Sneaking Away

We anticipated a very busy day trying to get a third load of firewood stacked into the pickup and ready to deliver. We did not anticipate the cows adding an extra story into the days activities.

During feeding times it is an automatic ritual to count the critters. I do it without thinking after dispersing the slabs of hay. I do it in the nursery field, matching up the correct amount of mothers with the correct amount of babies. I do it if I head out to the bull pen for feeding and count the heads of the  yearlings sticking their heads into the manger. I do it in the show barn, here since the pens are split up, I tally the ones from each pen instead of the whole barn full. Two cows, check. Young bull with his first love, check. The three yearling heifers, check. The four feeder critters, check.

I also count the feral mousers when I set out their grub to know if I have a coyote problem brewing. There is big tom Siamese named Me, his cohort Shadow, the pregnant calico, the two striped ones, and the semi-Siamese colored one that is the youngest.

While we were planning the equipment move into the garage we were feeding the main herd across the river. As I threw the hay from the front loader of the tractor into the outdoor feeders, I counted the cows and only came up with thirteen. There should have been fourteen there. We had been watching one of the first-time-calving heifer that was getting close and also couple of the cows, but when looking the day before, did not see anyone that showed they were nearing their delivery time. Our first thought was #21, the first-time-calve-er and decided to go in search of her as we finished feeding and before moving the bundling equipment to the garage.

We walked through the snow up the hill since most of the herd had spent the night under the tall firs. We tried to distinguish between the rest of the cows and the one we were searching for to no avail. We gave up after about an hour of tromping the snowy hillside without finding her.

Back on the house side of the river we moved the equipment from the bull barn into the garage and I started bundling while Mike went back across the river to resume searching. He was back up on the hillside when he ran into cow #76 Blackie who had a newborn calf by her side.  This was not the critter that had been missing from breakfast feeding time, this cow had been bellied right up to the manger with the rest of the main herd.

Mike called from his phone and said he needed help. I abandoned the wrapping job to assist and between the two of us we were able to get Blackie and her calf to the barn where the chilled newborn could warm up while in a dry space. We made sure he was able to nurse before we left them in the barn.

Mike went to walk back up the hill to find the still missing #21 heifer. Since he did not see anything during our earlier walk and his latest trek when he found Blackie, he suggested that I go back to the house to continue working with the firewood.

Once back at the house and working steadily, the phone rang. It was Mike saying he did find #21 and she had a calf by her side, that he would need help getting the little one off the hill and across the muddy expanse to the barnyard and into the barn.

For a second time, I left the bundling task and went across the river to help. It took both of us this time also to get the baby down out of the woods and safely into the barn.

Once both calves were well on their way to being fed and dry we let the two new mothers with their calves each spend the night in the barn pens before moving them out into the nursery field with all the other cow/calf pairs. Once we got all the rest of the cattle done with their evening feedings, I finally returned to bundling firewood.

Stay tuned the next couple of days to introduce the newest members of the herd!

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