A Cold Colorado Morning
Yesterday morning, it was -5 degrees when I went to feed my mares. They are in a pasture that is 4 miles down the road on 2000 acres, running with about 80 head of cows (and a couple bulls). There is water in spring fed ponds year round. I like having the mares moving around, being horses instead of in stalls or small pens. I think they even foal out easier. I just have to hay or grain them each day.
Anyway, as I am walking into the trap to feed the mares yesterday, one of my fillies was standing over this lump in the middle of the trap. First the filly would look at me, then lowered her head to sniff the lump and even pawed the air with her front leg, but never touching it. As I got closer to the pile, I realized it was a dead calf. Over near the stock tank stood a big Hereford cow. The cow had just given birth to TWINS! The first calf never even took a breath or if it did, it's lungs collapsed from the freezing air and it died. It was still wet, steaming in the cold. The second twin was standing on the side of the tank. It had managed to struggle to its feet and was shaking so hard, it could barely stand. The momma cow was doing her job, licking the calf and bumping it, getting it to move.
I drug the dead calf out of the trap so momma cow would concentrate on keeping one calf alive. I will admit that I am not brave enough to get in between a momma cow and her calf. Too many of my cowboy friends have taken hits trying to tend to calves. I have taken one guy to the hospital with a broken collarbone, broken ribs and a collapsed lung after a momma cow freight trained him. So, I wasn't excited about getting too close to this momma. But with one dead calf and the other struggling for life, I really needed to do something.
I took a couple of bales of hay out into the trap, hoping to keep the horses out of the way and to give momma cow something to do besides knocking me down. As I managed to get closer, I took handfuls of hay and rubbed the calf hard, all the time keeping one eye on momma. I got the calf rubbed down pretty good and bedded it down with the rest of a bale. Momma was being good and I left to call the ranch manager.
Here's where I get really frustrated. This outfit is run by a man who lives in town near the fancy country club and drives out a few times a week to "check on things". If the weather is bad or if his back is sore, he has his nephew do the feeding. The nephew is a good guy, tries hard but isn't paid so there isn't much enthusiasm to do anything above and beyond feeding. Fences are down everywhere, cows are busting out daily and out on the road. No one cares too much about anything. When it comes to gathering in the spring and fall, I ride out on my horses while the ranch owner gets his country club buddies to be "a cowboy for a day" on 4 wheelers. It is a wreck most of the time because the cattle are all bucket broke sons of b*tch's that would just as soon run over the top of you and your horse. It's like herding cats.
It is a year round calving operation because the bulls never come off the cows. The calves are nursing until the next calf is born. And no body seems to care. Nobody rides out to check for newborns and I am sure that if that momma cow hadn't been in the trap yesterday morning, the coyotes would have gotten both calves. Every calf should count, right?
Anyway, as I am walking into the trap to feed the mares yesterday, one of my fillies was standing over this lump in the middle of the trap. First the filly would look at me, then lowered her head to sniff the lump and even pawed the air with her front leg, but never touching it. As I got closer to the pile, I realized it was a dead calf. Over near the stock tank stood a big Hereford cow. The cow had just given birth to TWINS! The first calf never even took a breath or if it did, it's lungs collapsed from the freezing air and it died. It was still wet, steaming in the cold. The second twin was standing on the side of the tank. It had managed to struggle to its feet and was shaking so hard, it could barely stand. The momma cow was doing her job, licking the calf and bumping it, getting it to move.
I drug the dead calf out of the trap so momma cow would concentrate on keeping one calf alive. I will admit that I am not brave enough to get in between a momma cow and her calf. Too many of my cowboy friends have taken hits trying to tend to calves. I have taken one guy to the hospital with a broken collarbone, broken ribs and a collapsed lung after a momma cow freight trained him. So, I wasn't excited about getting too close to this momma. But with one dead calf and the other struggling for life, I really needed to do something.
I took a couple of bales of hay out into the trap, hoping to keep the horses out of the way and to give momma cow something to do besides knocking me down. As I managed to get closer, I took handfuls of hay and rubbed the calf hard, all the time keeping one eye on momma. I got the calf rubbed down pretty good and bedded it down with the rest of a bale. Momma was being good and I left to call the ranch manager.
Here's where I get really frustrated. This outfit is run by a man who lives in town near the fancy country club and drives out a few times a week to "check on things". If the weather is bad or if his back is sore, he has his nephew do the feeding. The nephew is a good guy, tries hard but isn't paid so there isn't much enthusiasm to do anything above and beyond feeding. Fences are down everywhere, cows are busting out daily and out on the road. No one cares too much about anything. When it comes to gathering in the spring and fall, I ride out on my horses while the ranch owner gets his country club buddies to be "a cowboy for a day" on 4 wheelers. It is a wreck most of the time because the cattle are all bucket broke sons of b*tch's that would just as soon run over the top of you and your horse. It's like herding cats.
It is a year round calving operation because the bulls never come off the cows. The calves are nursing until the next calf is born. And no body seems to care. Nobody rides out to check for newborns and I am sure that if that momma cow hadn't been in the trap yesterday morning, the coyotes would have gotten both calves. Every calf should count, right?
posted by the Pretty Pony | 10:10 AM
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