4:25 am Farm Report You better come quick. It was about this time of year.. The weather was pretty close to the same.. Very cold, Not too much snow.. The pregnant Hereford cows were spending the winter on a friends farm nearby. The heifers were at my place. The cows had the use of a very large barn, with beautiful stalls, warm water and a winter holding area twice the size of mine. Winter paradise.. Calving would start in March as the weather got warmer and continue through the fall.. That was the plan. I love plans. Gloria, one of the brood cows had other plans. It was a bitterly cold morning when Gail called me and told me to come quick. One of the cows had calved. It didnt look good. Gail was quite a dairy woman. If she said it didnt look good, she wasnt exaggerating. It was a long eleven minutes to her farm. When I arrived, Gloria was in the barn with Gail. There on the floor was a calf. Still. Oh no... Gloria was calling frantically. Gail was bent over the calf. She looked up at me and said he was still alive. Gloria had done what she thought was the right thing. She came into the barn to have her calf. Sheltered from the wind, safe from predators, it seemed the perfect place. And it would have been, if it hadnt been so cold. The calfs wet hair had frozen to the floor. We guessed he had been there for several hours. Unable to move. I told Gail I had never seen this. She hadnt either. We couldnt lift him, without causing serious injury. In an effort to try and keep him warm, I had taken off my jacket and covered him. He was beyond shivering. Gloria kept nuzzling his head. Each time her tongue moved across his face, I saw some blood seep out from the area where his one ear was frozen to the floor. We could not move him. It felt like it took forever and in the telling of this story, I feel like it did. But it didnt. I called my friend Beth who lived nearby. Bring blankets you can lose. Gail ran for pails. I found a calf bottle and a wheelbarrow. Once there were three of us, this would be simpler. Now, we had the full herd with us and no room to move. Everyone needed to be moved out and the doors closed. Everyone, but Gloria. She wasnt going anywhere. I remember Gail asking her to stop bellowing in her ear. Gloria didnt listen. It took Beth minutes to get to us. The plan. Pour warm water under the little bull and try to peel him off the floor. Gradually. Carefully. Beth on one side. Me on the other. Gail had the warm water pails. The wheelbarrow, on its side was behind me. The plan. Peel, lift and then roll him into the wheelbarrow. Blankets were in the wheelbarrow. If his hair froze again, we wanted it to be frozen to cloth, not metal. The warm water was freezing quickly when it hit the floor. Beth and I had to pull ourselves hard to break ourselves free. I couldnt imagine having my skin stuck to the floor like this newborn calf. He hardly made a noise. From time to time his eyes closed and I thought he would die. Hypothermia probably would kill him. But not without a good fight. I really dont know how long this took. It felt like an agonizingly long time. But it worked. We had him free and in the wheelbarrow. We couldnt move an inch without his mother, Gloria, in our way. While she fussed and licked him clean, I managed to get a small amount of milk from her. Just enough. Warm. A taste of life... Another plan. Beth and Gail stayed in the barn, I left for home. Both cow and calf would have to stay in my barn. When I returned to Gails place, the little bull hadnt moved much. No matter. At least he wouldnt die stuck to the floor. Now how to get him and his mother to my farm safely. The three of us farmers knew cows. This was going to be tricky. Gloria could get mad and hurt us, maybe hurt her calf in the process. Another plan. Beth warmed up her car and parked it next to the trailer. The back hatch was open. I haltered Gloria and Beth took the wheelbarrow. Gail walked behind Gloria, talking to her all the way. Have I mentioned Beth is pretty fast on her feet? I should have. Our plan. This barn was very long. We started our walk slowly. Glorias face was in the wheelbarrow, monitoring the calf. As we got closer to the trailer, we picked up speed. Suddenly Beth veered to the right and I ran up into the trailer. With Gloria. Gail slammed the door behind us. Out through the escape door I went. Oh, didnt that cow have a fit! But it was okay. We were all unhurt. All three of us lifted the calf into the car and raced to my place. I remember hearing Gail say, Well that was some different. It sure was. In the end, he survived. With much help. We named him Rufus. Theres more to his story to tell. Maybe tomorrow. Thats the plan. But this is farming... And if Ive learned anything at all, its that plans can change. At the drop of a calf... Im off to the barn. Ill be back later.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 11:03:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015