Rescuing Rusty

I wanted to share the reason I didn’t get to play with any horses today.

We were feeding this morning and my father in law said there was a calf that didn’t look great. I didn’t worry a whole lot. we are usually concerned about completely different things so I thought that if he was a little worried I probably wouldn’t be. After we got done feeding I finally was able to get out through the cows. The calf was laying there alone. Brand new but with no cow anywhere near. I got off to look at him and his mouth was cold. That’s the quick way to take calves temperatures. Like feeling a child’s forehead gives you an idea, sticking you finger in a calf’s mouth will tell you if they’re cold. He was freezing.

I did a quick search for a cow who showed signs of recently giving birth. There was only one. I brought her over to the calf. She was not interested. I put the calf on the back of the 4wheeler, they really are easier to get calves on than a horse 😉 and brought him out around the water to the barn. Of course I couldn’t get to the barn through snow drifts so we stopped at the corrals and I found a nice dry pile of hay to lay him on to soak up some sunshine while I got his mom. His mom was no more interested in leaving the corrals than she had been in her calf.

I finally got her and a handful of other cows out and pushed them up the lane to the barn. Not all the way because there is a river and snow drifts. SO I parked the 4wheeler and walked them the rest of the way. The other cows sorted back easily and I left her in a small pen with her baby to walk the others back. Hoping that time in forced confinement would help her to remember she had a baby I went ahead and looked good through the rest of the herd to make sure there were no other problems. There weren’t.

Of course he hadn’t nursed by the time I got back. Instead she was on the opposite side of the pen and he was shivering violently. I went to get colostrum. By the time I got that down him it was time to pick up children at school. His mom could get to him, if she would, and he was in a dry spot, much warmer than he had been. When I stuck my finger in his  mouth it felt warm instead of cold.

We hurried home hoping to find him following her around, afraid to find him dead. He was alive but still laying there. I left them for the time being to go check cows.  There are a few, hopefully small, issues out in the corrals. One cow is wandering looking for her calf. I’ll give her time to look then go back and see if she found it. Done with that I got a bottle warmed for our calf. He took it enthusiastically and drained it too quickly. I put him back in a small pen with his mom in hopes that he will keep looking for something to finish filling his belly.

And now any time I would have had to work a horse is gone.

The general policy with calves is to try to get involved as little as possible. Usually we create more issues than we fix by interfering. Cows will reject calves that we bottle feed or take away from them for any length of time. Things that are easier in the short run are harder long term. Letting the mom raise the calf is always better, and easier, than raising a bottle calf. If she hasn’t let him nurse by morning I’ll run her in the chute and make her hold still for him to nurse. If they both do this a couple fo times they might get it figured out on their own. Hopefully.

The day after the storm passed was spent digging out. My husband and his father dug their way to the highway.
The cows shook off their winter white blankets and soaked up the sun.
I hiked out to the corrals where the cows spent most of the day on the thirteenth. When we went out to feed them in the evening the cows came running to the tractor as they tried to dig out a gate enough to get through to the cattle. I went ahead on the four-wheeler to check for calves.
In the pens, in the shelter of the big cedar trees, the wind was blocked. Instead the trees filtered the snow as it howled through them. It sprinkled down on the cows like the fine mist from a sprinkler. Breathing was nearly impossible. Every breath sucked in as much moisture as air. The wind in the shelter still beat down on the cows. They were coated in white, huddled together in the corner.
We couldn’t leave them there. Half of them had run to the tractor. I chased the rest to join them. The gate couldn’t be opened any way. The cows got fed in the pen with the lake. The wind was blowing still but the snow came in snow form not mist. It was possible to breath.
In the corrals the next day I found drifts where the cattle had been. Huge drifts that well covered the fences. we did lose one calf in the blizzard. Born over night in the worst of the weather, there was no way he could have made it. Had they stayed in these corrals I think there would have been many cows gone instead of that single calf.

As we get dug out and warmed up by the very welcome sun all I can think is how lucky we are. Not only in having good shelter and not losing more than a single calf, but also that we only got this snow. That it only wiped out fences and buried us in its blanket. On the east side of the state they are being washed away in epic flooding. Ice is breaking loose ripping out bridges and homes. Barns that keep cattle safe through blizzards during calving are being swept away cattle and all as the ranchers watch helpless to save their herds. Life will never be the same. Counties will never be able to fix all the infrastructure that is lost. Families will never replace loved ones who give their lives trying to help.

