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Sunday, March 17, 2013

Cows can be counted on.


You can always count on cows to add some excitement to an ordinary day.  We were just leaving to make a late afternoon 'farm parts and supply' run to Spokane, when William noticed a cow near the fence by the ditch.  He went over to check her out and immediately called for backup.  Brad walked over there and I followed behind.  I'm feeling miles better now that I'm back on the higher dose of steroids.  I have hardly any pain in my back and the nerve pain, (sciatica) is completely gone.

What William had worried about had happened.  The cow thought she'd be clever and hide away from the other cows to have her calf, on a steep slope - next to the ditch.  The cow pushed the calf out into the world, where it rolled under the fence and then down into the ditch.  When I got there, they were pulling the slimy and very dirty calf out of the ditch and shoving her back under the fence.

Here's what I saw....look directly below her head, that's ditch calf's twin brother!
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To get the the little family away from the ditch, Brad and William carried the calf to the top of the hill.  They are carrying her like that to keep their clothes somewhat clean.
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Mother cow followed her heifer calf to the top and was finally able to start licking her dry.  Brad and William picked up her red bull calf, who had flopped back down for another rest.  Teddy was in the thick of it.  She lives and breathes anything to do with cattle.
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The cow had a double load of maternal instinct going on and was mooing and 'pretend charging' the whole time.  Soon as they plopped calf number two down next to the cow, William ran like hell convinced the cow was going to kill him, but she had already forgotten all about the horror of watching her new babies being manhandled and she gave them a proper greeting into the world.
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I asked Brad how he knew the cow was only bluffing and he replied, "Because she wasn't blowing snot out of her nose".

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