The Watusi

I knew that Sparkle’s delivery was  imminent when I found her in the corner of the corral this evening, holding her tail straight out behind her and waggling her hindquarters back and forth.

“What’s she doing? Have you ever seen a cow do that before?” I asked Hubby, who has witnessed hundreds, if not thousands, of bovine nativities.

“Never,” he replied. “She’s doing the Watusi.”

Well, we opened up a gate and the barn door. Sparkle marched right in without any prompting on our part—just checked herself into the maternity ward! Then she came up to each of us to nose our hands. She tends to do that, but cows don’t usually want people anywhere around them when they calve, so it was as remarkable as the Watusi that she kept dancing.

There was no water bag or slime showing, so we thought we were in for a lengthy process. But when we went back to the barn to check on her, she was mooing to her newborn calf, who was already up and starting to nurse!

The heifer is tiny but healthy and extremely agile. Because she came so fast and is so little, I’m thinking about calling her Lightning Bug. At any rate, Hubby says that Sparkle’s hospital bill should be half-price, since she delivered before the doctor even showed up.

I wonder if the Lamaze folks know about the Watusi.

“A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance….”                     –ECCLESIASTES 3:4