Instincts

This morning one of our cows had twins.  My cow book shows this is a new experience for her, but she took it all in stride and began cleaning up the firstborn even as the second baby was still coming!  

When we went back to check on them this hot afternoon, though, the black heifer calf had wandered off.  Probably looking for some shade, the newborn had gone under a fence and laid down in some tall grass.  If we hadn't found her, she might have been coyote supper tonight.

Mama and twin brother seemed to have bonded though and moved to another part of the pasture. Sometimes a mother will forget she has two babies on that first day, and other times all three will be together continually. Twins are usually more trouble for cattlemen and not the double blessing it might first seem!

We’re unsure if the little heifer got any of that important first milk colostrum, though.  So rancher Bob put her under my feet in the pick-up (a fairly common event when you have 400 cows) and we drove home without even a mess to clean up (that part only happens about ½ the time!)

While he went back with a trailer to load the mama and brother to bring them home, I mixed up some packaged colostrum (wonderful invention!) and headed for the pen to see if the little black beauty would suck.  At the first taste she was up banging on the fence… and me… wanting more.  That 2 quarts was gone in a flash.  Love it when they still have that strong sucking instinct and we don’t have to tube them!

We never tire of the miracle of birth around here and the natural instincts these creatures have.  The cow knowing to go off alone when it’s her time to calve, getting herself up as soon as the baby hits the ground, stimulating the calf to stand right away by a vigorous licking and  cleaning,  and then waiting patiently for the baby to stumble around, find the milk and figure out the delivery system.  

And then there’s the calf’s instincts:  getting up on those wobbly legs, sometimes within 5 minutes of birth, knowing where to find something for his empty belly, getting that tongue in just the right position for optimal feeding efficiency.

Seldom will the mamas go off and leave their newborns in the first 8 hours or so, even for a drink on a blistering hot day like this one.   But when she does, she will remember exactly where she left hers in a whole pasture of similar calves.  And right away he will recognize her special bawl and come running when she calls.

This particular cow looks like she has enough milk for two, so we will keep them in the corral for a week or so to make sure both calves are doing well.  Every now and then we have to take one away though and sell it to someone who wants a bottle calf.  

Occasionally we have another cow that’s lost her calf but still has good milk and we try to pair them up. Then we have to employ measures to override her maternal instincts to get her to accept a calf she didn’t birth.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But that’s a whole other story.

Anyway, this afternoon I’m thinking about instincts and that all this is no accident. I’m remembering that verse in Psalm 139 and I’m thanking God that not only people, but animals too, are “fearfully and wonderfully made”!