MANHATTAN, Kan. — This season’s first calf arrived a little over four weeks early this year. For humans this may not seem that impossible, but calves born more than four weeks early rarely live past a day or two. The little guy weighed in at 35 pounds, half the size of a typical newborn.
Our mama cows have great instincts and we typically don’t interfere unless they need help. Our premature calf was born to a heifer who was monitored more closely for her first delivery. Since the baby was tiny, it was a quick and uncomplicated birth.
The two most important things that need to happen after birth are getting the calf dry and making sure it gets the mom’s first milk, called colostrum, within four hours of birth. This mama cow did a good job of getting the baby cleaned up but he was too small to stand on its own so the mom was hand milked and the calf was bottle fed.
When it became clear that this calf would require a lot of intervention for survival, he and mama were moved to our calf shed. The calf shed is the closest thing on the farm to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The shed is a small three-sided building with a few private pens that can keep mama and baby together out of wind or rain.
The baby made it through the first night but it was a long way from going without assistance because he lacked size and strength. Over the next few days, twice a day the cow was moved into a stanchion so she could be hand-milked safely. While she was being milked, I often spent time trying to get the calf to stand and walk.
By the third day, the calf had defied the odds and was able to stand for a few minutes and even wobble-walked half the length of the shed. Those steps were small and insignificant to a normal calf, but I felt pride in the little guy’s herculean efforts.
If you have read this far you probably think I am going to tell you that the premature calf defied odds and is thriving today. That is how the Hollywood happy ending should go. Unfortunately, his little body gave up on the morning of Day Five. Anytime a calf dies, it is hard but when you invest so many hours and get invested it is completely crushing.
Farm life is full of miraculous and beautiful moments. It can also be devastating and heart wrenching. Calving season most vividly juxtaposes those two feelings in a rollercoaster of ups and downs that flow quickly through time.
Marc always tells me not to get attached to calves, but I can’t help it when invest so much time in them. I want them to have the fairytale ending of defying odds and surviving. But this isn’t a fairytale or Hollywood and happy endings are not guaranteed.
In farming you can’t worry too far into the future. It’s better to focus on the here and now, celebrating the small victories and being thankful for whatever little progress is made. This little calf made it four days when it wasn’t likely to survive two. Four days isn’t long, but for this one little calf it was a whole lifetime.
When a story reaches its end, we can find peace in knowing we tried even if we didn’t succeed.
— Jackie Mundt, Pratt County farmer and rancher
Kansas Farm Bureau
