Calf Scramble

The phone rang late yesterday afternoon. It was The Prairie Daddy asking if I could go get another ATV and help him out in the field where we are calving. There was a missing calf and a set of twins that needed to be taken care of. The Prairie Kid and I headed out.

We drove back and forth and back and forth looking for this calf. Finally, almost an hour later we found it quite a ways off. We went back and got its neglectful mom and coaxed her to go take care of her baby. Then we headed back to round up the twins and their mom. Meanwhile, a storm was brewing in the distance. Here you can see our house and the rain on the mountains in the distance.

The Prairie Daddy put one of the twins on his ATV and headed up to the corral. My job was to drive behind the mama and her other calf and move them up the fence line and through two fields to the corral. The rain started to fall as The Prairie Daddy took off and The Prairie Kid and I didn't have any raincoats with us. I tried to keep him up close to my body and warm as best as I could but it wasn't too effective. Thankfully, The Prairie Daddy soon returned with coats. Now the rain really started. I continued moving this mom and baby while The Prairie Daddy went to fetch the other mom that we reunited with her baby. He thought it'd be best to put them in the corral as well since this mama had "abandoned" her baby earlier.

After I got the mama and twin through into the last field the mama cow turned on me and headed into the heaviest sprinkler on the pivot that was watering this field. As I drove to try to turn her back she took me through the shower several times. The Prairie Kid and I got soaked. And then the rain hit hard. And the lightening was terrible close. And then it began to hail. And she wouldn't head up the fence line.

Finally the storm passed and I back tracked to help The Prairie Daddy push up the other mom and calf to where mine were at. We worked together to move them all into the corral and then we beelined it home to get dried up!

I have to laugh that in one post recently I said that summer calving was a piece of cake. You know, it really is compared to late winter but I got chilled yesterday!

When we got home there was a message from an old friend who was in the area. I called him back and we invited him to come out and stay the night. When he got here we realized we hadn't seen each other since our wedding! We had a great time and stayed up WAY too late talking...2am! And The Prairie Kid woke up at 6:30 this morning even though he didn't get to bed until midnight. I am paying for it today but it was worth it! (Prairie Daddy, don't you want to take our kid out with you so I can go back to bed? )