BROWNSTOWN

Fairgoers on Wednesday got an up-close look at what many farmers see regularly.

It was about 4:15 p.m. when Cedar Front Farms’ cow, Isabell, arched her back, stuck her tail up and then laid in her stall.

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“That’s when you know she’s going into labor,” said Breonna Bottorff, whose family owns the cow.

Isabell was originally supposed to have the calf, who was appropriately named Fairar, on July 13, but the female calf decided to make a much more grand entrance into the world.

It was a busy day for Isabell, Bottorff said, because the cow placed first in the aged dairy beef show earlier in the day. Bottorff’s sister, Brooklyn, showed Isabell in the morning, and by the afternoon, her stall was occupied by two.

The expected gestation period for a cow is the same as a human — nine months.

“We thought maybe she would have her the next day (July 14), but she ended up waiting until today (Wednesday),” Bottorff said.

A crowd gathered around the stall at the dairy beef barn to witness the birth, something Bottorff notes as an exciting experience to share with the public.

“It’s kind of an experience because it’s our everyday lives and a lot of these people don’t see this every day,” she said. “They said it was cool, and some of the kids thought so until the calf came, and then they thought it was gross.”

But once Fairar came into the world at 4:37 p.m. and laid on the ground, everyone seemed to think it “was really cool,” she said.

“It was an experience for us to watch the little ones and even adults learn at the same time,” she said. “We first saw little feet, and she pushed some more, but we had to help her. My dad pulled (the calf) out.”

The first thing the family did was check to see if it was a male or a female.

Fairar was up and moving around the stall shortly after her grand entrance, and Isabell kept a watchful eye over her new calf as each passerby made their way through the barn.

There have been several calves birthed at the fair over the years. Kevin Benter’s cow had a calf one year. His stall is near the Bottorff’s.

“It was a while back,” Breonna Bottorff said.

The delivery was educational because Bottorff said it gives people an understanding on how life works for farmers.

“We want everyone to know this is how it happens and what we do,” she said. “It gives them a different experience.”

The birth was a topic of discussion the rest of the week.

“You’re kind of in shock because you don’t really expect them to be born here,” she said. “It has been the talk of the row here, and we’ve had all kinds of kids come and look.”

Cedar Front Farms is operated by Brian and Melissa Bottorff with their children Breonna, Brooklyn and Brocker.