2.16.25
What a week it has been! With temperatures dipping down below zero, myself still not running on all 8 cylinders and worrying about calves being born during the cold spell, then to top it off the main water pipe to the bunkhouse froze! Not exactly the best of weeks for sure, but that is life on a farm.
Now it is not at all unusual for us to have temperatures dropping well below the zero-degree mark, but it usually comes a bit earlier in the year and as a rule after a normal type of winter. By normal I mean a winter with snow and steady cold temperatures. This winter season however, Mother Nature has definitely been having hot flashes as we have had, up to now, unseasonably mild weather with lots of rain but little snow. Then suddenly, she seemed to remember it was winter and let loose the arctic blasts at last. This in itself would not be that bad, other than this year, we are in the midst of calving.
As a rule, we prefer our cows to calve in March. Even when we had 65 mother cows, we had them calve in March and their babies still made excellent weight by weaning time in the autumn. Last year however we took the gamble to breed the girls early to get them all on the same calving schedule for next year. It is much nicer to have the first calf heifers and the mature cows calving around the same time in March when the weather tends to be milder. As bad luck would have it, two of our cows Willow and RWF – Red White Face – dropped their calves this past Thursday. Thankfully it was above zero, well, 4 degrees above zero. I knew these two girls were close to calving so was anxious to keep an eye on them. Good thing we did!
The first thing I noticed was RWF’s calf, laying by the water tanks, under a small scraggly Juniper tree. Mum was nowhere close by, an ominous sign, and the poor wee thing had not even been totally cleaned of afterbirth. Jumping out the truck I climbed through the fence to check on the calf, fully expecting mum to come trundling over to see what I was doing with her baby, another ominous sign when she did not! Darrell passed me the towel we always keep in the truck, and I vigorously started rubbing the calf dry, glad he was still alive but awfully worried about him as he obviously had not been up on his feet to suckle his wayward mum! As I stuck a finger in his mouth, he latched onto it and started trying to suckle. A great sign!
Hoping mum would come and take over her newborn, we hurriedly brought some hay into the field to keep the other cows occupied while piling hay under and around the calf and herded his mum towards him. Despite him trying to struggle to his feet, his mother flatly ignored him. No sound of comfort or welcome did she utter, giving no sign of wanting anything to do with this newborn she resolutely turned and walked away to eat with the other cows. Even when I finally got the calf to give a plaintive moo it got no response from his mother. Blast it! This was not the first time this cow had calved, she should know better. Last year, she had her baby then promptly ran away from it! We were finally able to get her to reluctantly accept the calf and she did raise it up to be a nice healthy lad but I certainly did not expect this to happen a second time! Since she had been a first-time mum last year, we gave her a second chance as sometimes heifers can be persnickety with their first babies.
Just as I was thinking we would be raising a bottle calf, I noticed Willow off by herself under a sturdy Juniper way out in the field and then saw a wee black calf struggle to its feet! She had calved too! Leaving the one calf snuggled in its bed of hay Darrell and I headed out across the field to look at Willow. Now here was how a mother cow should act! Licking her baby which was already nice and dry courtesy of her mum’s earlier lavish attention, steady gentle crooning murmurs came from Willow as she let me come up to check her calf and give her a pat for a job well done. No worries about this calf being well taken care of!
Then it struck me. Willow was one of our half and half cows. Raised by Lass, she was half dairy and half beef. I had actually thought of keeping her as a replacement milk cow but ended up putting her out in the field with the beef girls instead. She has a lovely udder and is such a gentle girl, I was sure she could easily take on that other cow’s calf. Explaining to Darrell my plan and leaving Willow with some hay to munch on, we headed back across the field to where RWF was still having nothing to do with her calf. Quickly we lifted the baby into the hay trailer and trekked back across the snowy field to Willow, still with not the slightest interest from RWF.
Pulling the calf out the trailer we placed it beside Willow who by now was cleaning up her afterbirth. Grabbing some of the still warm membranes, I rubbed the orphan calf vigorously with it, hoping that distinctive scent would slightly confuse Willow as to why there were now two calves that smelled like hers! Confused she was! Her own calf was wanting to find its first meal and the orphan was struggling to get to its feet… feet that were knuckled under and felt frozen solid. Worrying that Willow might wander away with her own calf, leaving the orphan cold and alone since it could not get to its feet without help, I made the decision to take Willow and both calves down to the milk cow paddock. I would lock them up in one of the smaller pens down there so I could easily keep an eye on both calves until I knew Willow would accept the orphan.
With Darrell’s help, we loaded the two calves up into the hay trailer and began heading across the field towards the gate with Willow, trotting beside us, bellowing for her calf! In other words, acting exactly as a new mum should! Even with this distraction, RWF never even lifted her head to see what was going on like the all the other cows did. Confirmation she had no interest in being a mum! So, with Willow trotting anxiously beside us, we brought her and the newborn calves down to the paddock where Lass and Heidi and she herself had once lived. Installed in her familiar abode with lots of hay in front of her, Willow stood patiently as her own calf searched for a teat and began suckling while I helped the orphan onto his frozen legs and held him steady while placing a teat in his mouth too. Soon both calves were nursing away, each getting a bellyful of rich colostrum before settling back down on the hay laid down for their bed.
After several trips to check on Willow and the calves during the day, helping the orphan to his feet to suckle, near evening we finally saw the calf rise to his feet on his own. His little legs were stiff, and his hind hooves remained knuckled over, but he was up! That night I woke up several times, fretting about the calf, wondering about how cold it was outside, thinking maybe I should have brought the calf in. Eagerly I headed down to the milk house the next morning to milk Heidi, halfway dreading what I would find. Would it be a dead calf? Would Willow have abandoned it in a snowy corner of the pen? My worries were needless, for there was Willow, standing looking at me wanting some grain while both calves sucked away at her side. What was most wonderful to see was the orphan up on four very normally functioning legs, butting away at Willow’s udder like an old pro!
Second chances. Everyone deserves a second chance, even cows. Sometimes we hesitate to give second chances, remembering instead the old saying “once bitten twice shy”, but I have always felt it worthwhile to give a second chance. This abandoned, orphan calf was given a second chance at being raised by a wonderful mum, he has made it through a tough start in life but will do just grand. RWF was given a second chance too. Oh, in case you are wondering, she has since be renamed… GB.