Mojo’s birth wasn’t uneventful and her first presentation drew gasps of horror…upside down ? breech ? Nooooooooo !!! Luckily for our bovine mom to be, the peanut gallery, watching anxiously from a hay bale auspiciously stacked above the cow pen spotted something appearing that shouldn’t be there. Multi functional Greg managed to turn the unborn calf who appeared more interested in kicking his way out than taking the usual passage and both he and Quatre assisted Daisy to expel the source of her “tummy ache from hell “. Daisy May was not a passive patient and a great deal of irritated tail swishing and ear shattering bellows accompanied each irksome contraction. Clearly, a good dose of Peptobismal or tried and Old Wives Tales….time tested (????) a hot bath or imbibing warm castor oil remedies for encouraging overdue offspring to enter the world fortunately seemingly inappropriate under the circumstances. Unfortunately for Quatre, births are usually accompanied by more than a little gunk….liquid and other..but all pretty NASTY and poor Quatre, being directly in the line of fire experienced the whole expulsion of everything Daisy May could expel ! It didn’t smell too good either !!! Poor Quatre, if something is going to get dumped it will probably get dumped on our wonderful long suffering Quatre !!. Carla, who managed to make her old Ford truck cover the distance from Port Orchard to the ranch faster than an Aston Martin to make sure she witnessed the birthing process busied herself clicking photographs faster than her finger could move and her camera could process. Quatre and Corla rubbed and cood at the new calf whilst fervently assuring herself that the whole painful experience was one she could live without and MJ's first bottle and iodine rub was were their happily accepted missions. We have a baby cow !!
Just to add a little interest to the birthing experience, yesterday the Pacific North West was directly in the path of a major rain storm….and, just as MJ had predicted…..we got VERY wet, all day. Everything that had an inch of shelter to hide under found it, the goats barely put their noses out, Tiger found a warm horse rug and barely a whisker got wet. Bran the intrepid border Collie chose to use the Quad rather than wet his paws and the sheep out in the pasture huddled tightly under the heavy sodden branches of an old cedar tree. Good news….the rain drain that occupied so much of your vacation time and was responsible for many of your aches and pains Malc, is working just as Greg’s brain (!!! Yes, we all know about the plans in Greg’s brain…sadly we aren’t all psychic !!) knew it would. The Chinese guttering in which everyone got involved during the last dry days of the Summer…(as the threatening black storm clouds rolled in) are holding up surprisingly very well, much better than anticipated if you had been around during the installation ! The hole Carla dug and apparently true to form around here, filled in again but this time with a workable drain in the cow pen is working admirably and the pump in the house pond is keeping that overflow from flooding the pasture. Quatre has been exercising and improving her impressive set of biceps and abs by building the wood stack into a wooden equivalent of the Empire State building. Greg SAID he “wanted the pile stacked high”……and he has got it, stacked very high! Thanks again Quatre. It has been a very productive summer and although all our Winter preparations are not completed ( Greg’s “to do” list never seems to go down !!) we feel as confident that Winter can “bring it on “ !!! We are ready. ! Did I just say that ?????
Back to Mojo-Anne, appropriately at the moment with our weather activity abbreviated to MJ ( no offence to MJ the Fox 13 weather guru). MJ ( the hairy brown one) is thriving. She caused a little flutter when she appeared to have a feeding issue and she seemed to have lost the instinct to suck but the suck machine has been restored and that girl has a suck that would give a 1hp vacuum pump a run for its money. Mojo recognises us as “mommy” and EVERYTHING that doesn’t move and some that do ( Bran the border collie) can (and does) get tested for suckability. Each new born here at the ranch breathes new life and starts a new exciting chapter, we are blessed with our life, our families and our friends and each new day, month and year brings us new and more wonderful memories. Thanks to everyone who helps ( or helped) to make Gentle giant Meadows Ranch the “Heaven” that it is for us and the peaceful haven it is for the animals in our care.
Take care, keep safe and dry, M