...cow that is...

We welcomed little Daisy Lee into our farm family this morning.

Ironically, we've enjoyed sunshine and warm temperatures here for the last week or two.  Gorgeous weather to birth in a field if you happen to be a cow.  I talked with Clarabelle extensively over the past 2 weeks about how perfect a time it was to have her calf.  She listened attentively and then waited until tropical storm remnants blew in from the gulf coast and decided it was her time to shine. 

Not that I'm criticizing her choice of dates...at least she gave birth ON her due date...I've not been that timely  in awhile with my babies.   

We're officially old pros at this, I guess, now that this is our second calf and we've been enjoying our first calf, T-Bone, at the dinner table for about a week now, but it still seems pretty fun and exciting.  If you like birth stories and want to review T-Bone's story...I actually live-blogged his birth...here, here, here, here, and here .  I didn't have time to do any blogging this go-round.  We were sitting at the table after breakfast getting ready to do some school work when Joshy looked out the window and saw Clarabelle in the back of the pasture moving differently that she normally does...he said, "I think Clarabelle's having her calf."  I quickly went out (with Susie, Sammy and Becca) to check it out, but while she seemed a little uncomfortable, nothing visible was happening.  I went back inside and about 30 minutes later I put Becca down for a nap and went out without little ones to see...i walked halfway across the pasture when I realized I was looking at hooves and a head emerging...I turned around and ran back inside to alert everyone...the kids ran to the neighbor's house who wanted to witness the event and I quickly called and cancelled Julia's flute practice and was back outside in less than 5 minutes...well, every momma knows alot can happen in 5 minutes...if it's the right 5 minutes...about 3 contractions and a birth.  So, I missed it...when I arrived on the scene Clarabelle was cleaning up her calf...in the rain...

Again, I'm not going to criticize a momma in labor...much...'cuz Clarabelle is an excellent momma...but she did decide to give birth right adjacent to a manure pile.  Poor Daisy Lee flopped around alot trying to find her legs...right on top of the manure pile...in the driving rain...covered with all of the gunk associated with birth...it was downright lovely.  I almost felt bad for all of the stuff that poor Clarabelle had to lick off her girl.

Anyway, after an hour or so, the rain was picking up and Daisy still hadn't stood, so we got smart...with T-Bone, Brittany and I carried the 50-lb. calf into the barn from the far-end of the pasture.  Julia had the bright idea of putting Daisy in the Radio Flyer wagon and pulling her to the barn...it worked beautifully...

Once in the barn, we were able to hold her up to get her a feeding.  Once she drank a little from her momma, she was able to stand if we stood her up.  Another 2 hours later when we checked on them again, she was standing on her own and even trying to frolick...though she usually frolicked and then flopped to the ground...but at least she was trying. 

So much fun!  Just in case you missed my insinuation about T-Bone earlier in this post, I'll say it again so I have it on record, too...we had T-Bone processed last week...and now we have a freezer FULL of meat.  The kids were very excited about it.  Sammy has been going around telling everyone that T-Bone's MEAT and we're going to eat him.  Thankfully, due to our name for him, most people simply agree with the 3-year-old that, yes, indeed, T-Bone steak is "meat" and are even a bit impressed that a 3-year-old has such advanced tastes to be a steak connoisseur.