The Last Christmas Present

It was getting dark on Christmas night as I went out to feed the goats and our pregnant cow, Missy. Everyone showed up for the evening snack except for Missy which is very odd because she is usually waiting for us at the gate each night. I walked out to the pasture to look for her and to my surprise this is what I found. Isn't she beautiful!

I was shocked to see this newborn calf lying in the grass! For a split second I wondered where it came from because we had been outside throughout the day and didn't notice anything different with our cow. The pasture is in front of our house in plain view. I guess our Missy was in labor and we didn't even realize it!

Now let me back up and give some more details on Missy and explain why we didn't know when she was suppose to calf. A "few??" months ago (I have learned how important it is to keep notes) we came home to find the fence that separates our pasture from the neighbor's pasture was leaning in one spot. Hmmm...that was strange until we later saw the neighbor's bull coming to visit our carousing little heifer! Apparently they had a rendezvous in spite of the fence. We wanted to wait until she was at least 18 months to 2 years before breeding her as we were told this is best for the heifer. We are pretty sure she was old enough. Just how old is Missy??? Well, we got her as a calf but we don't know how old she was when she came to us and did I write down the date we got her? Noooo, but you can be sure that will not happen again. I am learning these things.

We anticipated seeing the birth and had planned to invite Hannah and her family over to watch. We have never seen animals give birth except for our dog. We missed this opportunity but next time I will be more prepared!

Now our next farm lesson will be learning to milk our cow (Oh Marcy, how I wish you were my neighbor right about now!!!). Missy is pretty intimidating to me and she looks much bigger when I am squatting down near those powerful legs. We are not going to try milking for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, Monroe is going to build a milking stall. For now, we are taking treats of fruit and petting her. She is very protective of her calf and will not let us touch it. By the way, she had a baby girl...errr...I mean a heifer. We are still trying agree on a name. We want something "Christmasey". So far we have come up with Mistletoe, Holly and Merry Bell (that is Ms. Kay's suggestion). What do you think? Does anyone have any other ideas?

We have some other Christmas additions to our farm. I'll write about that tomorrow.

With a grateful heart,

Pam