Oregon Public Broadcasting

Newborn calves are the first sure sign that farm country is waking up from its deep winter sleep. Calving season means hard work and late nights. Correspondent Anna King tromped the fields with one Eastern Washington farmer keeping close watch over his 'girls.' 

Card: "I'm Charlie Card and I raise grass fed beef in Prosser."

Card: "Alright let's step over the fence and go out where the rest of the calves are at."

Sound: "Moo!"

King: "I scramble behind Charlie Card over a rickety ladder and into a pasture. We stand amid more than 20 mother cows and their calves basking in the spring sun. Some are just days -- even hours old."

Card: "It's neat to see these babies born, it really is. Well, it's the miracle of life. Look at that little black bugger. You ever see anything shinier in your life?"

Sound: Licking

Card: "She's just licking his face off and cleaning around his eyes and nose and she's working her way clear back. It's kind of neat. Kinda, hell it is neat."

King: "They don't make much noise."

Card: "Hey. It's warm. It's dry. Their belly's full. There's no reason to make any noise."

Card: "Without calving you don't have a payday. You have got to get these calves on the ground. And if you lose one you figure you've just lost $500. And in this tight situation and the economy we've got, and the calf cow production, if you lose a calf it hurts. Hopefully you don't lose any."

SOUND: Wind

King: "I just think it's funny how they hang out together just like little kids. Like, they are kinda all together."

Card: "Just exactly like little kids. You come out here in the afternoon and it's  warm and they will get to racing. They will run back and forth just as fast as they can run. And some of them will fall down. You can just see them laughing. It is -- it's a fun time of year for that part of it. It really is."

King: "Oh my gosh, look at this little guy."

Sound: King and Card laugh together

King: "From a field full of newborn calves in Prosser, Washington, I'm Anna King reporting."