Hide and Seek

My favorite part of being a farmer’s wife is to go and “check” cows to see if they are all there.  If there is one missing, then it usually means that she is off having a calf. When this happens, there is a rush of adrenaline for the thought of new life and then the game is on!

It was no different this Monday. I took care of feeding chickens, Josie (our Bloodhound), Deeds (our cat), and Clover( our bottle fed calf) before I went to check cows. Sarah Katherine and I loaded up on the Gator to go and check cows. Cow number 113 is the one that we were looking for because we had noticed the day before that she was bagging up (udders getting full) and that she might calve any day.  Our morning ride started with pairing the mommas up with the babies and updating our records.  As we were working our way from pasture to pasture, I had not seen number 113.  

The adrenaline started to flow and I started to check every nook and cranny of the pastures. We started in the first pasture that is closest to the house. This pasture is where all of the new mommas and babies were hanging out so I thought that she might be hidden somewhere in this pasture so she could join the “new momma club” after calving. No such luck!

We then moved to the next pasture which was where we fed the majority of the hay during the winter that also had two creeks that framed the pasture. This is where she has to be I thought because she would want to be close to water after going through labor-and as a woman who has given birth, you want a good drink after it is over with! No such luck here either!

Finally, we moved to the third pasture that the cows had access to. This pasture is the furthest from the house and is the most secluded, this is where she had to be for sure.  We made our way down into the creek and almost didn’t make it up the other side of the creek to the next pasture--Sarah Katherine thought it was great that we were spinning mud and that we were almost stuck.  She kept saying “again, again” as we made our way to find new life.  As I drove around each opening and corner in the third pasture, I couldn’t find cow-113.  

There was no way that I could lose a game of hide and go seek to a cow, so I started our way back to the first pasture near the house, much to the excitement of Sarah Katherine who was looking forward to some more mud slinging.  I spent the next hour and a half driving in and out of every wooded area, passageway, and creek looking for cow-113.  By this time, Sarah Katherine was asleep next to me on the Gator.  I tried calling David to see if there were any “secret” hiding places in these three pastures but no answer. 

I had to own up to it that I had just lost a game of hide and seek to a cow, an animal that is more than 10 times my weight!  Even though I was frustrated and hurt that I had lost this time, I was more worried wondering if she was okay or if her baby was okay.  The mother in me definitely went to thinking the worse-what if she was trying to calve and needed help, what if she had twins, what if she ran away?  I owned up to my defeat and took my own child into the house for her nap.  

Cow-113 did win that round of hide and seek and won a new born calf! David found her later. She had broken through the fence and was in another pasture. She and her new little calf are doing great.