Wow! Talk about a 180...oh man!

I don't even know where to begin this one, but it's a good (positive) story. I guess I'll try the short version first...

Calving season for us is usually the end of March through mid-April. By mid-April all the calves were on the ground except one. One of our older cows failed to calve. (For the cattlemen/women...no, we hadn't palped this one cuz she's a little 'lively' to deal with in the chute). Prior to April we'd noticed she'd come up lame, some kind of an injury. Long story short, this cow has fooled us before when it came to calving. She doesn't show, but this time she clearly wasn't going to calve.

We gave her some time, but it just wasn't going to happen. You could tell too, she'd even resigned herself to not having a calf like the rest of the momma's. We turned her out to pasture and figured that was it for her. Called the brand inspector and had her come out for inspection. Got her transfer papers...the end was near for her. Scheduled the slot at the processing plant, down to the day and time. I was going to load her up on Friday evening. Then something came up, so I had to reschedule, one week later (a Friday at 4pm). This was a few weeks ago.

About a week and a half before loading her up we decided to pen her up and feed her out on grain (last meal of sorts). She'd been a good cow and great momma. It would be sad to see her go.

I didn't get home as early as I wanted to the night I was going to cut her out from the rest of the herd and put her in the pen, it was nearly dark before I got started. I got her cut out and was moving her towards the corrals, slowly. She was having real difficulty walking at this point, poor girl. In the twilight she turned a certain way and I looked at her in a puzzled way. If I didn't know better, I'd think that dang cow was pregnant! But it was impossible (or barely possible). We'd pulled our bull out nearly 12 months before this, how could it be??? (cows have 9 month pregnancies just like humans).

I put her in the pen and talked it over with the wife. We decided we'd keep an eye on her for a couple weeks. If nothing else, it would give her some time to heal so it would be easier loading her. She seemed to respond after a few days.

Fast forward to 3:30am this morning...

Well, that old girl just calved a perfectly marked calf with outstanding build! We have no idea how this happened. There was only one single day, back 9 months ago, where we'd had to cross the animals in the pasture and they were separated the whole time. How our bull managed to get to her during that one day is anyone's guess. Calf is up and good, nursing already...just a little over 3 hours old.

And now that she's calved, she's even walking better too, much better. I don't think I've ever witnessed such a 180 degree turnaround like this in my life!! And just when you think you've got Mother Nature figured out, you get a curve ball out of deep left field like this one.

I'm sitting here typing this in total amazement! Unbelievable!!

Immaculate cowception!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Thanks for sharing this -- I'm going to share it with my mother because I know she'll love it. The only thing she loved more than her horses growing up were her cows. That always seemed odd to me, but she still says cows are the sweetest creatures on God's green earth.

I've had a medical pack go-bag all loaded up and sitting by the front door for the past week...just prepared for the worst. Pulling irons, chains, med supplies, gloves, intubation gear, colostrum, surgical kit, lights, the whole bit. If something was going to happen, I just knew it wouldn't be pretty. I was prepared for the worst, but I wasn't going to give up. I owed her that much anyway.

Then this!

Wow...I'm just floored!

This is one for the record books for sure!

Thank you for sharing this. A simple bit of happy news in a noisy world.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Wonderful story!

Sounds like you raise them with compassion even though you know the end of the story. I respect that greatly. (I'm ignorant though - was she going to be processed for meat or ?? )

I know someone from back in Elementary school who now runs his family's farm. They switched to doing everything grass fed & organic and work with restaurants in nearby cities, etc.

Apparently it was a good business decision as well as producing high quality beef. (Not sure how they handle the dairy side..) I respect him so much for how well he treats his stock. They don't have an industrial sized operation, it's much more a well loved family business.

Astounding story! Thanks. Nice break from usual crap that predominates here.

a reply to: AboveBoard

Yeah, we're all grass fed too, no hormones. We'll grain them some (but still feed grass) for a couple weeks toward the end. Yes, we're a custom beef operation similar to your friend. Beef is akin to Waygu (Kobe), heavily marbled. These are Belted Galloways though. Usually USDA Prime and higher.

Yes, she would have gone for processing, but not for sale. Only the steers go for production processing and usually at just over a year. She would have been processed for personal (and family) consumption. We don't sell the older ones.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I love the stories of your life on your ranch,this is a beautiful one It sounds like you have such a wholesome wonderful life!

The Moossiah has been born.

That was a pretty crafty way of staying out of the frying pan.

a reply to: NightFlight

Bovine Intervention

Udderly unbelievable! Cow did he knock her up? Its a bunch of bull.