A New Calf

Yesterday, we received a call from the delightful lady at the local stockyard/sale barn and she said, " Do you want a calf?" "Sure!", we hollered! " Do you have a truck?" she asked. "No, but we never let such minor details get in our way! We'll be right there!"

I called the girls down from their chores and in from the garden, hustled up the little ones from the porch , and called in the bigger boys from scooping 'fertilizer'. Michael and Kressant deigned to join the party - Michael is well familiar with my wild adventures - so off we went. We had a 15 passenger van with the seats out and a huge piece of cardboard down - we'd been hauling pinestraw the day before - so we were ready for cattle hauling!

When we arrived , the sale barn lady gathered around to 'see the show' - this crazy family putting a calf in their van! ( We're the family who brought the goat years back ,in our bus - but that's another story!! {Ask Wesley})

So, we are the excited owners of a pretty calf with a fluffy white coat with little brown spots, whose snout looks like she got into a can of cocoa and then dipped her ears in chocolate, so we named her Cocoa Puff. She has a problem with weakness in her first front joint - the hock , I believe it is called - so she is lame, but we hope to be able to help her with that - she almost walks on her tip-toes - anyone have any experience with this?
I hope we can eventually get you a picture. She is very tame and gentle, with a cute curly tail. ( If your comments of experience are not encouraging , I'd like them, anyway, as we are realistic , even if we do give them cute names!)

Cleveland and Andrew administered 10 cc of penicillin last night when they got in from the day's work, just as a precaution for the little calf.

You should have seen us girls getting her off the van. We had no fancy loading chute, so we rustled up a piece of plywood and Dorothy backed up to the barn yard and we coaxed Cocoa Puff out and down in a sudden rush of hooves and fur and ---- she's out! She seems to like the accomodations , but now I'm worried about the temp - it's something cold down here, but I'm sure she's fine- I'm just a worried New Mother!!

The other cows checked her out through the fence and all seemed to approve. Samuel got her some sweet feed and water and we got her some hay, and Dorothy showed her where it all was, so she's settled in and adjusting to life at Calathora.

( Say goodnight, Cocoa Puff.)