Fruit of our Labor, or...

So maybe it is not the fruit of OUR labor, rather the fruit of 0505's labor!! 

She had a nice calf to start off our crazy morning.  Our youngest son is helping a neighbor work his cattle.  Our eldest son and his girlfriend went to Billings for a horse sale this weekend (sure hope they don't get stormed in there) so we had a couple of extra duties assigned to us.  The phone call has been starting something like this, "Hello, how is my most favorite mom?"  Any mother knows there is trouble or a favor to be asked!  So, at 9 AM, Mark heads downtown to complete the sale of one of their horses.  He comes home, calls me, "Can you come help pull a calf?".  So, I grab the chain and handles and out I go.  We got the momma into the barn to help her deliver.  Her calf was coming backwards.  Now this is often a problem, but the calf popped right out (with the help of a calf puller) alive and ready to go!  We did not have to do much prompting to get the little guy to breath (a common problem with backwards calves).  I checked on them about an hour later and all is well.  In the meantime, I help with the rest of feeding chores.  But, just wait, another of those, "How is my favorite Mom?" calls!!  Now there is someone coming to buy a mule that the "lovebirds" own.  So, Mark takes care of that while I check in on his Mom.  That is finally all done, it is noon, and Mark still has to head out to feed cows.  Oops, he checked on the baby in the photo.  We need to help him.  His momma has some large teets so we will help the calf get started on them.  (getting milk (colostrum) in the first few hours is very important for the life/health of the calf).  Now Mark can go feed cows!

Oh, and did I mention it is cold along with a nasty wind?  Yes, a storm is brewing.  We are under a winter storm warning - forecasting 30 mph and about 6 inches of snow.  Even our cat, Cole, is looking for a spot in the barn!

I am linking to Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday.