Bottle Calf Baby

It's been a while since my last blog. I have been really busy and now we have spring calving season upon us. Started last week with 12 babies in a week. On Wednesday we had a problem. During the night on Tuesday we had a cow have a pretty big calf and she had trouble. The next morning when my husband was checking babies they were laying down in the field but before long he realized the mom couldn't get up. Sometimes when they have a big calf or have trouble they can get a pinched nerve in their hips or legs. Sometimes they never come out of it but we were determined to save them both. This cow is the daughter of our Lucky Girl we raised on a bottle 5 years ago. We quickly ordered a contraption that would go on her hips and my husband could lift her with the tractor a few times a day for 30 minutes or so to hopefully get her legs working again. This would mean in addition to all his other work on a working cattle farm he would have to give her a lot of special attention like carry her feed and water along with trying to get her back up. We also were giving her steroid shots for four day and a muscle enhancer. Also we had to bring the calf to the barn to bottle feed. No way for her to get milk if Mom can't stand so here we are raising Lucky's granddaughter now on a bottle. She is now up and walking on her own. Still having a bit of trouble with one hoof turning under at the first joint but that is getting better too. Tomorrow the baby will get a bigger pen. It's 10:00pm and she just got her last bottle. She talks to us when she sees us coming. I guess for now we are Mom and Dad.