A New Brunswick farmer put the life-saving skills he had learned to good use, when he saved a newborn calf.
Andy Benson is quite fond of the newest addition on his family’s farm.
“I'll probably pay more attention to her then some of the other ones,” says Benson.
The calf, Lucky, got her name after her brush with death.
“We knew it was alive when we were first pulling it because it's tongue was moving, but as soon as we got it out we knew it was struggling to breath and then it just stopped breathing and went right limp after giving three big kicks,” says Benson.
Benson says it's not uncommon for deaths to occur when calves are being born, but he had a feeling this one was different.
“We tried to get the fluid out, couldn't get nothing so we sat her down and I wiped her nose off and started blow, covered its mouth and other nostril and started blowing in its opposite nostril and I had to do it five or six times or more,” says Benson.
After Benson gave the calf CPR and his father pressed on its chest to get its heart going the calf started to breath.
“I didn't know if she was gonna make it, but she did finally come around,” says Benson.
This isn't the first time Benson has administered CPR on his farm, but it is the first time it was successful.
“The cow calved in the other barn there when we weren't there and when it come out it folded its head under itself by the time, it was just minutes after she calved when I got over there, but I couldn't get no response out of that one,” says Benson.
Benson says he figured out how to give CPR to an animal after seeing it on TV.
“I seen it on TV years ago, long time ago actually, I just always remembered it,” says Benson. “I saw a guy doing it to a deer on TV and figured if you can do it to a deer you must be able to do it to a cow. I figured I'd try it anyway, give her a chance.”
Now, Lucky the calf is healthy and happy and Benson says she's milking all the attention she can get.
