Where there is life.
A few months back I decided I would like a Jersey calf to add to the smaller animals on our Social Farm as well as being a working farm. So after some research and emails I got a reply from a farmer who said he had a smaller than normal calf but would sell it to me at a lower price.
So in June of this year on a warm day my husband and i made a 2 hr trip to see the calf little knowing what we would find.
When we arrived at the farm we were met by the farmer and taken to see the calf. There in a pokey little corner in a small plastic box lay the smallest calf I ever saw. She was 6 weeks old, covered in flies and her own excrement. The smell was awful and in front of her was a bucket with cold, curdled milk.
My heart sank. The little calf was slowly dying. My husband and I both looked at each other and knew we had to take her home even if she died on the way.
So off we went on our 2 hr drive home wondering if she would make it. When we got home I made a cosy pen with straw, wrapped her in a blanket with hot water bottles around her. She was very sick, she couldnt get up she just rested her head on my knee and that’s where I stayed that night with her in the shed giving her love and comfort and willing her to live.
The next morning she was still very poorly so I rang the vet and made her a bottle of warm milk. She wanted to suck but kept choking on the milk but she was trying so hard. When the vet arrived he was very concerned and said that she had pneumonia from aspirating on the milk and a chronic infection in her larynx( voice box) and that she would probably never moo. He left me with a pile of injections for over the next few days but didnt give me much hope.
At this stage I had decided to call her Jessie. So now it was up to me and Jessie and i knew if Jessie didnt give up neither would I. A few long worrying days and night passed and lots of injections later Jessie showed slight improvement. She started to lift up her head and starting to try to stand up and looked at me as if to say’ i can do this’ and slowly but surely she did. Taking her bottles, still choking due to the damage to her lungs and voice box but getting to her feet. The weather was warm and sunny outside so i set her out in the garden in the grass which she loved and soaked up the suns rays
About a month ago i gave up on Jessie ever mooing due to the damage and had her outside.one day she always likes to go round with me and the dogs feeding the other animals. I was busy doing my chores and turned a corner out of Jessie’s sight and then I heard it the loveliest noise that I thought I would never hear she mooed. It is so important for cows and calves to moo for communication in a herd. I was her Mum and she was communicating with me.
Just to end Jessie is now 7 months old, a happy, healthy calf who is very mischievous and loves attention and I am so glad we saved her. She is my pride and joy.
My motto on the farm is always where there is life there is hope and Jessie proved me right this time.
Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in Senior Chatters
Goldie what a wonderful story and so glad Jessie survied and is now 7 months old.
Thanks Marie I didnt know if anyone would be interested but I wrote it anyway. She is the calf with the Santa hat on that I posted yesterday
A small thing? Not to you. And not to so many that go out of their way to help an animal in need.
I had an experience that meant so much to me. One of the kids left the screen door open and a hummingbird flew into the house. I suppose it flew around and got lost so that it could not find the way it had come in.
My wife found it laying on the floor and called me to help. Hummingbirds as I understand it require frequent feeding to survive. I’d guess that it had been inside beyond it’s ability to fly.
We took the bird outside and lay it in the grass and wife got a spoonful of sugar water we keep for our feeders. I held the spoon to the birds beak and it immediately began flicking it’s tongue around in the spoon. If I recall correctly it was less than a minute until it was able to stand up and shortly it flew into a tree close by. We had so great a feeling of having likely saved it for a longer life.
Small think? Not for us.
Charlie
Lovely story
Thanks grandmaj
Yes, so true.
I used to work on a farm with animals and a few came back from the brink of death. I helped look after Sheep and Lambs and helped rear Bull calves for beef.
lovely story such passion for life, glad she came to live with you.
I love this story. I am a fur people lover. My blogs will prove that. I enjoyed your story and hope we will get updates on your baby as time goes by. I have a dog that was raised by cows and just recently learned how to bark. She moos instead. I also have a squirrel that was raised by a cat and thinks he is the neighborhood ambassador. Thank you so much for sharing your story.
Goldie, such a beautiful story, it just shows that love and caring can over ride any obstacle,
Jessie was so lucky to find you.