February 2019

February might be the shortest month in the calendar but I have long maintained that it certainly seems the longest as waiting for March/Spring is the adult version of kids waiting for Christmas! This year is no exception! The weather temps and snowfall have been relentless and I never sleep great during this time of year because I love to worry about everything that can go wrong.  Frozen this and that.  Broken this and that.

Always makes me laugh! :)

Broken AND frozen is my personal favorite.  

And the stock...doesn’t really matter if your herd is large or small, every life is precious.  Having a resident veterinarian in the house doesn’t eliminate the occasional trouble that might arise but I like to think that my job as the resident worrywart is taken back a few notches by sleeping next to the vet!

The snow keeps on piling up!

During one of our many snowfalls this month, we were all cozy in the house watching a heifer progress in labor on the cameras when she seemed to get tired and ran out of energy.  It happened to be about 7:30 at night, no school and not terribly cold out so we told the kids, “Get your clothes on!  If we all work together, we’ll be back inside before you know it!”  

I can't even tell you how many times they have seen a calf be born on its own or how quickly a mother loves her baby at birth but I don’t know, at 10 and 7 years old, how many times I really have “let” them be in on assisting in a delivery.  I think because I worry (duh) and have tried too hard to protect them from the parts of this life that hurt you; not just physically but emotionally.  I haven’t wanted them to be calloused by neither the successes when helping a calf into this world nor the inevitable failures that come too.  It’s not a glamorous job, its often filled with tension and it can definitely be sad.  

We got the heifer in to check her and before I knew it, we were having a real life birthing class with the kids in the barn. Tod talked through the checklist of things we do as we decide whether we need to help a baby into this world. Bryce put on a long breeding glove to make his assessment that was way too big for him but he didn’t care!  Blake helped hold the chains and rope and in no time at all, another healthy baby was welcomed into this world.  We worked to encourage the baby to take its first breaths and moved it and the new mom together. 

I never really tire seeing new life.  It is a miracle every time.  Their will to live and will to love; aah, awesome!  It was a little more awesome as for once in my life, we actually slowed down and had this moment to share TOGETHER and learn from.  They asked so many great questions and expressed concern when the heifer took a little time getting her bearings being a new mom.  I felt a smidge regretful that we hadn’t made time for this moment sooner in their lives but these situations and the outcomes are so unpredictable.  It’s not lost on me how text book this delivery was but if there were ever a calving for the kids to be armpit deep in amniotic fluid and afterbirth, this was it! 

It was the perfect scenario to teach them and to teach us too about how sometimes, it pays off to let go of your fears and do what you know needs to be done.  I left the barn that night feeling so content and happy as our little team relished in the victory of a live baby and a loving mother.