland House Farm Stay to see the new baby if they wished. They were at the barn in the wink of an eye, getting to see firsthand a calf just five minutes old. They asked if the calf had a name. I said I had not named her yet, but the name would need to begin with the same phoneme as momma Zora. The younger of the visitors came up with the perfect name, one that fit like a glove.
Zora's little girl was christened Zara.
The next morning, we invited our Farm Stay guests back to the barn. Separating Zora and Zara in adjacent pens, Ray, I, and our new friends were able to commune with this little cutie. Proving herself to be not only precocious in physical and survival skills, Zara also immediately allowed herself to be touched, fondled, and loved on by her caregivers. Perhaps it was the calmness of Zora standing nearby, never taking her eyes off of Zara, that gave the calf confidence and comfort to relax and enjoy the petting and rubbing by humans.
Every birth is a miracle. Every. Single. Time. Zara is no exception. We could not be more grateful for Zora and her blessed Easter, Passover, and Spring gift.
Highland House Farm Stay Greenfield Highland Beef Mid Atlantic Highland Association Capital City Farmers' Market Montpelier Vermont Vermont Agency of Agriculture #thisisvt #babycow #farmlife #farmher #highlandcow #SeekAndSavor