Sometimes cows die

Once upon a time, there was a newborn calf who got very sick. We took him home and put him up in the Sagers Hilton, aka our garage, so that we could take care of him. He was so sick that he wouldn't bottle feed, so we had to stick a feeding tube down his throat and squeeze the formula into his stomach. Even though we were doing him a favor, he thought we were treating him roughly and did not enjoy the situation. He did ok for a few days, and I even had a little "show and tell" where I was having a YW meeting at my house and brought the YW leaders into my garage to show off our little invalid. They all thought he was soo cute, which he was. Then, one day he started stumbling around and running into things, which was kinda funny, and by the morning, he was dead.

Now, maybe you think I'm joking around too much and not taking death very seriously. Let me assure you, we took it very seriously. It is heartbreaking to nurse a creature the best that you can and still fail. We love our cows and are anguished whenever we have one die. But looking back on it now, the only was I can talk about it without being hurt is to joke around and make light of the situation. There's my disclaimer; I'm not hardhearted.

There was one winter when we had several cows and a few calves die and we didn't know what was wrong. Each time we drove the feedtruck into the field and spotted a cold, black lifeless lump in the snow, our hearts sank. We found out later that there was a toxic burr plant growing in the field that was causing the cows to become ill and die.

My first experience with a dying calf was the first winter that we lived in Tooele, so the winter of 2005-2006. I had just learned to drive the old rusty feedtruck with it's manual stick-shift, and boy was I proud to be an important part of the feeding team as the driver of the truck. The cows were in the West field in Rush Valley. We pulled into the field, and within moments, I spotted a mama cow with her new calf. And when I say new, I mean, it hit the ground minutes or even seconds before we got there. The mama cow saw us coming with a load of delicious hay, she realized that she was really hungry, and got up and left her new calf laying on the ground. Sometimes cows who have calved for the first time don't understand what has just happened, or for whatever reason, don't bond with their calf. Luckily this is a pretty rare occurance, but unfortunately for this new calf, his mama forgot all about him. And even more unfortunate was that it was a dang cold winter day. The wind was blowing, there was snow on the ground, it was COLD. We tried herding the mama cow back towards the baby, but she was hungry and wanted nothing else but to eat some lunch with the rest of the ladies. She would have nothing to do with that calf. We decided that we needed to intervene. We carried the calf across the street into the corrals, where there was a bit of shelter from the harsh wind. We gathered whatever blankets and towels we could rummage up in the truck and tried to dry the baby off as best as we could to keep him warm. But the calf was pretty weak and despite our best efforts, was getting weaker. Joel drove out with some warm water and formula, which we tried to get him to drink. In the end, Joel bundled the calf up inside his van and drove him back to Tooele. We made a warm bed in the garage and did our best to nurse him, but ultimately he ended up dying.

I always wonder what would have happened if we had not driven the feedtruck into the field at that precise time. If we had showed up an hour or two later, maybe the mama would have stayed with her baby, warmed him up, and nursed him. Maybe not. But I always feel a small amount of guilt when I think about his death, that possibly could have been prevented if we just hadn't shown up right then.

As cattle owners, we have this awesome responsibility for the well-being of these animals. If we don't do our job, then they would most likely not survive. Sometimes even when we do our job, they end up dying. I heard somewhere that to a farmer, death of an animal is more banal than it is to other people. Not for me. Sometimes cows and calves die before their time, and it's a part of life, but a hard one.