Cow Lost Calf at Birth, So I Drove 9 Hours to Adopt

Since Aunt Flossie, our milk cow, lost her calf, you know, that's a frustration because, you know, we've got to milk every single day. There's no break there because there's no calf sharing. You got to keep milking a cow. You can partner with a calf in doing that. Sure, we lost our 2023 meat or a heifer to sell. And but there's also a social dynamic to it. But guys, there's no— and a lot of people have asked, why don't you get them a calf? Uh, Brianna from Art and Bri have done it before. Well, there's— it's not like there's a lot of dairies around here. In fact, the only one I knew of— no, there might be one, but it's conventional and they're not going to have— they're not going to have something like this. But I was walking the I was walking Teddy, uh, at the pig butchering the other day, and we came up here and Flossie just became really interested in Teddy. And if you remember, this is where we pulled that calf— pull— we had to pull her calf out of that gate to, uh, to take it away. So it seemed to me like she's still looking for the calf, and it's, it's sad. I mean, it's kind of— I don't think she, she definitely doesn't go through the human emotions, but she still has an instinct. I don't think she's trying to run, run Teddy off. I think she might be thinking, is that her calf? Here, let's see what happens. See, I don't think she's trying to push him away. I think she's trying to see if that, if that's her calf. And so, you know, it doesn't really come to surprise to me. She's a very good mother. But it, it just does, it does seem, it does seem sad from a human perspective. It seems sad. So sharing that with Rebecca, was it last night? Yes, it was last night. But there was something about sharing that with her that made her think Oh, what about Josh? Josh is the guy who we— he runs a dairy who's— who we got these calves from. Maybe he would have some. I mean, I don't think we thought of Josh because, well, one, he's 4 hours away. Would he really have that? But like, yeah, okay, let's just— just— let's just text him and see. Well, oh my gosh, call the inquirer. He has 2 little calves to choose from. That have been nursing mama. They're A2-A2 genetics, which is what we're looking for. They're not expensive. We do have to drive and get there, so we hustled last night just trying to get things ready and talked with Brianna because this is not 100%. It's not 100% that she'll adopt her, even though she's looking like she's looking for a calf. It— there— it's gonna be some work, but the Rhodeses have never been afraid of a little hard work. So we're going, we're going to get this calf. All right guys, one thing we want to do is we want to rub her down. Yeah, give her alfalfa because I'm going to be rubbing. We're going to rub Mama down. This is the tip Birdie gave us. Let's get Mama's scent on these cloths and then we're going to give them to the calf for the ride home. We're going to do an udder cloth and then we're going to do a face cloth. It's not a guarantee that mom will accept the calf, the calf will accept the mom. And I think this will help get the utter scent on there. I think I'm going to take some colostrum milk too to put on the cloth when we get there. I put it on the cloth now, it'll just be rotten by the time we get there. Well, the good news is I think she's giving even more than a quart, so she's giving more and more colostrum slash milk every day. Hey Lily, can you go put that in the Suburban? That's, uh, cloths to imprint this calf on Flossy. Okay, go put in the Suburban so we don't forget it. Look at that, that's double! She's doubling her production every day. Yesterday it was a quart, this The day before it was half that. This is good. She's, she's, she's gonna stay in milk. That was one danger is we thought her— she didn't really bag up that great. And, uh, but we have nothing to worry about there. That's the thing too, this calf that we're getting has been nursing, so it's going to be practiced. It's— I think it's going to be 7 days old today, so That's key. I mean, if it was already being bottle-fed, it's, it's different. And so it would be— so I think that's why we didn't even think it was possible, uh, to get a calf. We're getting very fortunate because there were some other people that were interested in this cat, this calf. So I think it's a matter of just good timing. So we're actually going to label this and we're actually going to put in our cooler. I talked to Rebecca, we're going to put in our cooler. We're gonna warm it up when we get back and put it on the calf's nose and stuff before they're introduced to see if that'll help. So I'll just put a C on it for colostrum. Hey, turn the— turn the jams off. Okay, thank you. I gotta say goodbye to you guys.

Goodbye.

Bye-bye.

Make sure to bring it.

We're on a mission. We're gonna bring a little calf home. Bye-bye.

Bye.

See you.

Bye-bye. See you guys. Love you guys. All right, be dangerous.

Bye-bye, babe.

An excuse to get a kiss.

I know, I'll miss you.

Yeah, I miss you too.

