I'd been sick most of the day--not that horrible, throwing up kind of sick but the almost-as-bad, just plain slightly-nauseous kind. With a headache thrown in for good measure, the day just wasn't along the lines of one you'd tend to be thankful for. While I missed church again and listened to the preaching on the radio, I should have been more thankful for my day thus far--because it was gonna get worse!
The sun was shining and the wind had died down some from the day before but being under the weather, I just elected to stay inside. I was winding down my day at almost 11:30, playing on the computer when Leslie comes in from checking on a cow across the road and says, "Come with me. The calf is turned backwards and we're gonna have to pull it." Well, that's never a pleasant experience, let alone when the calf is breech.
Leslie gets a peanut butter jar with lid and puts warm soapy water in it. This was for washing his hands before attempting to go up into the cow to pull the calf. Later, I mentally commended him on his forethought. But I guess when you've had cows as long as we have you tend to know these things without having to think them through.
He goes outside and grabs a rope and a small cable, I grab the flashlight and we head off down the road where he's left the tractor right on the other side of the fence. Leaving the truck pulled over to the side of Lover's Lane, we cross the fence, get on and drive off to find the cow. She's laying down and I can see the calf's tail. His hind end is barely sticking through. Leslie's plan was to push the calf back in there and try to turn it but it was already too far down..it wasn't going back the other way.
I have to hand it to my husband--he sure gave it the old college try! He took the lariat and, tying one end to the tractor, gently placed the other over her head so she'd not get up and run off. He had shed his flannel shirt and was down on the ground behind the cow-up to his elbows inside the cow trying his best to turn that calf. Unfortunately, there's simply nothing to grab hold off to get any leverage. If only he'd been able to get hold of one leg, he'd have stood a good chance. Exhausted from an hour and a half of trying to pull the calf, he ties the cable around the calf's tail and tries with all his might-along with my help-to pull it...no go.
Finally, when most people would have just given up, he goes back to the truck and gets the come-along. Hooking one end to the tractor and placing the cable that's already attached to the tail on the hook of the come-along, he starts gently working it. Gradually he removes the slack and the pressure is on! The calf starts coming towards us while at the same time the poor cow is being put through the wringer. Who knew a calf's tail could withstand so much pulling and tugging? Finally, we see a bit of progress in that the calf slips out just a smidgen more...when Leslie sees that happens he starts working that winch even more. The calf plops to the ground and you can tell the poor cow has about had it.
The calf isn't moving. Sometimes that happens and you can work the calf and clean it's nostrils and it'll perk up....I wiped it's nose out and Leslie and I both moved the calf around-trying our best to get a movement out of it. Unfortunately, the calf was beyond saving. It had apparently just had too much pressure on it or else it had suffocated. It was a huge Black Angus bull calf.
We unhooked the calf and removed the rope from the cow's neck. She got up, stumbled a few steps and laid down a few feet away. I'm sure that by now she's gone over to check on her baby. I've seen them stay with a dead calf for two or three days. We may have to move it tomorrow if nothing else has gotten it. There are wild hogs, coyotes and buzzards to name three. I just hope that when we go over there we don't have TWO somethings to have to drag off. That cow had been through so much ...they're tough. But will she be tough enough to rebound? At the moment, I'm just not too happy with farm life...
