Last Thursday it began to snow. And snow it did. All night, and into the next day until about 2pm or so. It dumped about a foot on us! And it’s April, people! APRIL! South Dakota is notorious for April snow showers, so really it shouldn’t be a surprise. It does make, however, calving cows a tad trickier than normal. Saturday morning, I caught a ride with the cowboy’s brother, Bud, as he headed out to check on the cows and bring in a mama cow who’s calf was in the house staying warm. She’d had him during the storm and he wasn’t doing good, so Friday afternoon’s job was to get him warmed up and back on the track to health. He did do well for two days, and then he died. It’s sad, but it happens.
The following is your photographic tour of our trip to check cows. Enjoy!
See those “H” braces up there?
Between them is a gap gate that will lead us to the pasture where the cows are currently camping.
Hi there, mama!
Calves are everywhere!
Babies run and play!
And cows are calving:
This cow was just in the middle of having her calf when we came on her.
I know, we’ll leave you alone.
After we get one or two more photos!
We came back by her about 5 minutes later and she’d set about drying off her little one, and it was already trying to stand up.
And for those of you wondering- this calf is alive and well, despite the snow and rather cool day. They’re tougher than nails a lot of these calves!
We ran across a prairie chicken hen (at least that is what I believe her to be).
And this cutie:
And this one too!
And then we attempted to bring this crazed cow home to her calf:
#419- you will go to the sale barn as soon as we are able to get to town. Have I mentioned the mud? And the snow?
I’m sure you’re wondering why she’s going to the sale barn, right?
Here’s the reasons.
1. Her calf died and we can use the grass for a cow that has a calf.
2. If her calf hadn’t died, it wouldn’t have mattered, because she put her head up and a). ran through a fence, b). refused to search out an open gate and c). she sulled up and was otherwise was uncooperative.
3. We have gentler cows than her, that could have nursed her calf (because they’ve lost their own calves) and there’s no good reason to keep one that will just put her head up and run off when there’s others that are perfectly nice to be around.
And that, my friends, is a day in my life!
Happy Trails!
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AWWW! Loved all the pictures! SNOW?!!
So sorry to hear of the cow that you lost but happy to see the new ones. 🙂
Marli
Those high-headed heifers can be a pain. I can’t remember the first time I heard that term but my boss at one of my past jobs got after one of my co-workers for having a hissy fit over some doings in the office. The boss told her to knock it off, that she didn’t put up with high-headed heifers. The girl was a city slicker and probably thought there were ‘girl cows’ and ‘boy cow’s and ‘girl bulls’ and ‘boy bulls’ …she was that naive about the whole cow thing. When my boss said that, the girl stopped mid-sentence and was speechless for a long time …not a normal state of affairs for her at all. When my boss left the room, the girl whispered to me, “WHAT is a high-head …what did she say??” LOL
I explained that it just meant kind of wild-eyed and noncooperative and rebellious …I think she finally caught on but it took me a while to convince her I wasn’t just yanking her chain. People really did talk like that in Texas. LOL
Lol, you know what made this worse- that this was a 5 year old cow- not a heifer. So she should absolutely know better and handle better than that.
Your story is funny. I can just see that girl, in a state of shock. People really do talk like that in Texas. Former Texas girl here, so I know of which you speak!