Come home safe.

All right, thank you. Teddy, you can't go, you can't go, you can't go. Catch— like catching a chicken. And he'll chase this car all the way down the road. I hate this. I'm gonna have to trick him. Hey, Teddy. We going?

Yeah, let the car warm up.

Ready?

Hey, hey, buddy.

Hey, hey.

Oh, I hate that. Hey, don't do that. You gotta warm up the car anyway. They're rushing me. I am leaving an hour later than I had hoped. It's 10 o'clock. Hope to leave at 9. This is a 4-hour and 20-minute drive one way, be there an hour, come back. We're looking at like 8 o'clock tonight.

What the—

All right, good night, buddy. Good night, I mean goodbye. Good day. Oh, don't, don't let him go.

Let—

Don't let him go. Put him in the house. Put him in the house. All right, thanks. See ya. All right, we got a large dog crate sided with cardboard, got some lined it with plastic. We put some fresh organic straw in there. I think we're good. You ready, Lily? Yeah, let's go! All right, we are halfway there. Stopped at a rest area. Lily, having fun so far? Okay, let's get, uh, maybe some— you need to get any snacks out or anything like that out of the cooler. What kind of cool stuff did you bring to do? Mostly you've been listening to audiobook. What audiobook are you listening to?

Um, I forgot.

Not exciting, huh? All right, halfway there. Let's hit the road again. We are there with Josh. Is it Our Father's Farm or My Father's Farm?

Our Father's Farm.

Okay, this guy has bailed me out a number of times via text. Thank you for that, Josh. No problem. One of my coaches. Also a great farm here. And this is the calf. This is it, huh? How is it that you have a calf for sale?

Well, um, we only raise heifers off of, uh, our top 10% of cows.

Okay.

And, um, we don't— because we mainly— our main business is dairy, we, uh, need to sell calves to keep the milk production up, right?

Okay. So yeah, so you take all the milk.

Her mother is a great cow, 4 teats. Okay, and we're looking forward to, um, you know, making a lot of money on her milk.

Okay, so yeah, when you take the calf, you, you'll get way more milk, right? Right. Instead of calf sharing like what we do, like on the homestead, we raise a heifer ourselves, we calf share. Yeah.

Okay, but we only raise 5 to 6 heifers a year and we have probably 30.

Okay. Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, she's beautiful.

I just caught her out of the field, so she's a little jumpy.

Hope she doesn't mind laying down. She might be, uh, maxing out that cage. Yeah, so she's been nursing. So how fortunate is that? I had no idea, or I would have called you right away maybe and come quicker. Yeah, that you would have something.

She was born probably close to this time, uh, That's crazy.

It's kind of good though because she's probably a strong milker already. Oh yeah, you know, she's found the teat, she's not gonna fool around, she's gonna go for it. So Josh, do you ever, do you ever pull a cow calf?

I have.

What is the situation where you would pull a calf?

Well, um, there's a couple of scenarios where you might pull a calf. One would be the mother could, um, The mother could be too small, so maybe the— maybe she was bred with a big bull or something and she can't physically have it.

Yeah.

Or, um, the calf gets stuck. Yeah. So, uh, either sometimes the head will be turned back, or sometimes it'll be breech. A lot of times if it's breech, what the calf will do is the calf wants to get out, right? So he's going to be clawing to get out, and all he's doing is swimming back in there.

Ah, because it's breech. Yeah.

So a lot of times you have to pull those, and, um, and/or the cow's just too weak to have the calf.

Yeah.

And, um, and so we've had all three of those scenarios before.

Okay.

Most of the time a breech calf is gonna die because they're gonna be sucking up that fluid as they're trying to get out, right?

Yeah.

And then, um, but a lot of times if you can get them out quick enough, get them to sneeze get them to breathe. Yeah, a lot of times you'll, you know, take them by the back legs and just kind of swing them, get some momentum, and it'll fling whatever's inside out. Or you poke them with straw in the nose, they'll sneeze and they'll get it out and they'll start breathing.

But, uh, that's a breech cow. Okay, right. Okay. Have you ever had one birth a placenta first? No, that's pretty rare.

That is.

Yeah.

And I would— I— it's rare, but I think it could Possibly most placenta issues come from mineral deficiencies.

Oh really?

So I don't know what your iodine level is in your minerals, but most mineral mixes are low on iodine, and so you have to buy iodine separate and add it. That's what we do.

