Hullaballoo

Trooper’s legs and lungs are much stronger, and he’s growing like a weed. No casual onlooker would ever guess the ordeal that he went through a week ago.  He’s ready to join the other pairs. But there’s just one problem: the other mamas.

First of all, Cupcake’s calf, Dazzle, has a blaze face. Every time that Cupcake sees Blossom with the blaze-faced Trooper, she bawls in anger, thinking that Blossom has stolen her calf. Dazzle is considerably smaller and a heifer to boot, but Cupcake jumps to conclusions before assessing the facts! Hubby had to break up a fight between the two mama cows.

Yesterday, Hubby tried to put Blossom and Trooper in with Flame and Liza because we thought Flame was more rational and easy-going than Cupcake. Wrong! Flame lit into Blossom like an Angus bull lights into a rival, which is quite violent. Hubby sprang to rescue Trooper from the fray and get him into the barn, but both the fighting cows followed him inside! Fortunately, Bodie heard the commotion and sped down to the barn. He bit Flame in the nose, sending her outside and saving the day.

Hubby thinks the other cows are jealous of Blossom because she, by virtue of Trooper’s fight for life and subsequent recovery, has been getting all the attention and perks. I don’t know, nor do I know how to restore peace to our formerly tranquil barnyard. But I do know that all this drama reminds me of the 6^th grade!

Trooper

Dazzle

“But the wisdom from above is….peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.” –JAMES 3:17-18 (NLT)

Glorious Day

Yesterday afternoon warmed up nicely, so Blossom and I took Trooper out for his first outdoor excursion. He had so much fun running and playing that, after a half an hour, he took himself back to the barn and plopped down to rest for a while. Trooper was so worn out last night that I worried that he’d overdone it, but this morning he put on a bucking bull show nearly worthy of the NFR (National Finals Rodeo). I was more than reassured of his well-being!

“But unto you who revere...My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy.” –MALACHI 4:2 (AMP)

Layoff

Blueberry has kept Lolli at a polite-but-cool distance for exactly 30 days, and she’s eating and resting much more than she previously did. I think it’s safe to give Lolli a pink slip and send him home. His work here is done. We’ll certainly miss his jolly presence but not his smelly essence!

This morning I snapped this shot of the two of them engaged in synchronized napping.

“No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts His praises! My body rests in hope.” –ACTS 2:26 (NLT)

She's Got It

Spring isn’t officially here. The thermometer read only 11° this morning when I went out to do chores. But spring abounds. The robins and sparrows are chirping, baby calves are romping (even Trooper was running and bucking this morning!), geese are pairing, and the bald eagles are building a huge nest in a neighbor’s cottonwood.

When I was checking the very pregnant heifers this morning, little Dazzle scampered up Mt. Odoriferous (the barnyard “compost” pile) and posed with her doting mama, Cupcake. Even though the pre-sunrise light did nothing for my extremely limited photography skills, it’s still easy to see how Dazzle earned her name. I wonder if it's too soon to get her an agent....

“…He breathes on winter—suddenly it’s spring!” –PSALM 147:18 (MSG)

Music to Our Ears

Late this afternoon, we finally heard it—the sound we’d been holding our breath and praying to hear—the most marvelous sound in our barn-world—the sound that resonates with life triumphant over death: ESLOONPH, ESLOONPH! Loosely translated, esloonph is the slurping-siphoning noise made by a calf heartily nursing his mama. I apologize if I misspelled it, but I couldn’t find it in the dictionary.

After 44 very long hours of waiting and working to help Trooper fight, first for his life and then to overcome so many obstacles (see yesterday’s Bud and Trooper post), we could only cry with relief and joy as we watched him not only getting up and walking by himself, but butting Blossom and nursing! (Even at today’s noon feeding, he still had no sucking reflex and had to be fed with the stomach tube. We were worried, tired, and discouraged, to say the least. It seemed like Blossom was too.) No one could tell us that we weren’t watching a miracle!

“The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, endure forever….” –PSALM 138:8 (AMP)

Bud and Trooper

As expected, Bubbles calved last night. Thankfully, she handily managed all of the required procedures on her own. No glitches, just a sturdy, independent little guy named Bud who was up and nursing in no time. It was a good thing, too, because Hubby and I had our hands full with Blossom.

Blossom’s water bag came out, but no feet appeared. Hubby soon discovered the reason—her calf was breech. Normally, the forefeet exit the cow first, with the head close behind. A cow can’t deliver a breech, and without intervention, both she and the calf will die. Time is the calf’s enemy because the longer a breech calf is in the birth canal, the more fluids it gets in its lungs.

This delivery was made even more difficult because the calf was very large! Hubby was manning the calf puller but having trouble; he told me to grab the tail and pull, but it was so slimy I couldn’t grip it. I had to grab the calf above his hocks. When he was born, we were rather surprised that he was still alive. Within minutes, Hubby named the handsome little dude: Trooper.

Blossom mothered up right away, but it soon became obvious that all was not well, and Trooper’s battle for life had just begun. His breathing was labored and rattled, he couldn’t stand up because his tendons were contracted, and he couldn’t suck. And even though it was a mild evening and he was in the barn, he was shivering uncontrollably.

While I rubbed Trooper with towels and blankets, Hubby milked Blossom to get her life-saving colostrum. He was then moved to ICU (the house). We’d neglected to stock our cow first-aid cabinet with a stomach-feeding tube, so I made a midnight run to get one from one of the nicest veterinarians on earth!

After the first feeding, Hubby went to bed for a while. Trooper kept trying to get up but just staggered and crashed around, so I stayed up with him, helping him sit up, stretching his legs, rubbing him, tucking blankets around him, and praying like crazy. At times, my faith was as weak and faltering as the calf was! By 3 a.m., I must have been somewhat delirious (I’d been up since 4:45 the previous morning) because a song came to me, a variation of Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World. I sang it over and over to my patient:

I see fields of green, skies of blue

Baby calves playing, and Trooper too

And I think to myself, what a wonderful God!

Hubby got up and milked Blossom again--who, by the way, is the sweetest, calmest first-time mama heifer in the entire planet—so we could get more colostrum into the calf. We surrounded him with a mattress and a couch so he couldn’t hurt himself, and I was finally able to get a few hours sleep.

Thanks to the prayers of many dear folks, Trooper is getting stronger and stronger. Now he can stand up and take some wobbly steps on his own! He isn’t totally out of the woods and hasn’t figured out the nursing thing yet (please pray if you’re so inclined), but if any calf can triumph over adversity, this one can.

Bud, at 12 hours of age.

Trooper, at 11 hours of age. 

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”               –ROMANS 8:37

Dazzle

Another star was born yesterday! Hubby and I had the honor of helping to deliver Cupcake’s first calf, a darling heifer. After the birth, Cupcake sniffed her newborn and started bellowing loudly in agitation. I was so scared that Cupcake was going to reject and hurt her, but between bellows, she licked her vigorously, so we held our breath and prayed.

Thank heaven, Cupcake fell so in love with her baby, who we named Dazzle, that she would barely leave her side. In fact, whenever Dazzle lay down to nap, her helicopter mama would moo nervously and lick her briskly to wake her up. Cupcake was obviously afraid that if Dazzle wasn’t moving, something must be terribly wrong. We finally ended up praying that Cupcake would relax and let the poor thing sleep!

Today, Cupcake’s a lot more “chill”, and the barnyard is much quieter. Excitement is still in the air, however, since Bubbles’ calf is getting ready to make its grand entrance shortly!

                                                            Cupcake checking on Dazzle--again!

“From the dazzle of Zion, God blazes into view." –PSALM 50:2 (MSG)