Round 2 of the calves

9 long months after the Running of Betty, new calves started arriving. It's amazing to watch a cow give birth. They continue eating, and let out a moo every once in awhile, but all in all, they don't seem too distressed. A couple actually laid down for awhile. Some just kept walking with their calf's leg sticking out of you-know-where. A few days I would come home from work, and scan the property, only to find a little bundle of dark fur curled up along the fence line, or on the dam. They were precious.



However, these babies were not used to human contact. They high-tailed it anytime I went out in the pasture. They didn't want shots. They didn't want feed. They didn't want kisses, or pats, or tags in their ears.



They were however, extremely curious and brave.



At around 1:30am, we heard a knock at the door. We had literally just turned out the lights to go to bed, and we were a little intrigued by who the hell could be at our door. My husband got his gun (yes, the same damn gun), and answered the door.

A guy a couple of years younger than us was standing on our porch. He informed us that due to the fog, he had run into our fence, and high-centered his little car on a patch of hay. The car was actually stuck in the barbed wire.

My husband went outside to inspect the damage, and all the cows and their calves were surrounding the car. My husband helped him get his car out, and then proceeded to fix the barbed wire fence. At 2 in the morning. With the calves breathing down his neck the entire time. He actually had to yell at them to back off!

The next morning, after my husband went to work, someone knocked on our door (no, I didn't grab the gun *shiver*) . A man in business attire informed me that our calves were in the middle of the road, down by the fence that my husband had just fixed. He said he thought it was our dogs, until he got close enough to realize they were calves.

In my pajama pants and a tank top, I walked out to the county road, with this stranger, and proceeded to try to 'round up' these two calves. A rancher stopped to help. And then another man. And then another. It was rather comical, watching us run up and down the length of my property, along the road, trying to get the calves into my front yard. The men tried blocking them off with their vehicles. I tried to coerce them in with some feed. They were not having any of our b.s. They just stood there and looked at us, and if we got too close, they took off running. It was almost like a game. But none of us were laughing.

The entire time? My ladies stood on the other side of the fence, with the remaining calves, with their heads moving back and forth, like they were watching a tennis game. It was humiliating.

After literally 35 minutes, we somehow got the calves in my front yard. I thanked my kind helpers, and then called my husband all embarrassed. Holy shit-I had just ran around outside in a tank top, with no bra on, chasing calves with strange men. Gah.

And the escapees? They stood on my front porch, and cried for their moms.