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I have dealt with cattle, in one way or the other, since I was fifteen years old. I'm not naming actual numbers but suffice it to say that's been a number of years.
I have chased, roped, thrown, branded, cut, doctored, corralled, loaded, worked, cursed and done just about anything to be done with cows - but until last week I had never seen a calf born.
I've seen plenty of newborn calves, or more precisely three or four day old calves, when the mothers decide to bring them out of hiding and show them to the world.
Maggie is one of the cows on the ranch where I work, and she is tame. She is also a fine cow. Her first calf was a greatly anticipated event.
Maggie's birth date was past. I checked her every three hours and had her penned in the corral. When I got out to the ranch two days into the Maggie watch she was down and I was pretty sure her time had come. There were no apparent problems so I waited from a distance. The horses came up and I went into the barn to feed them, and while I was in the barn the miracle happened.
Angel Eyes was born.
She was cocoa colored and a heifer.
I was beside myself with joy, even though the cow and calf belonged to my employer. I waited until they were both on their feet and the calf suckling, then I called everybody I could think of and tried to tell them about the birth. I was so excited I couldn't talk.
The next day I went to check the calf and found it down. On examination I found that it was passing a really vile looking mustard mucus, which looked suspiciously like scours.
I called the owner home. I called everybody that I knew that had anything to do with cattle. I wanted help. NOW. No way I was going to risk losing Angel Eyes.
About twenty minutes later the trucks bearing the cowboys I'd called converged on the ranch at the same time.
I was waiting at the corral. Angel Eyes was still laid out.
I opened the corral gate and everyone ran in at once. There was a rodeo stock producer, a cattleman, a farmer, a college student, a worker from the auction barn, the owner, a dog, a cat and two horses. There was also some guy who had absolutely nothing to do with livestock and probably just followed the traffic into the ranch. He stood around looking confused.
When Angel Eyes saw all those people she jumped up and began to buck and bawl.
Miracle recovery.
Undaunted, I led everyone over to a florescent pile of yellow calf poopo and, with a flourish, said, "See."
And in unison everyone present said, "Perfectly normal."
Well, I had called half of the county and came just short of ordering an ambulance, and there was nothing wrong with the calf.
I apologized.
Everyone was really nice. None of them laughed in my face.
But, I knew what they were thinking.
Come on guys. Give me a break. It was my first calf!
Gracia Thibodeaux
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