Perhaps you remember all the way back to May. Billy and I had heard a Mama cow calling for her baby. We had been out of town and knew that the birth had to have taken place within those few days. We finally located the Mama and saw that her baby was in the creek. The creek bank was steep in this particular area, she couldn’t get to the baby and the baby couldn’t get to the Mama. Billy got into the creek and lifted the baby out placing it at the Mama’s feet.
Baby was extremely glad to see her Mama and immediately tried to nurse.
Mama was not convinced that it was her baby, so she kicked it to the ground. The Mama proceeded to cry out for her baby….looking into the water. The baby would attempt to nurse again and well the same thing happened over and over.
According to some of the neighbors, who have raised a few head through the years, the water apparently washed enough of the scent off the baby so that Mama didn’t recognize it as her own.
We contained the two of them hoping they would bond….NOPE….it wasn’t gonna happen. Then we tried to see if ANY of the other Mama’s would feed her…..NOPE…that wasn’t gonna happen either.
Babies cannot go very long without colostrum from Mama.
She was growing weak from the lack of nutrition and from the knocks to the ground….which I could barely stand to watch.
She just wanted her MAMA.
But her Mama didn’t want her.
So……it began. I became her Mama and Billy became her Papa.
Matter of fact she ended up with a lot of caregivers through the months.
We took her closer to the house and she spent some days with the newborn goats. Friends, neighbors, the orphans we hosted for the summer, our grandchildren, everyone helped us show her love and attention.
But the day came when she needed to go back to the pasture and be around other cows. The bottles and attention just moved with her to the farm. 
I was so happy to see that Tug, another cow that we had bottle fed, was the first one to greet her. Possibly he remembered how it felt to be the odd man out. He is our happy, loving, gentle and kind steer. He too was kicked over and over for trying to grab a little milk from anyone that would stand still long enough. Eventually he did get a swig here and there. Three separate cows finally allowed him to nurse. He has grown up to be a nice sized steer.
Margaret looked at all these cows. All the Mama’s and all the babies.
This picture of the babies just standing there looking at her reminds me of the song Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. “All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names, they never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games”.
These babies never wanted to hang out and play with Margaret. They would each other…but not with Margaret.
Later in the summer Stephanie was born.
She and Margaret became friends. However, Stephanie still hangs close to her mother and Margaret is often by herself a lot of the time.
Despite all the alienation she gets from the others, she remains sweet and loving.
She has suffered physically from not having an ample supply of mother’s milk. I gave her milk replacer, lots of love, sweet feed and plenty of green pasture, but there is just something special about being raised by your Mama. I think it is the whole package. It is everything that a Mama cow can give her baby. The way a mother licks her baby as she cares for her. The soft hum of her voice calling her babe close. The warmth of a cuddle on a cold night in the pasture. Humans are affected like that as well when they are newborns and not nurtured.
Here you can see the difference in growth. The cow standing behind and to the right of Margaret was born two months after Margaret. You can see how much bigger she is. She has a Mama that takes care of her.
I could only do so much.
A few days ago I went to the pasture to sneak Margaret some grain to help fatten her up and make her strong. She ran to the gate to greet me,
that will make your heart melt.
We took this selfie.
She knows without a doubt….that Billy and I love her.
After the selfie I took this picture….the other girls just stare at me when Margaret and I cuddle.
I love all our girls, but I had to look at them on this day and tell them…don’t act jealous. Not even ONE OF YOU would step up and take care of her.
I had prepared this post but decided to post the story of our visiting Orphans ahead of this one. Since then we had a terrible thing happen to our sweet Margaret.
Bitter cold weather moved in recently. Billy has faithfully provided bales of hay all winter for the girls. Eating help to keep them warm but it is hard for us to walk away to a warm house and leave them out in the single digits. Billy’s tender heart has led him to light a few fires on the coldest nights so they would have another source of warmth. They love seeing him coming, just the view of his truck gets them all excited. Oh, if you could just hear the mooing!
Coming home from the store the other afternoon, I passed the pasture. I usually slow down or stop if I’m able and try to count heads. This particular day they were too far away to count. Best I could tell they were eating from the hay ring and everyone looked good.
