Country Chatter

Since Thanksgiving we have had 28 baby calves born, four of which came this week during the brutal winter weather. Suddenly we had an emergency. There was no way the week old calves would survive in the severe cold, snow and ice even with an attentive mother. We were not prepared. We did not have a place set up to keep one baby warm, much less four.

My laundry room became the NICU for the first calf. The shivering calf was wrapped in blankets and laid in front of the stove. A few hours later I had another one. He was in the barn but had gotten wet and muddy and was shivering uncontrollably. Soon we had another that didn’t look good. Then yesterday, Saturday morning, Jill was feeding hay and spied a newborn laying in the middle of the pasture on ice with no mother in sight. She had done her motherly duty of licking him off but then deserted him. He couldn’t get up, the inside of his mouth was cold and his hooves were still soft. (Hooves are very soft when born but very quickly harden). He was very weak, couldn’t suck and had to be tube-fed. We gave him a colostrum substitute but it is very difficult when they do not get their mother’s colostrum. If he makes it through a week, we will know this rescue was successful. Jill has her hands beyond full and she called for her backup helper, Lauren, to come help with the critical care nursery. He is now alert, trying to get up and looking much better.

They tried building “hot boxes” with heat lamps in the barnyard but with the night temperature dipping in the single digits and daytime temperature hovering below freezing, it was not enough. Yesterday they ended up building four pens inside the shop where we could run a propane heater. This is working so much better and all the calves are looking good. My laundry room is no longer a barnyard!!! This coming week the weather is to mellow out some. We are also watching a mama goat that is ready to drop her baby(s) any moment. We are so grateful she is holding off.

I am so grateful that God in his wisdom and foresight brought Obe and Jill to us last year. Our granddaughter Lauren lived in our apartment before her marriage and she and Jill formed a strong aunt/niece bond, working together to bring Quarterfield Markets a reality. After the fire last year, Kevin came to work for us which has also been a God-sent blessing. There is no way Gene and I could have handled this situation alone. God knew we needed our family close.