Peg looked out the window yesterday and said there is a mama licking a very small calf in the pasture. Sure enough, a baby had just been born and the mama was licking it.
This random calf showed up after several minutes. I thought the mama would chase it away but she didn't. In fact it seems that the calf was there to help encourage the baby to start working on getting to its feet.
It was amazing to see the baby struggle and how the calf seemed to be there as a cheerleader.
After several tries, the baby seemed to have enough strength to go after its next mission: FOOD.
Sometimes it looked like he made a connection and sometimes he didn't. But mama moved and tried to get baby and the FOOD lined up.
Finally, the connection was made!
The sequence of events from the time the cleaning of the newborn began to finishing his first meal took about one hour.
After a rest from his first meal, the baby was up again for seconds.
Then mom and baby rested for another 30 minutes or so before they made their way to the herd which was probably a few 100 feet away. Getting to the herd required several more snacks and rests. This morning when I looked out into the pasture, I don't know that I saw the new baby, but there were three slightly older babies kicking up their heels and chasing each other as their moms ate breakfast.
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