The little white girl seems to be doing fine but the little gray girl that was born 3 days ago isn't. Her mother was not letting her nurse so we tried giving her a bottle this morning without much luck. She wouldn't swallow; she had simply given up. It was so depressing and I was kicking myself for not trying this yesterday when she still was up and walking around. We couldn't leave her out in the mud to die. My husband carried her into the basement and we forced milk and electrolytes down her throat. Again it seemed we were making no progress. But by the third attempt at bottle-feeding she finally started to suck. Hooray!
I'm not sure how often I should be feeding her since this is probably her first actual day of eating, but I've tried a few and each time she seemed to do a little better. Right now we have her in a large dog crate in the basement but that won't last long.
Don't laugh at the poor little thing but yes, she is wearing socks. Her legs were so wet and filthy I had to put them on. Tomorrow morning I'm hoping to return her to Mom.
I'm also hoping it isn't too late for her to nurse but I'm not holding my breath since Erin apparently has not fed her at all. We did try to get the calf near her udder a few times but she kept walking away. (I don't like to get too close because Erin definitely DOES kick). Last time we tried this, we... and also her calf... were kicked several times.
At least most of the snow in our valley is gone but the mud in the cow pen is ankle deep with lots of standing water. Since Buttercup's calf was finally born today and she seems to be doing fine, we opened the gate this afternoon and let the cows out into the pasture at long last.
Meanwhile out in the pasture, Erin IS calling for her calf, but I still think she's a terrible mommy! I see a craigslist ad coming in the future: "8 yr old Scottish Highland cow for sale - Has had 7 nice calves, TERRIBLE mother, cheap to a good home."
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