I arrived home and started unloading the car. As soon as I carried in the first load my neighbor came to the door. She expressed that her son had pulled a calf out of the water and it was barely moving. I knew in my gut who it was. Thanking her I immediately grabbed my coveralls and some mud shoes and headed to the farm, calling Billy along the way.
I looked all along the creek, not seeing anything unusual. I counted all the cows….all but one was accounted for.
Yes, Margaret was missing.
My heart sank even deeper, I kept looking but couldn’t find the neighbor or the calf.
Billy arrived and we drove through the pasture in his truck. About that time the neighbor saw us and started waving us his direction. There she was lying on her side on the edge of a big water puddle. The water isn’t deep, it is just a low spot that holds water when it rains heavily. HOW? HOW in the world did that puddle cause her to get in this shape? All we could figure is the puddle froze. She lost her footing and couldn’t get up. We do not know how long she was there. People had been in and out of the pasture, but no one had been at that particular spot. So no one had seen her in trouble.
We were so glad the neighbor happened to cut through the pasture on his way home from hunting. Especially thankful that he cared enough to help her and contact us.
Billy and I jumped from the truck with some towels and immediately started rubbing her. Her eyes were rolled back in her head. Once she heard our voices and felt our touch she tried her best to look at us.
I whispered in her ear as I rubbed her with a towel…I’m so sorry Margaret…we are here now….hang on girl…. hang on.
We all lifted her cold wet body into the bed of the truck. It sure didn’t look good.
Closing the tailgate she lifted her head and partially sat up. We clung onto that as a good sign, she was at least trying.
While driving we were trying to decide what we were going to do and where we were going to put her.
Once we arrived home Billy and I took her arms and legs and carried her into the sun room where the wood stove had already been at work.
I know…I know….it’s crazy….but what else do you do.
We had to get her core body temperature up….immediately.
We were NOT going to just let her take her chances out in the cold.
I loved on her for a few minutes as I figured out my plan.
I called my brother. He knows animals….he knows cows in particular. He stressed that we had to keep rubbing those legs. It would be essential to get that blood moving in her extremities all while raising that core body temp.
I started racking that noggin of mine.
Days before I was aggravated that a mouse had gotten into a sleeping bag I had pulled from storage, making holes in the lining. I had placed it in the garage. Hmmm…. I ran and grabbed it. I quickly retrieved other things from my emergency animal kit. That sleeping bag and a heating pad came in handy. I placed the pad under her tummy moving it around often. I filled some old socks with uncooked rice warming them in the microwave for a minute or two and placed them under her legs. I mixed up some electrolyte and slowly administered it inside her cold mouth with a syringe. She could barely swallow, so I had to administer it slowly. Much of it would run back out of her mouth.
She was pitiful, still shivering up to four hours later.
We continued to love on her while moving the items around that were helping her body warm. She took her nose and started nudging Billy’s hand. She gave a little lick and began to suck his finger.
GET THE BOTTLE, Billy said.
I quickly warmed the electrolyte a tiny bit and filled her old bottle. She started drinking!
Woo Hoo!!!!! That was a great sight to behold.
We both felt much better about her chances of survival once she took that bottle.
We were able to help her stand for a few minutes, it wore her out and she went back down quickly. But the fact that her legs were working was important to her getting well.
We arranged a barrier so she would hopefully stay in one corner of the room near the heater. We finally called it a night telling her we would see her in the morning. We sure hoped so…….
Sometime in the wee hours I woke up and checked on her….she was sitting with her head up in the same spot we had left her.
Whew…I thought….. at least so far, so good.
The next morning Billy and I hurried to the sun room to check on her….yet with reservation. Part of us didn’t want to look, fearing the worst. The other part had hope that all was well.
WOW…. She had gotten up on her own.
She ate a little hay.
By afternoon the temperature had warmed nicely outside. Billy walked her to a roll of hay we have near the house.
She just stood and ate for a little while, eventually I led her into the goat pen.
She seemed to settle in nicely.
I showed her where the water was and she stood and drank a while.
She’s doing everything she is supposed to do. She looks strong and happy.
Well, until we walk out of the gate that is.
We will eventually take her back to the pasture where she needs to be…..but for now….she is where we can keep an eye on her.
I think she actually wouldn’t mind staying in the sun room until winter is over.
Can’t say that I blame her……..but that isn’t gonna happen.
Famous last words huh?!?!?!
We sure do love that girl!
I've Gone Country 