I love animals. Always have. When i was young i dreamed of being a veterinarian. Those hopes were squashed by my complete lack of logical thinking and ability to pass biology 12.
Any romantic notion i had of being vet. have been trampled by my friends the large animal and small animal veterinarians. I could tell you some stories, like the cow that had to be put down so they shot it in the head in the barn in the evening and when they came back in the morning it was out grazing in the fields.
This afternoon we attended a "farm family picnic" at our friends dairy farm. It was a lovely evening, out in the fields with hayrides, cow pie tossing and obstacle courses. Did you know that calves will suck on your hand if given the opportunity? It is like a giant sandpaper hoover – full of slimy drool.
As we were leaving our friends called us back because one of the cows was about to deliver a baby. We watched as she pushed and moaned. It was absolutely incredible. The calf came out front legs first, followed by a tongue sticking out and a little black snout. From start to finish it took about thirty minutes. It was a magical experience for me. Brought me back to my own births; the pain, the joy.
It was the perfect thing to pull me out of my slump and show me once again the incredible gift of life and children.
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I’m glad they called you back in time.
A sign.
A blessing.
Happy to hear you are feeling a little better.
That’s great that you got to experience that. I never thought I’d enjoy having farm animals, but I actually do!
I grew up on a farm/ranch, and invariably in the spring there would be a bum calf or two (mama either died or wouldn’t take them on to nurse). If we couldn’t get another mama to take them (if one calf died, we would partially skin the dead calf and put the skin over the new needy calf so mama would nurse her own smell), we would raise them ourselves. Not a year went by when we didn’t have a calf growing up in our back porch, sucky slobbery sandpaper tongue and all.
We’d run through the yard with them, feeding them from the bottle that was as big as we were – 3 girls and a boy crazy dirty and farm wild – and nurture that “calfy-calf” all summer and into the fall.
Then, we would eat them.
I tell that story to people and they think me horrible, but really, I remember the joy of the births, the giddiness of a baby animal, the twinge of sadness when they would rather eat with the herd then me, and the knowledge that next year there would be another.
Healthy way to be, I think.
Good job catching the sign.
That picnic sounds like it was alot of fun. The cow birth might have freaked me out abit. lol
Sounds Amazing! The gift of Life is such a blessing.
That is wonderful. Births are always amazing (even when they are traumatic).
Jess, that is incredible. I’ve never seen an animal give birth. My oldest and dearest friend had a boyfriend whose family bred race horses, and she witnessed several births.
I think animal lovers are special people. I’m not one, and it sometimes makes me wonder what I’m missing inside – that part that animal lovers have.
Awwwww, Jess! I loved this. I could totally imagine watching this happen and with all the farms and corn surrounding me, wouldn’t you think I HAVE seen this?
I’m jealous. But the fair starts soon so maybe I can catch a birth. I’ll bet it’s hard/beautiful/aching/interesting to watch.
i cry whenever anything is born. this posed a bit of a problem when i was on ob/gyn…
also: i love cows.
Oh! How cool is that! I only witnessed a calf being born once. It was on my grandma’s farm and the vet was cranky because there were too many kids watching…but my uncles wanted us to see it!
Wow, what an amazing experience! That is the sort of thing that I wouldn’t think of to go do, but hearing about it makes me wistful to experience something out of my comfort zone.