So, it is calving season, meaning that all of Josh's cows are having babies right now. It is interesting to watch all these new momma cows have their little baby cows and to see how they take care of the babies in their new world.
Sometimes cows have trouble having babies and Josh has to help them by pulling the calf out with his hands - eww!! This usually only happens if the calf is unusually large for the momma or if the momma is too old to be halving babies. Well, last night, a cow that was too old to have babies, had a calf that was unusually large - a double wammee! So, after Josh pulled the calf, the momma would not get up. Once a cow falls down and won't get up, it is not long before they give up and just die. After a number of attempts to get the momma up, it was obvious she was not going to and was going to die soon. Josh doesn't think it is fair to let an animal suffer so he decided that he needed to put the momma down (i.e. shoot it!) It was nearing midnight at this point so I had to go out with him so I could hold the flashlight while he put the cow down....Now, I have never witnessed anything being shot at point blank range so I was nervous to say the least. Josh told me to hold the flashlight and close my eyes. So I did, and he shot the cow right there! I thought I could be tough, but this made me so sad that I just busted out in tears right there like a big baby! I just kept thinking about my little Joshua and how sad I would be if I couldn't take care of him. I know it is different with animals, but it still made me sad.The baby calf survived, but we had to bottle feed it milk last night. It was pretty cool to watch the little baby cow drink from the bottle that I was holding.
So I guess that is the circle of life...a new life begins while another life ends. You wouldn't think such deep thoughts could take place in the middle of farm work :)
Sometimes cows have trouble having babies and Josh has to help them by pulling the calf out with his hands - eww!! This usually only happens if the calf is unusually large for the momma or if the momma is too old to be halving babies. Well, last night, a cow that was too old to have babies, had a calf that was unusually large - a double wammee! So, after Josh pulled the calf, the momma would not get up. Once a cow falls down and won't get up, it is not long before they give up and just die. After a number of attempts to get the momma up, it was obvious she was not going to and was going to die soon. Josh doesn't think it is fair to let an animal suffer so he decided that he needed to put the momma down (i.e. shoot it!) It was nearing midnight at this point so I had to go out with him so I could hold the flashlight while he put the cow down....Now, I have never witnessed anything being shot at point blank range so I was nervous to say the least. Josh told me to hold the flashlight and close my eyes. So I did, and he shot the cow right there! I thought I could be tough, but this made me so sad that I just busted out in tears right there like a big baby! I just kept thinking about my little Joshua and how sad I would be if I couldn't take care of him. I know it is different with animals, but it still made me sad.The baby calf survived, but we had to bottle feed it milk last night. It was pretty cool to watch the little baby cow drink from the bottle that I was holding.
So I guess that is the circle of life...a new life begins while another life ends. You wouldn't think such deep thoughts could take place in the middle of farm work :)
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