We had a cow this week that had a few issues when giving birth. After her calf was born, our herdsman realized she was bleeding internally. She ripped a vein. So, he (thank you Jesus we have him) reached inside and stitched her up and all is good.
We were enjoying after supper conversation with friends when Farmer got called to the barn. He called back after he got there to let us know a calf was going to be born because our friends (one was a nurse) wanted to watch. Well, we all got more than we bargained.
After pulling the calf, the cow started bleeding internally. At that time we did not have the herdsman we do now. We had to call the vet out on an emergency call. While waiting for the vet to come I ran home and grabbed the first pile of sheets I found in the closet. I had four twin sized sheets.
The cow was lying in the pen and Farmer crammed them inside of her and packed them tight. I then became the plug. I sat down behind her, pressed my feet up against the sheets while propping myself up with my arms like tent poles. All in poop. Poop is slippery. My arms kept sliding out from under me. I must have sat there for 20 minutes waiting for the vet.
Once the vet came, he said “She doesn’t look so good. She’s lost a lot of blood.” I figured I hadn’t sat in the poop ruining my sheets for nothing. “I’ve been praying for this cow and she’s gonna be fine” I spoke with conviction. The vet sewed her up and then we had to give her blood transfusions from another cow. We caught one in the head gate, collected a syringe full of blood and transfused it into the cow we had just sewn up. We went back to the healthy cow, got more blood, and gave it to the sick cow again. Back and forth we went until the vet said she had enough.
When we were done, I was spraying the poop off my feet and scraping it off the back of my legs and from under my fingernails. Farmer was messing with the sheets. He had them in a pail of water and was dipping them up and down like he was trying to wash them. I asked “What are you doing?” “Cleaning up these sheets so you can take them home and wash them” he stated. “No way! I am not having my kids sleep on sheets that have been inside a cow’s patootie. Besides, I have earned new sheets from sitting in poop with my feet halfway inside a cow for the past half hour.” Farmer hesitated and looked like he was going to try another argument, but wisdom reined and new sheets were bought the next day.
Oh, by the way, the calf survived and so did mama cow.
