I've Gone Country A blog about a city girl learning a whole new world

Last week we had just returned from a trip, upon entering the pasture we found that we had a baby born while we were gone.

Punkin is the mother…since we were gone to Idaho when it was born….we named the baby girl Ida.

She is a cutie and Punkin is a great Mama, taking care of her every need.

She is black most everywhere except her back feet which sport white socks and her tummy has a little tuft of white as well.  While we were looking the herd over.  I noticed that Joy was thinner and her milk bag was HUGE.  I watched her as she disappeared into another part of the pasture.  In a matter of minutes we heard her bellowing.  There is a certain sound a cow makes when she is anxious about her young.  Immediately Billy and I followed the cries until we found her.

We found her standing by the creek.  She continued to make that awful sound.  Billy and I hurriedly looked for what we felt sure was a calf in trouble.  We didn’t see anything.

Finally we heard a little Moooooo.  We walked toward the sound but still couldn’t see anything.  Once again another little Moooooo sound.  Meanwhile Mama was just a bellowing.

THERE IT IS…..we both saw it about the same time.

Before I could even get the lens off my camera….  Billy was in the water.

If you look closely you can see the black calf standing to the far left….hugging the side of the creek.

Mama was on the other side and was still bellowing.  Billy lifted the calf up to her.

It wasn’t an easy task.  The bank of the creek is steep.

And the fact that the baby weighs 50 to 75 pounds makes it a real work out.

Finally the baby got to its feet and walked…. up the embankment.

Mama immediately came up to it.  WHEW…now….thank goodness that ended well.

Well….at least we thought so.  That baby was ready to nurse.  But Mama would have no part of it……..

She was trying to get away from the baby.  She pushed the calf away with her back leg and almost pushed the baby back into the creek.  Thankfully Billy was still in the water and nudged it back up onto the bank.  We continued to watch for a few minutes hoping they could work it out.  Time and time again she pushed the baby away.  Yet…she would bellow for it.  The baby would run up to her, attempt to nurse…but she would push it away again.

We led them away from the creek so the baby wouldn’t fall in again.

The Mother just didn’t get it….she kept going to the creek bed and bellowing for the baby.  She would look into the water for it.

Meanwhile the baby was exhausted…. looking at the  umbilical cord the baby was not very old.

She’s a girl….and she looks a lot like Ida.  She also has white socks on her back feet.  One difference she has though is a cute little white line across her forehead.

NOW WHAT?????

Billy and I walked away and hoped the Mama would realize that it was her baby.  After talking with other farmers, they said the water probably washed enough of her scent off that the first time Mama just got confused.

Finally she came up to the baby….

It was looking like a go…..

The baby went for it…and tried to nurse.

BUT…Mama wouldn’t have any part of it.  She kicked her to the ground…over….and over.  It was hard to watch.

Then she walked away…..

I just get mad at Mama’s that won’t care for their babies.

Some of the younger cows came over to her and just stared…..they stood for the longest time…just looking at her. (The one in the middle is tug….maybe he remembers his Mom doing that to him).

Now Billy and I only had only a little while to decide what in the world to do.

If we feed it the colostrum that it HAS to have within hours of birth…then Mama will more than likely really reject it for sure.   BUT THEN AGAIN….we are already witnessing that happening.  It is so frustrating.  There she is with everything that baby needs…and she won’t let her have it.

We put them in a fenced area together.

It would be dark before long and if she didn’t get the colostrum through the night hours she would die.  So….we headed to the house to check and see if I had some in my stash.  I try to keep some for times such as these.  But I didn’t have any….so I googled a homemade recipe and hoped for the best.

Back to pasture we went with bottle in tow…… just in case we needed to use it.

When we arrived we found that…the Mom was gone.  In our haste we each thought the other one had chained the gate.  So much for that.

The mom is staying with the herd and wants NOTHING to do with her beautiful….healthy….baby girl.

And so it begins…….