A Mooing Alarm Clock

The sun was already streaking through the bedroom window at 4:35 a.m.  The start of a new day.  Although the alarm clock wouldn't go off for another 10 minutes, sleep was no where to be found. 

The first moo and I figured "not a problem".  The second moo ensued.  Maybe a cow is coming in heat.  But by the third moo, I recognized it.  A distressed momma cow.  There's no mistaking the sound of a moo when a momma can't get to her calf. 

Get out of bed.  Pull the boots on over my pajama bottoms and throw a coat over my shirt.  The mooing got louder.  As I continued to coax my eyes open, I could tell that someone (some cow) wasn't very happy.  We had a cow that was due two days ago.  First of all, she wasn't too happy about being in the maternity pen.  Second, after she calved, her calf was quite a lively little thing, and it got away from her, further than she could go - out of the pen!  And, the calf couldn't just wander off - it had to find its way to the barn gutter.  The lively little heifer calf decided to plunk down in the manure.  All I could see were two blinking little eyes and a couple of ears twitching.  She had probably wandered down the barn aisle and stumbled in on her wobbly little legs.

So, the clean-up process begins!  Put some twine around the heifer's neck and pull her up by the milkhouse door.  Put the sprayer on warm and hose her down!  When a calf is especially dirty like this, it's important to make sure that the navel gets cleaned off really well, then dipped in iodine.  Infection can quickly settle in through the umbilical cord that is still attached.  And, although I want to hose her completely off, I have to leave a little bit of afterbirth clinging to her so that her momma will recognize her scent and still want to lick her off.

Once the heifer's bath was complete, over to momma we went.  Boy, was she ever anxious to get at her job of cleaning up her calf!  She promptly let me know that I did not do a good enough job and proceded to clean up her shivering calf.  I surround the heifer with straw and left the two together.  Now - a chance to head up to the house, put the pajamas in the laundry, and start afresh with a new set of barn clothes for the day!