Cardinal rule smashed again..it’s hopeless.

I am so behind!  I’m sure “thousands” of you have been sitting by your assorted instruments of technology waiting for me to publish my latest blog.  I’m a terrible human being. I’ve let my life take over…well, my life. Unacceptable! It shall be remedied – pronto!

As the title suggests, I’ve fallen in love with yet another one of our animals.  This time it’s a heifer calf who lost her mom. That in itself causes my heart to break for her.  She’s only about three months old and very small for her age. I went back in my phone and found a couple of pictures and a video I’d taken of her when I was feeding without Lawrence.  I wanted him to see her because I was worried about her. We, sadly, found her mom deceased and know that she had been gone probably a month or more. That means Annie (she’s an orphan, so we thought that fit) was without milk all that time.  

She had adapted and was eating grass, but she was skinny and looked overall unhealthy.  So Lawrence and I decided to bring her back to the house to try and get her stronger. She didn’t fight us all that hard when Lawrence roped her and we moved her because she was weak.

It took her awhile to be interested in anything we gave her, except grass.  We put a halter on her and walked her around where we had some grass at the time and she took full advantage of that.  She also lets us hand-feed her grass we pull.  We’ve since gotten her some sweet feed that she’s taken to, so I think she’s on the road to recovery. As nature would have it, though, when you care for something, especially a baby animal, you do get attached to it. At least I do. That’s just how it works.  And so there you are. She will be with us for awhile, so my attachment will likely just get worse. At least she’s a “she.” I might even be able to convince Lawrence to keep her. Fingers crossed.

Update on Fancy Dan:  I’ve continued to hand-feed him even though I know I shouldn’t.  He’s become used to it. When I get out of the feed truck, he comes to me waiting for his treat.  How could I say no? I can’t. The time is coming for me to say goodbye to him. Lawrence is preparing to take the yearling steers and heifers to the sale.  We haven’t had much rain and we’re running low on decent grass. We need the nursing mommas to have as much grass as possible. It’s going to be really hard, no doubt, but I know it’s what needs to happen.  I’m going to put on my big girl panties and do what’s best for the greater good. (I’m thinking chocolate will be involved in the healing process. It’s the only way to get through it.)

Life on the mini-ranch is not for pansies.