Why Is There a Cow in the Bathroom?

Last Monday evening, in the middle of a snowstorm, one of our cows had her baby.  I went to feed the animals around 6:30.  It was already dark, of course, but I could see that there was a baby.  I assumed it must've just arrived, as it was still wet and not standing.  At 8:30 pm, I went back to check on the Mom and baby.  I wanted to make sure the baby was standing and eating and that everything was OK.

The snow was still falling.  The Momma cow was still in the same spot, next to the driveway, about half way up.  The baby was lying in a puddle, a nearly frozen heap, her head tilted back.  The mother had laid down next to her.  Gathered around her were the other cows.  Red, Maryjane Sunshine, 63.  Red was licking the mother's face.  They were all softly mooing, almost as if they were comforting the mother and offering condolences.Like they knew the baby was not going to make it.

I backed down the driveway and sped to my neighbor's home.  Lyle jumped on his 4 wheeler and came over.  He held off the momma cow (she did not want me to take her baby) while I scooped up the baby and put her in my van.  Yes, my van.  My new van.  I did lay an old coat across the seat before I put her on it.  We drove to Lyle's, where he carried her in the house. (When we weighed her at the vets, she was 70 pounds)  His wife and daughters started a hot shower for the baby, while I got on the phone to find an emergency large animal vet.  Apparently, Spokane no longer has one for livestock, only horses.  Dr. McKinley made the disclaimer... "I haven't worked on cows in 20 years, but..." He encouraged us to try to get some kind of milk in her.  Whole milk, evaporated.  We looked up a recipe for Electrolytes.

Meanwhile, the girls were blowing the calf dry.  It still couldn't stand up, but was mooing a bit.  We got a syringe and started shooting Electrolytes and then evaporated milk with Karo syrup down its throat.  The calf was not interested.  Finally at 10:30 pm, I told Lyle to put the calf back in my car and I would take it home.  I couldn't thank them enough for all the help they'd given me. None of us had much hope that she would make it.

When I got home, I called Dallin to help me carry up the calf.  I yelled to Jordon to go find an old sleeping bag to put on the floor in the bathroom.  We got the calf set up in the bathroom, turned on the heat lamp, plugged in a space heater and turned the thermostat up to 73.  I got 3-4 more syringefuls of an evaporated milk mixed with karo syrup down her, but then she just let it dribble out.  She was freezing to touch.  No warmth at all.  The inside of her mouth was like ice. (I later learned that this is one way to know if a calf has eaten.  The mouth is warm if it has, cold if it hasn't).  I thought for sure she would die.

I went to bed, but it was hard to sleep.  She was thrashing around, banging her head on the tub.  I got up about every hour, to check on her, move her away from the tub again.  She couldn't lift her head, it was her legs that were just kicking, kicking, almost in a reflex to try to stand.  Except she couldn't stand. Just kick out and kick out.  The last time I checked on her, it was three am.  The bathroom was so warm... Probably about 75 degrees.  I went back to bed and prayed, "Heavenly Father, if she is just going to die, take her now, so that she doesn't have to suffer any more.  I really need to sleep."  I fell immediately asleep.  I remember being slightly conscious at about 5 am and thinking, well, she must be dead, because I haven't heard any thrashing.

I woke up at 6:15.  I was dreading going into the bathroom, but finally decided I better go so that I could remove the dead calf before the kids woke up.  I walked into the bathroom, and darned if that baby wasn't sitting up, looking around! I was SO surprised!

The girls were all in bed when I had arrived with the calf the evening before.  That morning, the big question was, "Mom, why is there a cow in our bathroom?"  You know, really, how often do people say, "Yeah, we had a cow in our bathroom once..."

As soon as I got the kids off to school, I loaded the little calf back in the car and drove her to Ponti's Vet Clinic.  She quickly endeared herself to the staff.  They named her "Norman" after the cow on City Slickers. They tube fed her three times and finally got her standing.  When I picked her up at 4, she was wobbly, but could stand on her own if you put her in a standing position.  She still had a very weak sucking reflex, so we were worried that she wouldn't get be able to eat.  I had purchased a bottle and colostrum supplement to help her.

I brought her back to the farm and called her momma up to the barn.  The poor mother had been crying for her all day.  She sniffed the baby and mooed at her, but didn't seem to know what else to do. She was a first time mother, so had no experience.  The baby fell to the ground and then... another miracle! She stood back up. On her own!

After much coaxing, we got the Momma in the barn and put the baby in the stall with her. The Momma let Troy milk her (glad he knows how to do this...) and we tried to give her the colostrum in a bottle, since she still couldn't nurse.

 The next morning, the baby did not look very good at all.  Her ears were down and she seemed weak. She hadn't eaten. Troy milked the momma, and then we put the calf in the car again and took her to Ponti's for another tube feeding.  After bringing her back to the barn, I drove to the feed store and purchased a tube feeder so that we could tube her ourselves. We didn't know how long it would take for her to learn to suck. We'd read of one guy who had to tube feed for 10 days. The vet told me of another product:  Orphan No More!

We tubed her again at 1 and then at 5.  I sprinkled the Orphan No More powder liberally over her back.  This product has a taste the cow likes and has minerals in it.  It entices the cow to lick the calf, which then stimulates the calf to look for milk!

 Miracle again!! The next morning, that baby was nursing on her mother!!  (I think the mother told her "You better nurse the minute they come up here or they'll stick that tube down your throat again!!")  I attribute this to prayer.  When we left Tuesday night, I prayed and prayed that the baby would figure out how to nurse.  I love that Heavenly Father cares about the animals, sustains them and gives us hope through them.  I am thankful that He loves me enough to answer my prayers and take care of my minor emergencies... Allowing a calf to live, when it looked like there was no hope.  ... Allowing the mother to bond to the calf and the calf to the mother.  ... And the allowing the baby to nurse so that I wouldn't have to bottle feed...  What a blessing.

Her official name is Miracle of Brilliance.  Cami is calling her Rosie.  We now have all 5 calves born, healthy and eating good.  Again, what a blessing.