And it's done...

Our last calf was born on Monday to a favorite cow to all that encounter her...Daphne.  Daph is a small girl, very vocal, very friendly, and always looks at you from the side with a wide-eye expression -- making it seem like she is always giving you the stink-eye.  But she really isn't -- she's just always watching.  She produces massive antlers...almost as big as the bulls...which makes her a pretty impressive looking caribou come late summer.

See?

I wasn't sure when I got up here if she was pregnant this year.  Bulls are buttheads, put plain and simple, and ours is no exception.  He targeted Daphne and Henna last year and they were afraid of him...so it's surprising to me that both allowed him to breed them.  Anyway...she looked kind of round but since caribou, unlike elk, don't seem to fill out their udder until a few days before birth, sometimes it is difficult to tell (there are blood tests of course but we don't mess with those).  So a couple weeks ago, when I could tell her teats were elongating, I knew we'd have a Daphne kid.  And I started stressing -- for a variety of different reasons, this calving season has been quite tough.  And so I worried about Daph and her birthing and her kid.  I worry about all of the 'bou but Daph in particular.  See, the first year Daphne had a cutie little girl -- Ding.

See how adorable?

The second year, Daphne birthed a dead calf (I have no idea what happened) and the wailing she let forth for hours was gut-wrenching.  As is typical with these critters, it doesn't take long for them to move on (some say forget but I'm not sure they do).  Instead of having a bond with a calf, she went back to the bond she had with Ding -- now 1 year old.  A few months later, Ding died.  Suddenly and quickly (I saw her and she was fine and 30 minutes later I looked out and she was dead).  There are organisms that can do that...clostridium in particular which is in the environment but only becomes lethal under certain conditions.  And I had to watch Daph mourn the loss of her yearling.  She stood over her until we could remove her from the pen and then for days kept returning to the spot and standing still over it.  That year, she didn't breed with our yearling male (hardly any did).

While I sometimes look on calves as little leeches that suck moms dry, these animals are genetically engineered to be moms.  And like people, I think the maternal instinct is stronger in some than others.  Some, like Henna, do the absolute minimum (she'll stand for nursing but she won't clean her kid off -- I keep telling Henna that I did not sign up as a co-parent to her kid when the first 24 hours, since Henna wouldn't do her job, I'm having to go out and wash the back end of the kid down with warm soapy water!).  Daphne, on the other hand, she's a great mom and I'm so happy to see her be able to care for a kid again.  These photos were taken about 15 minutes after birth through to about 6 hours after birth.  She's a strong little female that I'm naming Darcy.

Back next week with more crafting and musings.  Somehow a color-work yoked sweater jumped on my needles and I'm cruising right along on it!  I've done some more sketching.   And I still have to share my new obsession!  Stay tuned.

How about you?

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Now playing:  Cleopatra by The Lumineers


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