An Extraordinary Day

Today was extraordinary.  It began with my leaping out of bed, and let me tell you, there is little that makes me leap early in the morning.  My Loving Spouse uttered those few words that can make me commence leaping…

“I think your cow calved!”

What!  Almost 2 weeks early…I threw on some clothes and boots and headed out to the pasture to find a curled up, darling little calf who looked to be an hour or two old.  All was well, no excessive ‘Mooing’ or carrying on and I thought to myself…

‘Well, that was almost anti-climatic.  They didn’t even need me’.We moved the pair off by themselves in the adjoining field.  My Loving Spouse returned to get ready for work, while I contemplated the name choices for a calf starting with the letter ‘C’….all the while keeping an eye on my cow and new baby.

To my trained/untrained eye…Agnes looked to be in labor again!  I flew through the house, banging doors and hollering for My Loving Spouse.

“I think it might be twins”.

Twins in cows are rare, not unheard of but not common either.  We ran outside…the contraction had subsided.  My Loving Spouse thought that she was just expelling the after birth…okay..off he went to work.  I still didn’t like what was going on and called Our Friend the Farmer.

“I’ve never seen your cows do this!  It looks like contractions but no feet….Oh, Bad British Word…she’s calved again!”

‘Run and clean the nose off’ he said and I hung up the phone and ran through the field.  Agnes was licking the calf’s face, but nothing was happening.  I cleaned out the nose.  I picked up the wet calf by the back legs and swung it around…. nothing…  It was dead… I was so sad… I did cry a few tears standing in the field…as Our Friend the Farmer came in to help and have a look…  It was born head first…and just didn’t make it…if I’d known I might have been able to push the head back in to pull the legs out…but we were not expecting twins…Our Friend the Farmer consoled me, as he knows how hard it is to lose one.  He offered to take care of the dead little calf and said…you are still calving 100% which is what you want…and we talked once again of that very rare day many years ago right here on our farm, when Our Friend the Farmer helped the previous owners deliver triplet calves…now that is really rare!

I went about the morning, feeling a tiny bit of failure.

I looked outside again, and thought…what is that gray thing behind the cow!  I’ve never run through our field so fast, screaming for Number Two Son to come and help!  I ran up to the third calf of the morning and the bag was completely covering the head.  My poor cow Agnes was done in by her third birth of the morning, so she was not helping.  I ripped the sack off the calf’s head and stuck my fingers in the nose to clear out the mucus.  Once again I picked up a wet newborn calf by the back legs and swung it around…a huge sneeze and cough and the calf was shaking its head…  This time I saved it and let me tell you… I am walking on cloud Nine!

“Call Our Friend the Farmer I hollered to Number Two…Triplets!”

Our Friend the Farmer came down to the field for the second time that morning.  Helping to put the two little calves together, so Mama Agnes would accept them both.I called My Loving Spouse on the phone, to update him on the calf situation and of course he could not believe his ears!Triplets are rare enough, to have them happen on the same property…very rare indeed….both times assisted by the same generous neighbor.  What an extraordinary day!

I make the following entry in my Cattle log:

7-10-15

C-15 Clara Bell Walton  

 Black Angus Heifer

(Mother Agnes, Father Justin Case)

D-15 R.I.P.

(Mother Agnes, Father Justin Case)

E-15 Eliza Doolittle Walton    

Black Angus Heifer

(Mother Agnes, Father Justin Case)

And we are blessed…

by cows, calves and neighbors!