Oct. 02, 2006 ~ Afraid
I'm afraid to go look in the woods for the calf. I'm afraid she's already gone, or Husband will have to put her out of her misery tonight. She wouldn't nurse from a bottle yesterday... we tried and tried. We don't think she can stand to nurse, and even if she could nurse just by pulling herself up to her front legs, well, something is going to get her. Newborn calves normally have the ability to run (or at least walk) within 24 hours of birth, and for good reason. They are at their weakest and most vulnerable, their first few days of life. Poor baby girl. She's such a pretty thing, and looks so healthy. Or she did. Surely she doesn't now. I'm just afraid to look. I don't want that picture in my mind.
Sometimes newborn calves die soon after birth and we feel terrible because we wonder if we could have saved them, had we been there sooner. Once I was literally just minutes too late. But this time, at least we tried. We wondered if we should have left mother and calf in the hay meadow that first night, but this would have made the calf easy prey for coyotes, the two of them being alone like that. Even then, I wondered why the mother wasn't tending to her calf like she should. Sometimes, I think cows and calves both know when there is no hope. We've come to know it as nature's way. Or letting nature take its course. We have tried to save them and have spent a small fortune on vet bills, only to have the calf die anyway. If it's a case of antibiotics and hard work, that's another story, and we always try that if it seems it might help. This paralysis is a new one, though. And I don't see an answer. Not a good one, anyway.
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