One More Day

We are nearing the end of calving season.  Okay, not ‘we’ exactly, Our Friend the Farmer is nearing the end of calving season…well, not even him exactly, more like his cows are nearing the end of calving season.  It is the cows that actually do the work.  Our Friend the Farmer is just there to help when necessary, and then of course me to help when he is desperate.  I’ve been lucky enough to catch a few James Herriot moments, where Our Friend the Farmer has had to roll up his shirt sleeves and help Mother Nature along.  (Believe me, if you are going to put your arm into the back-end of a cow you need to roll up your shirt sleeves!)  The Farmer’s Top Man keeps the cow’s tail out-of-the-way and my job is to just stay out-of-the-way, grateful that I get to watch.  The cow goes into a special cow squeeze to try to keep her from kicking the farmer.  Even if the cow wants the farmer’s help getting that calf out, she is sometimes a bit ‘snorty‘ and unpredictable….pregnancy and a tough labor, usually combine to create an unhappy temperament in every species.

The farmer, now Cow Mid-wife, reaches in to check for hoofs/feet and make sure the calf is heading in the right direction and help turn it if needed.  Then he attaches a stainless steel chain around the hoofs with handles on his end to pull with.  He is very strong and I have had to see him pull really, really hard as the cow was not able to assist with pushing the calf out at all.  (I mean down on the ground, boots up on the back of the cow’s hind legs, leaning back with all his might kind of pulling.)  With a fair bit of noise from both ends of the cow, out the calf (usually a big one) comes.  It is pretty amazing to see him do it.  All the bovine are then given room to bond, rest and have some alone time, and Our Friend the Farmer goes to clean up.

Most of the calves are doing great, romping quickly the next day in the field not wandering too far away from their Moms and her portable snack station (warm milk at all times).  All the calves except one, who so far should be named One More Day.  One More Day had a bad birth or something…  Her Mother is worried and sweet and stands nearby always moo-ing and giving it a lick when able to encourage the baby along to catch up with the other calves.  One More Day was not sucking or standing or lifting her head.  She made it through the first night with Our Friend the Farmer putting her mother’s milk into her through a tube.  One of my cleaning rubber gloves was sacrificed to try and make a softer nipple for her suck from…but this did not work either..another day of tubing her came and went.  My Loving Spouse and I got to ‘help’ at the 11:00pm feeding last night after we’d spent an hour combing the shelves of the only store in town open… The Dollar Store…. looking for inspiration for the cow nipple sucking problem…. we came home with tubes and bottles and one embarrassed teenager as most of the tubes and bottles were for enema bags, hot water bottles, a douche kit and bubble bath solutions.  Let me tell you, farm supplies at night are hard to find…even in the country, but we were trying to help.

This morning One More Day did a bit better, taking a bottle with a big nipple from me and even beginning to suck and make headway on the whole eating process.  She will stand for a bit if she is ‘stood’ but cannot get there on her own.  Her Mama seems to know we are all there to help the little one and stands nearby moo-ing.  As Our Friend the Farmer says, “You don’t have to do very much to be a cow, but you do have to be able to move on your feet and eat”.

You have to be an optimist to be a farmer.  I am so grateful for all Our Friend the Farmer is willing to teach me and let me be ‘in on’.  I know it usually makes his work slower and longer and he seldom gets much out of it other than the occasional laugh.  I don’t think One More Day is going to make it… so much is not working…but, I want her to…  If she cannot get up on her own and walk, at some point, the bottle feeding will have to stop, but when she makes a little bit of progress, it is easy to think… well, just give it One More Day.