Some bad news... some good news

First the bad news: our poor little Betty seemed to be improving with all the tender, love and care Kevin was providing her, but it became obvious she wasn't going to recover. Kevin thinks she had a stroke. She kept losing her balance and toppling over. She was eating and drinking, but she couldn't walk. Kevin would pick her up, tip her over and wash her behind (she was sitting in her feces) then would place her in a new, clean spot. Last Tuesday, she took a turn for the worse and Kevin couldn't watch her suffer. Kevin did the deed: a machete was involved. Rest in peace, little one. We're down to 13 Bettys now. They're all doing well, thank goodness.

Now for the good news: we got a call from the dairy farm in Copey to say they had two baby bulls for us (no cost... we like that!). A black Holstein, which we call Jackson (after Samuel L. Jackson) because although he's just a week old, he's going to be a hefty fella. He's already incredibly strong and very demanding. He's always hungry and doesn't like to be kept waiting. The light brown one is a Jersey and we call him Redford (after Robert, for his sandy blond hair and long eyelashes... he's quite the looker). Now Redford hadn't eaten for three days when Kevin picked him up and when Kevin tried to feed him, he wasn't interested. He was spindly thin and survival was in question. Kevin called our friend Danilo (Seidy's husband... my friend from the Copey Learning Center) to see if he had any suggestions. Danilo and Seidy have had cows for several years so Kevin figured Danilo would be able to help. Danilo came by and stuck a tube down the baby's throat and fed him a special electrolyte drink. Since then, Redford has been drinking milk. At first, he would only drink a little bit (half a litre), but today he downed nearly 3 litres... at breakfast and at dinner. Although he's the same age as Jackson, he's considerably smaller. The Jersey breed is smaller, for sure, but his beginnings have had an effect on his growth. Hopefully, he's out of the woods and will get stronger with each passing day.

For now, because they're so small, we keep them in the shelter Kevin and Martin built to keep them safe. They're not ready to eat grass yet anyway, but it won't be long... another week or so and they'll start roaming the pasture for a few hours during the daytime. Martin's bulls (Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee and Rambo) are all doing well and getting quite big. We hardly see them anymore. They're enjoying the space to roam freely within our 15-acre pasture (no more escaping... which is a very good thing).

Kevin feeding our little sweetie, Redford.

Just look at Redford's eyelashes... so not fair :)