Becky(13) gives parents night off to deliver twin calves
THE parents of mid Cork teenager Becky Keane got the night off on Saturday as the 13-year-old volunteered to look after a cow expecting twin calves – and then promptly delivered them singlehandedly.
Becky, a second year pupil in Aherla, was watching from the house when she saw the cow become agitated and then she and her sister headed down.
By the time they arrived, the first calf had been delivered by its mother. Becky then decided to put her hand in to check the second calf to ensure it was ‘coming right’. “I put ropes on and I helped to get her out because she wasn’t too keen on pushing the second one out when she had the first one in front of her,” she said.
THIRTEEN year old Becky Hynes from the mid Cork village of Aherla offered to give her parents the night off from looking after cows due to calve on their farm at the weekend.
And then the aspiring young farmer showed her agricultural mettle by delivering twin calves during Saturday night.
She had been watching the cow which was expected to deliver twins by camera during the evening and when she went to the byre to check again around midnight she noticed the cow was getting a little agitated, a sure sign of imminent arrivals.
“I went back up to the house and put on my gear and had a cup of tea, all the time keeping an eye on the camera,” Becky recalled this week.
“Then around ten to two she popped out the blister, which means the calves are coming.”
Becky, a second year pupil, went down with her elder sister, Chloe, who was there in case there might be difficulties, and by the time they got there the cow had given birth to the first calf.
“I sprayed it with iodine to ensure there was no infection and put it in front of the cow and then I put in my hand to check if the second calf was coming right.
“At the start I didn’t really want to do it as I had never done it before but I kind of knew I had to do it so I did it.
“The calf was coming right so I gave her a bit of time and I put ropes on and I helped to get her out because she wasn’t too keen on pushing the second one out when she had the first one in front of her.
“Then the second one was out and she looked after the two of them.
“We gave them their bottles of colostrum and made sure they were settled for the night.”
This was not the first time Becky was involved in a calving though previously she had only calved single calves and her parents, Peter and Paula Hynes, were with her when she was assisting for the birth of twin calves.
She is clearly aspiring to follow in the footsteps of her dad, Peter, a former Farming Independent Farmer of the Year in 2017.
“I’d like to go into farming - I’d probably go to college and study agriculture with business and then go travelling for a bit and get a bit of experience in farms in different countries and then come home and do my own bit of farming.
“Farming is very much a business these days with all the paperwork,” said Becky.
After delivering twin calves, paperwork, as cumbersome as it is, will be a doddle for Becky!