March Hare

Isabelle arrived on the scene this morning, not to the fanfare of a big band but to sparrow songs, not on a red carpet but a bed of straw. Her mama, Annabelle, handled the entire proceedings as if she was a seasoned veteran, not a two-year old novice. She gave birth and licked her baby clean in record time. For her part, Isabelle was on her feet and nursing heartily within 45 minutes of her grand entrance.

Isabelle has Annabelle’s regal nose but, at this point, lacks her mama’s calm and stately composure. In fact, she’s something of a March hare, startling and hopping at the slightest quick movement. It’s no shock to me that Isabelle is such a firecracker because when I was checking Annabelle a few days ago, I saw her belly, flank, and udder quaking from the impact of a number of rapid-fire kicks! Lucky for Isabelle, I’d already named her months ago. Otherwise, I’d be compelled to call her Thumper.

Isabelle, age 3 minutes

“He’ll calm you with His love and delight you with His songs.” –ZEPHANIAH 3:17 (MSG)

More Than Enough

Trooper and Bud, shown cavorting in the photo below, joined their sisters in the pasture yesterday. The young mamas joyfully romped and played along with their calves. A few tears of gratitude filled my eyes when I remembered the song I sang to Trooper when he was struggling to breathe and stand just over two weeks ago:

I see fields of green, skies of blue

Baby calves playing, and Trooper too

And I think to myself, what a wonderful God!

That’s Trooper in the lead. And although they’re tiny, there are some green blades of grass popping up, so the song has come true already.

The chunky all-black calf in the foreground is lucky that we’d already dubbed him Bud. When the calves get up from their naps, they always nurse.  Afterwards, they all gambol about—all, that is, except Bud. Even though his mama has plenty of milk, greedy little Bud still makes the rounds of the other gentle heifers, stealing as much as he can until he’s so full that he plops down to nap again. If the little butterball didn’t already have a name, we’d call him Piggy!

“…God has been good to me and I have more than enough.” –GENESIS 33:11

The Tourists

The two heffies in this photo struck a cherubic pose this afternoon, but they’re not as innocent as they appear. Since Dazzle and Liza are the oldest calves, they and their mamas were the first to be turned out in the pasture yesterday. Well, the mamas went out in the pasture, but these two little free-spirits went here, there, and everywhere, leaving us and their mamas in the dust. Fences didn’t faze them. They’d discovered a big, wide world and fully intended to investigate every inch of it.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. Since day one, Liza has been her own heffie—bold, curious, friendly, and ever busy. She only hangs out with Flame, her mama, when she’s hungry. Last night, Liza was out of the pasture again, checking out the goat shed. She looked in the window and found herself face-to-face with Lolli, the buck. I don’t know if it was his looks, his weird voice, or his smell that scared her, but she high-tailed it back to Flame—for a little while.

The little explorers have stayed contained today, probably because they're just really tired!

Liza (foreground) and Dazzle

“Great is the Lord and highly to be praised; and His greatness is [so vast and deep as to be] unsearchable.” –PSALM 145:3 (AMP)

Pancho

If a calf’s appearance doesn’t readily lend itself to a name, we wait until the little one’s personality surfaces. It turns out that Panda’s calf and Hubby are buddies. The calf likes to be scratched and petted, but he especially likes to bounce up to Hubby and butt him! Hubby named the personable little outlaw Pancho (after Cisco the Kid’s sidekick).

“I have called you by your name; you are Mine.” –ISAIAH 43:1b

Wings

Angel has wings—a pair on her nose, one over each eye, and another pair on her brisket. Angel also has Wings, her new little heifer, so named because she’s so often flitting and hopping around, trying to get airborne. It doesn’t really surprise me that Wings has a touch of sky blue in her eyes!

“Is there any place I can go to avoid Your Spirit? If I climb to the sky, You’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute— You’re already there waiting!” –PSALM 139:7-10 (MSG)

Interlude

Since calving started, I’ve done most of my sleeping in the recliner in my long johns, so that when the alarm wakes me up for the next cow-check, all I had to put on was the winter layers and boots waiting by the door. But we knew that last night would be a zero-calf night, so I had the supreme luxury of wearing flannel pajamas to bed where I slept all night.  Hubby informed me this morning that I tossed, turned, and fought the covers last night, a fact of which I was blissfully unaware. In my defense, I can only say that I’m out of practice!

Liza 

“My sleep had been very sweet.” –JEREMIAH 31:26 (NLT)

Red-Eye Specials

Our ranch’s population increased by two last night.

Angel’s calf was small but for some reason was reluctant to make her grand entrance into the world, so she had to be pulled because Angel was wearing out. There were a few tense moments—which seemed like eternity—when Angel fell down while we were pulling the calf. The handle of the calf puller got wedged into the bottom frame of the maternity pen, but I couldn’t help Hubby. I was busy pushing on the headcatch with all my might, so Angel wouldn’t choke to death. Gravity and some of Angel’s 1150 pounds were working against me, but adrenaline and prayer are amazing things! (My back and shoulders are rather sore today, but it’s all for a good cause.)

Despite the shaky start, Angel and her baby, a yet-to-be named heifer, hit it off right away. Both of them act like they’ve done this all before and know exactly what to do!

Panda’s subsequent delivery was timely and assistance-free, which was a relief. Although the calf was strong and sturdy, it didn’t look like he’d nursed when we next checked. Hubby kept directing the little bull udderwards, but he showed not the slightest interest. Since most of the vital antibodies in colostrum can only be absorbed within the first six hours after birth, we decided to err on the side of caution by milking Panda and tubing the calf. But by the next check, he’d already taken care of his own breakfast and was be-bopping around the barn. Hubby thinks he may have been sandbagging and knew what to do all along. It just had to be his idea.

The wind has quit and the sun is warm, so everyone’s outside in the corral. Thank goodness, the cows have settled their differences (see yesterday’s post) and calm is restored. The next wave of heifers to calve are at least days, maybe a week or so, from delivery, so we’re looking forward to the first full night’s sleep we’ve had in 11 days. It’s a good thing, too. Our eyes are so red that Visine won’t even help!

Panda and calf

Angel and calf

“I’ll refresh tired bodies; I’ll restore tired souls.” –JEREMIAH 31:25 (MSG)