Just watched the newest baby stand up! That's the second today! Both mothers are smaller in stature, so I'm guessing they are ChaWakan and Camille. Since these were three-year-old "heifers", they now are "cows" because they have given birth to a calf. I'll let you know in my next email who the new cows were.
I'm checking the pasture by binoculars these days, for both babies and water tanks. On Tuesday I was on the porch watching and waiting for Freda to give birth. She had a tough time with a three-hour breech birth last year, so I was worried about her this year. It took a while, but she had her baby at 7 minutes before 11 am, and it stood up at 7 minutes after 11 am. Fourteen minutes from birth to standing- be it a little wobbly...
About 2 pm that day I needed to check the water tank as it had a problem and was overflowing when I first checked it that morning. I turned off the electricity to the fence and started walking across the first paddock to where the tank was between two paddocks.
As I got half way across the pasture, I heard a deep rumble from Freda's throat. Bison make very distinct sounds, and this threatening call only comes when you get too close to a mother's newborn.
There were two more fences and 300 feet between me, the water tank, and Freda near by, but I turned around without taking another step. Bison have very good memories, and you never want to make a new "bad impression" with a cow.
When I made my turn, I saw the flash of another newborn starting to stand further up the pasture. Kajsa got through her delivery without me as her audience.
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