A new day dawns...

...but not for one of my cows :-( She calved yesterday evening and the calf was up and about very quickly, but she wasn't. We called the vet who said that she had hurt herself too badly and would die soon no matter what he did, the most humane course was to put her down...

So this morning I mourn my lovely cow but also have to deal with a boisterous calf. The calf is a heifer so we have called her Cecilia, as she was born on St Cecilia's day (if it had been a boy, he would have been called Benjamin). The vet made sure that she got enough colostrum, which boosts her immune system, but it was my pleasure to give her first bottle feed - imagine a HUGE babies bottle with a litre of rich warm milk. She wasn't too sure about me when I appeared in her straw play pen, so we had a game of hide and seek. I managed to squirt some milk onto her nose and that caught her attention. Whilst giving her a cuddle (young calves are very tactile and affectionate) I managed to slip my thumb into her mouth, which starts the sucking reflex. After that it was easy. In fact she was so enthusiastic that she knocked me over at one point. Flat on my back in deep new straw, laughing too hard to get up, and with a calf dancing on top of me, is one of life's rarer joys. Luckily Mr HCB was around and rescued me or I would be black and blue - she may only be 12 hours old, but she weighs 50 kilos. She has a lot to learn, and so do I. I may have been doing this part time for 20 odd years, but I'm still a rank amateur :-))