Peep

We enjoy watching "National Geographic Explorer Channel’s; The Incredible Dr Pol" http://natgeotv.com/asia/the-incredible-dr-pol.  We have probably watched all the episodes and Darling Husband will watch them over and over again.  Dr Pol is a trained vet and often is called to help calves being born.  When a calf is born in distress and not moving or breathing they will dump cold water on the calf to shock it into breathing.

Now that we have 2 children in the working world family gatherings are harder.  Our 2 oldest daughters were going to be working Easter lunch and evening so we decided to have a family celebration Easter morning.  I invited our oldest daughter’s Grand Parents to join us and they agreed to make the drive to our house in time for breakfast. 

We got up early Easter morning and I started cooking 4 quiches and cutting up a fruit salad then we took  care of the animals, I got dressed.  Grandma and Grandpa showed up with doughnuts’ and fresh bread we had a nice breakfast and then went for a drive to show our guests the property and the animals. 

We showed them the turkeys and chickens, then we went to the fodder room, and off to see the cattle.  The cattle were all in a group at the top of the pasture as we were leaving, Rolo, one of our pregnant cows gave a horrible “MOOOOOOO”.  We all looked closer at her and she was giving birth to her calf right then.  Darling Husband thought she looked like she and the calf were in distress so he pulled the calf out.  I was upset with him for not waiting to let her do it on her own or watch a little longer to see if she was really in distress and Darling Husband starts yelling at the kids to get cold water to throw on the baby calf.  I stopped the kids from leaving to get the water several times.  

The calf was breathing and moving.  Rolo was doing a good job of cleaning the baby.  Then Fillet, our steer/bull (he wasn’t castrated properly when we bought him; yes the one who goes through fences), got all excited and started trying to mount Rolo.  The baby calf was stepped on.  I started working to keep the steers away from Rolo and her baby.  Darling Husband decided he needed to get a bucket of water to wash his hands so he sent one of the kids for the bucket of water.

 Grandma and Grandpa had seen enough of our excitement and were ready to go so we could take care of the animals so I drove them to their car and help them scrape all the poop off of their shoes and Grandpa’s walker before they got into their car.  While I was helping Grandma and Grandpa my kids came running down from the pasture saying we needed rags and a blanket for the calf.  I told them where to get the rags, thanked Grandma and Grandpa for coming and went up to see how every one was doing. 

  Darling Husband had gotten worried and dumped the water on the baby!  The steers kept trying to mount Rolo so he took the calf away from the cattle and dried him off and cleaned him up.  I flipped out.  Don’t take a baby from it’s mom!  I convinced DH to take the calf back into the pasture and we would make sure the steers stayed away from it.  For the next 2 hours we guarded the calf and it’s mom from them then we watched to make sure everyone was safe after we let the boys be back with the herd. 

We decided to name the new calf Peep after the family’s favorite Easter treat.  Peep is a little bull calf so he is destined for the freezer.