The news will never mention us. We will be here though, continuing to fight, and help, and do all we can to save animals and friends. Here are links to some ways to help.   https://www.welltravelednebraskan.com/how-to-help-nebraska-flood-victims-and-resources-for-those-displaced/?

Cowboy 911  https://www.facebook.com/groups/270203390408097/ 

https://www.omaha.com/weather/wish-to-help-those-affected-by-the-flooding-in-nebraska/article_b5aea497-9bfa-5e1e-8e99-e4c684a97ee8.html#tncms-source=infinity-scroll-summary-siderail-latest

Farm bureau https://www.nefb.org/get-involved/disaster-assistance

We’ve spent the day checking cattle and keeping them tucked away as best possible. There was one calf. We brought him and his mom up and put them in the barn. She was a good quiet cow and when we put the calf in a sled behind the fourwheeler she sniffed him then followed him in nicely. She even willingly walked through the little door in the barn and stayed. We haven’t found any sign of others.

They left the cows out in the big pens this morning when they fed. When we went out this evening to feed a drift blocked the gate. As we worked to get it open to allow the payloader through the herd came running. If they were willing to wade through the lake I was willing to let them. I took the fourwheeler up to finish bringing the rest of the cows down. The sturdy row of cedar trees, a thick and sufficient windbreak for any blizzard was just serving to diffuse the snow. Hurricane force winds drove through the branches blowing a fine mist of snow down on the cattle. It was like breathing underwater. Any thought of leaving the cattle that hadn’t already come running was gone. I chased the remnants down though the gates.

Hay bales were out and waiting for them in what shelter was available. The wind was still blowing but without the fine mist that was drifting down on them in the other pens.

We went back out as it was getting dark and checked everything one last time. The cows were huddled up tight. Eating hay or squeezed into what shelter they could find. There was nothing else we could do. I went in to feed the horses after walking out through the cows. They were warm and still wet from the little bit of time I had made them go outside. Smoke had been horrified by that and spent the time pacing and wanting in instead of eating and drinking like the rest of them. They all happily ran back in when I had opened the door and called. The hours I had spent hauling hay into the barn so we would be prepared seemed futile now as they quickly trampled it into the mud on the flooded floor. Better wet feet and in out of the storm than standing out in this.

We still have electricity although it has flickered a few times as I write this. We have neighbors without. It is warm enough, in the upper twenties, that we would probably skip the generator, put on some extra blankets, and wait it out until morning. There is nothing else we can do for the cattle but worry and pray. They are all behind shelter. A wind like this quickly makes the usual shelter useless. The wet compounds the issue. All we can do is  wait for morning and hope the storm has passed.

I like a good blizzard. There’s something about watching the snow accumulate, about being safe inside while the wind howls, about knowing the animals are tucked away safe with plenty of feed and shelter. I like snow. It’s very important for us out here in the high plains, where spring storms make up most of the moisture we get for the year. A good blizzard can make or break the summers grazing.

As I get older though I am starting to worry more. What if the house caught on fire when the roads were blown shut and the fire department couldn’t get here? What if one of the kids gets sick or hurt and we can’t get to the hospital? It makes being snowed in a little less fun. With the storm that is coming in now the weathermen are having a little too much fun. They are enjoying their chance to forecast the storm of the decade.  Hurricane force winds, feet of snow. Hopefully they are overstating it as they usually do. If they aren’t though, if they aren’t we are starting to calve and that makes everything worse.

There is no magical “good” time to calve. Any time can be a bad time. The middle of summer whit hot weather, dust, and bugs can be harder on a newborn than snow and cold.

Last year at this time we had green grass and warm weather. Now we have blizzards, big ones. The cattle are already in the corrals where they are forced to stay in a sheltered area. Cows aren’t smart about this. Not all the time. Some cows will choose a perfect, warm, sheltered place to calve. Others will go out into the most open, wind swept place and leave the calf to die. For normal snows we’d leave them where they are. Lots of room to spread out and the tree row for shelter. For the one forecast we want them close, where we can get out to them. Where it’s even more sheltered. Where it will be closer and easier to get any calves born into a shed, try to get them warm and keep them alive.

Today we have warm weather, whether that’s a blessing or a curse it’s sometimes hard to tell. We will use it though, getting ready. The animals will use it, resting, eating, soaking up the warm.