I do the ABC mineral mix, free choice, all the time.

Yeah, so, uh, she, she's— so she's got access to iodine whenever she wants, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um, she's It— and also it could be just a freak thing. Yeah, I've heard, you know, I've heard of all kinds of animals and even people having that happen. And yeah, most of the time if a person has that happen, they have to get a C-section.

Yeah, and you would find out this person because you would have had a— you would have had ultrasound, right?

But with a cow, you wouldn't know until she has it.

Yeah. All right.

And I don't know, I mean, I may have had it and not known. You know. Yeah, because I've had stillborn calves that I never— yeah, saw until the next day, you know.

You have 30 cows that could be giving birth.

Yeah, I've got one.

It's not like you're out right now. Yeah, you're right here.

Yeah, well, she's been going since this morning, so I think that I'm gonna have to get her in the barn and check her out. Okay, this afternoon.

All right. Does this one have a name?

No.

No. Okay, well, we get to name that one. All right, should I just back up here then?

Yep, that'd be great.

Okay, real quick pit stop first. You've done good, only one stop for this little girl. You travel well. Okay, you feel better? Okay, hopefully we're just gonna get this calf and hit the road again. You, you're gonna be okay with another 4 and a half hours in the car? Did you figure out what book you were reading? Yeah, which one?

Um, um, The Noisy Village.

Oh, The Noisy Village. Well, Josh, before we get this calf What are some tips for getting calf and mom to adopt each other?

Well, uh, hmm, let me see.

We were gonna put mom in a stall.

Yeah, yeah, the stall is the best thing.

And then we were gonna put her out in the stanchion, put the calf on her. Oh yeah, try. And then put them back in the stall together. Yeah. And then try that again in the morning.

I, uh, A lot of times with a calf with this much energy— yeah, like you can see she's got some attitude, she's got some energy.

Yeah.

Um, what I would do is just lock them in the stall together for 3 days.

Okay.

And I'll bet they'll figure it out. I mean, she's going to be kicking the calf at first, and the calf is— but the calf is going to be trying. When she gets hungry, she's going to start trying, you know.

Okay.

And once she knows there's something in there um, your cow is eventually gonna get used to her.

Okay.

And I've done nursemaids in the past where I put like 3 cows, 3 calves on a cow. And what I do is I'll set up a big area with corral panels and I'll put the cow in there with the 3 calves and put some hay in there and some water in there and just leave them in there for 3 or 4 days. And then the calves who all had separate mothers will go on to that cow, and then I can turn them loose in the field Wow, she mothers them.

Okay, so, so I imagine though she'll take ownership of the calf eventually.

It'll be her baby.

All right, how you want to do this?

Well, I'll get in there and wrangle her.

Opening here, we got straw, we got plastic and cardboard. She'd probably have to lay down though, won't she? She might be able to stand.

She'll be all right. Okay, okay, she'll kind of, she'll kind of calm down after a while.

All right. Nice, perfect.

And I just took her off like an hour ago, so she's not going to be hungry for 20 hours, probably 24 hours.

Oh really? Yeah. Okay.

Like really, really hard.

So you think just take them home, don't, don't try putting her in a stanchion and putting the cat— trying the calf on her, because that was pretty, that was pretty intense. You're trying to handle her, that would be intense. Yeah, to try to—

I think, I think, worst case scenario, okay, if your cow's not taking her at all, okay, she's not getting enough food, okay, then what you can do is you can put your cow in the stanchion and force the calf on, and I like that plan. Take the calf better with you there because you're her master and you calm her down, you know, and you tell her it's okay, right?

Yeah.

So she'll take the cap better usually with that. But, uh, but I think try her— try them just in the barn together at first.

For how long? 24 hours?

When I sell somebody a bottle cap, I say wait 24 hours.

Okay.

To even try them on the bottle because they don't get hungry.

Okay, should I milk her out in the morning then? Because if the calf hasn't gotten it, I should keep her flowing.

Well, yeah, yeah, it just depends. You kind of have to look at her and see if the calf seems satisfied, she seems satisfied. Okay, I mean, they might go quick.

That'd be cool if tomorrow morning I go in there and she doesn't have no milk because the calf drank it all. All right, well, maybe I could text you too if I got any questions.

Yeah, definitely. All right, yeah, I was gonna say, uh, I don't know right there, Papa.

Look what he peed out of the cage.

