On Saturday, March 9, we had a new calf on the farm. One of our first drops in the summer of '09, Maria, had her second calf. She came up to the corral to feed with the others and she was very skinny. Too skinny. She had calved and she was not looking good. We watched her and eventually found the calf. The next morning we went to check on them and she was away from the calf. We found the calf because the buzzards were circling above the woods. The calf had not moved from the night before. Not a good sign. So I carried her out of the woods and went to the house to mix a bottle of colostrum. John checked on Maria and then came up to the house to get penicillin for her. We spent the first week bottle feeding and trying to get the calf strong enough to nurse. Maria was still making milk but the little heifer would not latch on. So on Sunday we moved "Matilda" to the sheep barn, close to the house. And now my day includes bottle feeding a calf.
John said something the other morning about having to feed my dogs in town every day. Which consists of putting dry dog food in a bowl. I told him I had just fed his cow. I think it was about 7am. He grinned and said he loved me.
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