Sydney and Lane Caraballo take a selfie after successfully helping a surrogate cow deliver an overdue embryo transfer calf that presented backward during labor. The two worked quickly to get the calf out alive and used calving chains and a calf jack to assist the cow.

Caraballo is a fifth-generation rancher and farmer who manages Glasoe Angus near Wildrose. Her columns also appear regularly in The Journal.

My oldest son locks eyes with me and says, “Don’t worry, Mom. Stay calm.”

I am dashing back toward him with calving chains tossed around my neck, hooks in one hand and the mechanical calf puller/jack in the other. Lane has locked our recipient cow, which is the equivalent of a surrogate, in the head chute while she tries to push out a backward calf who is not arriving front hooves and head first. The embryo transfer calf is also overdue, which adds to its size and possible difficulty coming through the birth canal and pelvis. The cow’s cervix hasn’t dilated like it would with normal presentation, and there is a chance the calf’s rib cage could hitch and lock at the cow’s pelvis. The umbilical cord and placenta could also detach before its head leaves the canal and thus suffocate and kill it.

I quickly insert my right gloved hand inside the cow to locate the first rear hoof. I pull it back toward me in order to loop a chain above the ankle or fetlock joint and around the leg. The hoof jerks back as I pull. I tell Lane the calf is alive and strong. I reach back inside to locate the other back hoof, pull it out and loop the second chain around its leg. Lane positions the calf jack against the top of the cow’s thighs.

We attach each chain to a hook on either side of the calf jack. I quickly instruct Lane that he will have to hold the calf puller at a slight upward angle so that the calf will leave the canal parallel to his mother’s spine. The calf jack maintains pressure, and each time the cow contracts and pushes, Lane moves the lever on the jack to help pull the calf further out. We don’t want to injure the calf during the force of the pull or create vaginal tearing for the cow. Lane must be careful to ease the back hips and rib cage out in timing with the cow. I help with vaginal massage to further stretch the cow’s tissue and hold the calf up behind the back legs.

The calf slowly slides out of the canal and then comes in a whoosh with the head and front legs and embryonic fluid. I grab a front and back leg and drag it to dry straw where I hold him in a frog position and swipe into his mouth (gloves now off) to remove fluid and help clear the airway. His eyes are blinking; he takes his first breaths. He holds his head up, which lets me know he has good vigor and will probably do well. Within minutes the calf is trying to stand and soon he has found his mother’s teat and is slurping his first tastes of colostrum.

The calf continues to do well as the days pass. He is powerfully designed and could develop into one of our top sire prospects, but I note in our calving book that he was born backward and assisted. Backward births account for less than two percent of our deliveries, but we’d prefer none. Research points to several possible factors for increased risk of backwards deliveries: lack of maternal nutrition, smaller and older cows, genetics, abnormal position of the calf and/or fetal size and weight. Ruling out several of those factors, data shows that embryo transfer calves born via surrogate experience longer gestation periods and heavier birth weights than if they were naturally conceived and delivered by their genetic mother.

tI will not match this recipient to this embryo pairing again. It is my job to correctly choose sires that add performance to our herd while protecting calving ease and reproductive longevity and health of each of our females, whether they be first-calf heifers, mature natural cows or our recipient dams. We prefer our heifers to deliver calves that weigh between 70 to 80 pounds whereas our mature cows can deliver calves much heavier with ease. We still prefer their calves to stay below the 100-pound mark because the majority of our commercial buyers don’t want genetics from calves with huge birth-weights.

Regardless, we know there will be several times we opt to assist in a delivery each year. Each time I choose a new sire to utilize with my heifers, I also attend to calf performance that will make that calf have a good wean weight and the potential to grow into a herd sire or a productive replacement dam. So I risk the occasional pull – especially when the heifer doesn’t have calving ease and a low birthweight score in her genetic makeup.

I also risk losing a wedding band if I forget to remove my rings before calving season. After I lost my ring to the straw during an assisted delivery several years ago, I have wisely decided to go ring-free each March. Even when the gloves go on and the rings come off, calving season remains my favorite time of the year. That calf that Lane and I pulled greets us every morning; he follows us around demanding a good head rub and back scratch. One of our friends calls such friendly calves grass puppies. And there are few greater joys each spring than having a bundle of grass puppies frolicking in our back pastures.