Gluey had her calf waiting to meet us yesterday morning – a girl! {click here for see her post from last year} Boys named her Peggy. (first name of Agent Carter in Captain America movie😏)
Gluey tried to “hide” Peggy behind some briars, lol…
And she was a wee bit stubborn and spunky…😏
But (thankfully) it wasn’t too difficult to get them out of Mordor and they made the trek to the barn just fine. The boys had a scrimmage that morning, so it was just me & Mike. Hence, only a few pics…
Mike had to clean her up a little. She pooped on the way down and her tail rubbed it all over, lol.🙄
See Cookie laying there? Here’s where the answered prayer comes in… Friday I prayed the Lord would give us the wisdom we need for each scenario. Well, yesterday morning, Cookie couldn’t stand up.🙁 She tried, but was super woggle-ey… That’s not “normal”, so before we went up to bring down Gluey+calf, we made the decision to place an emergency call to our vet’s office in Sugarcreek.
Dr. Lauren arrived not long after we brought Gluey & her calf down to the barn. We’d never met her before, as is often the case with emergency calls. Her diagnosis was that Cookie had milk fever…that basically she hadn’t been able to eat enough to compensate for the transition into her large volume of milk production. So she gave her an IV of vitamins and calcium. She said in textbook cases, the cows are able to get up within an hour, and we are happy to report that Cookie fit into that category!!👏🏼👍🏼
What a difficult period this was for us as we began to analyze everything we had done the day before… Did we cause this to happen? Did we milk too much out of Cookie yesterday? Would it have been better to leave her calf with her that night…we’ve done that before, so why didn’t we this time? The attacks were relentless, but Dr. Lauren’s kind words and the faithful prayers of our friends were very reassuring and encouraging.❤️
Cookie is almost 7, and has had 6 calves for us so far. Not sure why this time was problematic for her, but sometimes that’s just how things go. Cookie has always been “more milk than meat”, lol. Seems like everything she eats just goes to her udder! It’s just how she was created.😉 We understand that at some point she will be done milking for us, but we are grateful that it appears (for now, at least) she’s still hanging in there.👍🏼
So the answered prayer? At first I was thinking it was the fact that Cookie was able to get up…but then that would mean that if she hadn’t, it wasn’t an answered prayer. So no – I think the answered prayer was the Lord giving us the wisdom to call the vet for this one. Because here’s some behind-the-scenes truth about farming that isn’t talked about very often: there are times when the decision is made to not make that call, and the animal is put down. It’s hard, and can be ugly, but it is a part of farm-life. It’s usually a somber time, but it’s also a time where we give thanks for the life of that animal. That we had the privilege of being able to care for it while we had it, and that He used it to provide for us in some form or another. Farming is an amazing opportunity to see life and death simultaneously…both are miracles and full of many lessons.❤️
Ideally, we only have the vet here once a year in the fall, to pregnancy check our herd. And most of the 9 seasons we’ve been milking have been this way. We like that. But that isn’t always the case, which is hard for several reasons…we might learn we’ve done something wrong and get corrected, we might have to defend why we farm the way we farm, and then there is the whole financial burden…🙏🏼
Yesterday, we really felt it was worth making that call and investing in the emergency trip for some extra help and expertise. Sometimes the Lord uses other people’s gifts and abilities to work His healing through. That’s what happened for Cookie yesterday, and we are grateful!😍
Ok Lord, again we end in prayers of thanksgiving and awe of how You work. Thank you for being our strength each day and for allowing us to see so many of Your miracles here. We unite with the Psalmist and ask that You continue to show us Your ways and teach us Your paths, guide us in Your Truth and teach us, for You are God our Savior and our hope is in You all day long. Amen
Roberts' Farm Blog 