What Were You Doing at 4:15 This Morning?

Sleeping I hope! However, I'm thankful that Hannah decided it was time to eat at 4:00 this morning. We are calving and have already lost one calf to the nasty weather we have been having and I'm determined not to let it happen again. Even if I have to let cleaning the house go (OH, DARN) to make sure I get enough sleep. So, I fed Hannah and drug myself out of bed and into the cold. I had some good motivation since I had checked at 10:30 last night and one cow looked like she was going to calve very soon.

I wheeled out there and sure enough there was a furry black thing laying in the snow very still. I negotiated the drifts (which I have already been stuck in) and got to the calf. I thought for sure it was dead but it kicked a leg and bawled. I immediately jumped into action and threw the calf on the floor board of the pickup while watching Mama Cow to make sure she wasn't going to eat me.

I raced back to the house and drug the calf inside. One of my earliest memories of living on my Grandpa's ranch was when my Dad was helping calve and brought one into the house one cold winter night. He got the bright yellow hair dryer (think early 80s) out and began to warm the calf up. If it worked then it will probably work now. I got my blankets, towels, hair dryer, bottle and milk replacer and went to work. Daddy's job meantime was to keep Hannah asleep as long as possible while I worked on the calf. The news finally came on and I learned that it was 1 degree outside. No wonder he was cold and nearly dead! With the shock of an over 90 degree temperature difference who can blame him for wanting to give up!


They got up about 6:00 and came out to join the excitement. Hannah loved it! She was watching me work and then would venture up to pet the calf. She was fascinated by the mooing. Ben had trucks to load so it was left to Hannah and I to get the calf to stand and nurse, and then get him his shots and eartag before taking him back to Mama.


Finally about 8:15 we got him back to Mama Cow. I was driving out of the pasture when I noticed that another cow's water had broken. I thought here we go! This may be "one of those days." It seems every year we have a really cold day when calves keep dropping and we are doing good to keep up with getting them warm and fed. Today being "Super Tuesday" I thought I had better go vote in between calves or I may never get the chance. We drove the 2.5 miles to vote, got back to the pasture and the new calf was already on the ground. I drove to the house and by then it was already up and nursing. What a difference a few degrees and some sunshine can make!

Have a warm day!