One thing farming has taught me is making plans is merely wishful thinking. Right now there is a lot going on. It is easy to zone in on the cows who are ready to calve and let your gaurd down and depend on the cows to raise them once they are here. We make sure all the calves are present but it is more common to catch a new baby napping in the sun rather than up running and playing with the older herdmates, making checking their general health difficult. A few of our heifers on one farm are not the heaviest milkers. After noticing a very skinny, weak calf yesterday, a decision to offer a little assistance turned into a full out rescue mission. When we came back to take the pair to the barn to give them both some extra feedings the poor little new momma stood over her soaking wet, stretched out , lifeless calf and my heart broke. She was doing what she knew to do but the supply of milk her body produced had starved her calf to the point of death. We worked with and prayed for the little guy all evening. He had to be tube fed because he was too weak to nurse the bottle. By the time we left him for the night he could ay least hold his head up. At least I knew he was warm and dry. When the morning finally came I was nervous to make the trip to the barn. When I turned the light on there he stood! Excited I hurried in to try to teach him to drink from a bottle. After a little work he sloppily got use to the awkward rubber nipple. The sound of his tail swishing back and forth excitedly, playing his hollow belly like a drum, made me swell up with tears because Gods mercy let him live. After a difficult time getting his momma to leave where she last saw him, we finally reunited them in the barn. After they had been apart all night she still didnt have any milk to offer him. He tried and tried to nurse even after drinking a whole bottle from me. The painful fact is even tho she is willing she may not be able to raise him on her own. We take our responsibility as caregivers to our herd very serious. Something as preventable as starvation can not be acceptable. We will do whatever it takes to save the life of the cattle on our farm. I am so ashamed my commitment to the people around me isnt as burdensome to me. Knowing I hold the answers, the truth and the love that they need and I withhold it from them. We are not on an assistance mission, we are on a rescue mission. I need to change my focus from helping out a little to reaching out and being a lifeline straight to the Savior.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 14:06:01 +0000
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