Welcome!
We are up and running with our blog…not to mention running around like crazy chasing piglets and calves.
We had a wonderful spring, counting each new calf that was born. I got as close as I ever have to witnessing a birth. As a trained doula, I really wanted to watch the mother cow have her calf. Instead, what happened was I saw a cow on her back kicking and I thought that was kind of strange, like she was trying to scratch her back like horses do. I’d never seen that before and asked Tim if that was normal. Then it hit me that she was probably thrashing as she was giving birth!
We pulled the car right over and walked slowly out into the corn field and sure enough, there was a little calf, only seconds old. The mother let us check the sex, a heifer (yeah!) and then went right on cleaning her baby off with a long pink tongue. I finally get where the term “cow-lick” comes from as this baby’s hair was pushed into a perfect one. It was so perfectly adorable! Neither of us could stifle the “Awww!” that punctuates a moment like that.
There are piglets born each week and we can hardly keep our hands off of them. Our kids watch them like hawks to see if they can spot one who is ailing. Then they beg to take it home to “save” it. Our first rescue one was named Tippy. She was so tiny that she would tip forward onto her chin because her head was so much bigger than her body. No longer! She’s as big and friendly and pushy as the rest of the herd.
There is nothing more wonderful than a baby. The whole family agrees…baby pigs and cows unquestionably fit that statement to a T.
Happy Farming!
Roxanne