A Lesson of Life

Growing this business has not been easy.  I have learned about my self along with how to breed and raise animals.  This last lesson was one of the toughest lessons I have ever learned.  It was so tough I didn't want to share with you what happened.  I was able to express my feelings in my final 11th grade English paper.  When my mom read it she encouraged me to share with my followers.

So here goes!!!  This is my paper for your reading pleasure.

Life and Death

            It was a cold spring day near the end of April. My breeding season was about to come to a close with my last heifer about to deliver. The birthing period for all my animals was a great success and I was looking forward to seeing what I could accomplish with all my new animals, but the last heifer was a little off. She had been prolapsing her bowels and we were concerned that she would have another stillborn or even die during birth.  The previous year was rough for our animals. We had a couple of devastating losses that were hard to cope with but with the end of that season I had started to look forward to next year’s production. After all the waiting, it finally came and was about to end with the birth of a beautiful new calf.
            When I went out to feed, I noticed the heifer acting weird around this black thing on the ground. Once I got closer to the fence I saw the black thing move its head and saw a white face and knew that our last calf had just been delivered.  I quickly called my mom and notified her that we had delivered our final calf. She was very excited and even congratulated me on a successful year of breeding and deliveries. I carried on with feeding to give the cow and her calf some room to be together until my mom got home. I finished feeding once my parents got home and we all stood at the gate admiring our newest edition to the herd, but something wasn’t right this time. The calf was still laying on the ground and hadn’t tried to get up. With the help of my father, we went out and tried to get her up with no avail. We decided that we should give her time and she would get up on her own. We went inside, ate dinner, and waited.

            About an hour later I went out to see if she had gotten up. I was shocked to find that she wasn’t and she was still in the same spot. I slowly walked back to my house trying to figure out what we should do with her. I told my parents and we decided to wait a little longer.  I was in my room when I heard my mom shout something that I couldn’t understand. I ran downstairs, threw my boots and jacket on, and went outside. Once I reached the barn I saw my dad carrying the little calf into the barn and my mom was trying to get the mom in.

            I asked what was going on and my mom said that the calf was still on the ground and she was almost frozen. We grabbed a heat lamp and some towels and tried to warm her up. We spent about half an hour rubbing her down and keeping the heat lamp on her when we thought that we should try to get her to drink from her mom. We had brought the mother in earlier so that we could try to get her to drink. We coaxed the mom in the barn with some food and got her to eat near the calf.

            The calf had barely enough strength to lift her head so we had to try to get some milk from the mothers utters and put it in her mouth. This was no easy task so I told my mother we should get some milk replacer so we could get her to drink a little bit. Once my mom returned I dribbled some milk into her mouth only to find out that she wasn’t drinking it. I turned to my mom and she said “there is nothing we can do now. We have to leave her in her mom’s hands now”. As everyone left I stayed for a small period of time thinking that I would never see her again. When I finished grieving I got up and left the barn.

            I went to bed that night trying to think of a way to accept the fact that once I awoke in the morning, my dad would be burying her in the pasture behind our house. I woke up the next morning and laid in bed for a while. My mom came into my room and told me she had some news. I feared for the worst that she was dead and I would have to help burry her. Instead my mom said “she’s up and moving”.

            I replied blankly with “what?”

            She said in response with “Dad went out earlier and found her standing up in the barn and as healthy as can be.”

            I got out of bed and ran outside to see the calf that should be dead. I walked into the barn and saw the little calf standing with her mom like nothing happened the night before. I walked back to the housed again but this time instead of sorrow I felt happier than I had throughout this whole ordeal. The entire day went good for the little calf as she hung out with her mom and got to bask in the sun. That night was amazing and I went to bed ecstatic that she had made it through the night and I hoped that she would live to see many more.

            The next morning I asked my mom to feed so I could get to school early for a project. That day at school was one of the best I had had the entire year. I went home happy as could be until I pulled into the driveway. I noticed the mom was no longer in the barn and the baby was missing. That’s when I noticed a body in the wheel barrel and came to the conclusion that she didn’t make it.
             I went inside and sat by my mom.  She finally confirmed that it was the baby and that she had died and once my dad got home from work, she would be buried.  We sat side by side for a while in despair when she said something that I will never forget.  She said "I'm sad too but I realized earlier today that we only lost one animal this year.  This was a large improvement from last year because we lost five.  It sucks but this was a success in my book."  I took what my mom said and realized that no matter how bad or depressing the situation is, there is always a brighter side and that I should look for the better parts in life and not get hung up on the bad.

            

This was a tough lesson in deed but I know there are something's  that are meant to be and this was clearly not one of them.  Now to share my knowledge gained through this experience.



1) The day she was born was very wet and cold.  That is extremely hard on calves.  It is important to get them dry as soon as possible.  This is why we moved her into the barn and rubbed her down and added the heat lamp.   



2) When a calf is born it is important that the cow connects with that calf.  This is done by smell.  Typically the cow will lick the calf off immediately following delivery.  This helps the bonding.  If your cow doesn't initiate that process it is important to get that calf right under that cows nose.  I was told by a local rancher if you have to put grain on that calf to get the cow interested DO IT.  We didn't have this issue but I wanted to share this tip with you.



3) It is very important in the first several hours that that calf get the cows colostrum.  If that isn't happening you should try to milk the cow and give the calf the milk. 



The key is wet cold weather is the worst for calf deliveries and tend to cause the most deaths. 
And in this case you just may have a cow that can't be successful with birthing.  This was her second attempt with two epic fails.  While she has been one of my favorite cows we have come to a cross roads. 


I would like to say a special THANK YOU to  Mr. Tim Ward & Mr. Frank Falen for all of your mentoring with this project.  I would not be able to have come this far without the two of you being willing to take our crazy calls about cow drama.


Hope you enjoy this!
From My Barn To Yours
Brad~