First Snowstorm of 2012

I knew the extraordinarily warm winter weather couldn't last much longer.  Rain started falling yesterday and changed to snow overnight. The wind is always a factor here, and was doing it's part  adding to the misery by blowing close to 40 miles an hour.   At 2:00 A.M. heifer check, the rain ( a half inch so far) had changed to snow and about 7 inches was already on the ground.  It continued to snow through the night at let us off easy with a mere 12 inches.
We received a phone call in the early morning hours that the neighbors  power had gone off. The electric company was  trying to get to the problem and had gotten their truck stuck. Fortunately farmers and ranchers all have big tractors.  Our front wheel assist was just being prepared  to go help , when we received another call that all was ok.  The power company had gotten themselves "unstuck" and the power back on.
The new calving barn is a blessing since all the heavies(very close to calving) were put in for the night. There were no calves born.  The lots and trap pastures are a muddy mess!  If anything were to calve, the baby would not have much of a chance in the cold, wet, deep mud. The mother licks with her rough tongue which helps stimulate blood flow and dries them, but it is a losing battle against the winter elements.  We take the calf and mother into the barn.  If very cold, (I check by placing my finger in the mouth)the baby gets put into a warming box, which is a small enclosed shelter with a grated floor and a forced air heat source below the calf.  After he is thoroughly warmed, and fed if needed, he is placed in a pen with his mother.  Usually, nature takes over and every thing is uneventful.
I say usually.  We calve a lot of heifers and some old cows.  When working with living or mechanical things, there is always some sort of break down!  That's when you just put on your big girl/boy panties and deal with it! There is no point in getting all wound up.
Some times a mother has her calf and her hormones get cross wired. She doesn't know if that little bundle, staggering around on sea legs trying to get up,  is a coyote or a calf.  She doesn't know whether to doze it into the ground and kill it or lick it, so she bellers very eerily and does both in rapid succession.  That is when we take her calf away, and go to the barn, she gets a small sedation injection, and once she lays down, the calf is put in a pen with her.  A good nap does wonders after a birth.  When I check on them later, all is usually as nature intended.  The calf  nursing with a happily wagging tail and the mother licking her calf.
I am always amazed at the wonders of nature!