Passing of a momma cow and an orphaned little boy.

Well, I got up this morning expecting to have a great day at home and get lots of tasks handled and start off a busy weekend.  After getting home from some morning errands I headed out to check the new pigs and start stuff in the barn.  I noticed that on the way to the barn I heard the little angus calf bawling again.  I heard him doing this last night as I finished working on my truck and was headed for the house but thought he simply was separated from his momma in the dark and left it at that.  What I didn't know was that sometime late yesterday she laid down with him in the pasture to rest and never got back up.  She apparently went very quickly as she hadn't moved and looked like she was still resting. 

I found little man trying to get her to get up so he could eat.  I knew there was nothing I could do for her so I picked him up and headed for the barn.  I put him in the pen I set up for the baby pigs and went and got some milk from the neighbors.  I got him to drink a little and he was hungry but wasn't interested in the bottle.  

We had to grind feed for the pigs today and take care of some other business so we got that all taken care of and I headed to work to get an excavator so we can bury her under the apple tree tomorrow.

After getting back I went over to Steven's and got some fresh milk and brought back to feed him.  He was very hungry by this point and didn't waste time in downing the entire bottle.

My daughter went out to help feed him as she has never gotten to do that here before ( she has helped the neighbor a couple of times) and to pet him while we were out there.

 He has already grown quite a lot and will be hard to keep enough milk in him to match what his momma was producing but we are gonna give it a shot!

When you have a farm you learn to keep detached to the animals you raise for sale.  You give them the best you can and treat them well but you always know that they are not meant to stay.  However you do become attached to the ones that stay.  Especially the ones that catch your eye from a distance!  Yes there is a monetary loss associated with this cow that I don't have with the others but that isn't what hurts the most.  I was looking forward to her growing old here and having many more great calves.  But that is not what was meant to be.  So we will take care of the little guy and he can carry on in her absence.

Goodnight