Okay, I don't know if you or anybody, any of your friends down there, are interested in cows. Okay, but, um, I'm getting rid of 4 perfectly good cows this fall for a really good price because I'm trying to shrink my herd a little bit before I start feeding hay and everything.

All right, well, this is our father's farm in Virginia. Really good farm. That's where we got our hardy cows from, like Aunt Flossie, Summer. You said it's dangerous. I mean, she could have died. Yeah, but she was a hardy cow. She was able to push out a stillborn calf. Yeah, and just keep going.

Yeah, and it's probably due to her being young and in the prime of her life too.

I think it's due to what you've done here with your management to start with, and then we had good management, and I think that's part of it.

Yeah, definitely.

So yeah, if somebody's interested in some milk cows this fall, I'll just leave your website down in the description. Yeah, yeah, that's good.

Okay, all right, put my number that you text me on. Okay, I usually communicate with customers.

Okay, good. All right, well, we're gonna get her home and hopefully adopted.

The cat is not very happy.

That's a rambunctious cat.

Oh boy. You're gonna do well with Flossie. If anybody can handle you, it's, uh, Flossie. All right, we're at a stop sign. I forgot to give her her cloths and Flossie's, uh, cloths to press on her. Uh, let's do that. Let's do that in a little bit. Let's let her settle down. Look, I hate to go back there now because she just laid down. I felt so sorry for her standing up, just trying to balance. She was doing pretty good, but it's got to be less stressful just to lay down. So she's laying down. I bet you will want to stop halfway at the rest area and, uh, we'll give her those claws to impress Flossie on her.

Call home. Hello? Hey, how are you?

Good. We got us a wild and bucking heifer calf in the back. Oh yeah, it's got a lot of energy. I think the only I think that's what she's worried about. I think the only thing that— who— I don't know if any mama can handle this calf. It's Flossie. Oh God, she's got an attitude, I think is what Josh said. But she's laying down.

We got a bottle cap. We got a bottle.

Okay, for the calf in case things go awry. Yep.

Okay, we've hit some traffic. We still got 2 hours from home. Hey Lily, will you get a shot of the calf? She's been laying down this entire time, so we're gonna just keep going until the calf gets up. Or Lily needs to pee. We got a sunset coming in, super pretty. We didn't end up stopping. Calf stayed down. We had enough fuel.

We didn't have to go to the bathroom that much.

Nope, you didn't have to go to the bathroom. You're a champ, Lily. 4 hours and 20 minutes.

I'm gonna have to go to the bathroom a few times.

I honked so they would know we're here, but let's, uh, let's back in. Let's go get them, Lily. Where are they at?

Inside.

Really? Come on. Watching the boob tube. Well, hey there everybody.

Hi.

You're excited. You're excited. You're gonna burst. It's like he's gonna burst. Hold on, let's get him.

He is.

He is.

Let's get him out in his excitement. Everybody, right? Everybody gets a hug. Everybody. Mom's getting a sweat. She don't care.

I'll get a sweater too.

Oh.

I'll get a sweater.

Everybody's in. Everybody's in.

Jonah!

Jonah!

Where's Jonah?

Come on, everybody's in.

Teddy, you can't go, okay?

Oh my gosh, I don't know if I've ever seen it this—

oh my gosh. Okay, he's going to put him up. We'll wait on Jonah. He's going to come right here and be a naughty boy and get on the couch. Off!

Off!

He's like, this is not even Hey Rebecca, I never— I forgot to put the cloths in there, so let's rub her down now. Yeah, so that will help her smell like Flossie. Yeah. Oh, let's get the milk.

Let's get that milk that you've— that we got out of Flossie today. Okay, kind of put it on its nose.

Hey, how'd it go putting Flossie in?

Easy.

She come with a bucket?

Oh yeah.

Nice. Good job, buddy. Proud of you. Hey Miss Thing.

Okay, he's got those crazy eyes.

Hey Miss Thing.

Are you? I think she's—

she's very annoyed.

Her baby's crazy.

But you're gonna have a—

you're having a friend.

Look at her. She's—

it's gonna be tricky because she's really raring to maybe get out. All right, thank you so much, Josiah. Big, big reveal.

Oh, oh, she's precious.

Cute, right?

So cute.

Oh my gosh.

Let's carry her in the crate, Papa.

That's not a terrible idea. Jonah had a good idea. We're gonna haul the calf in this over there, and that way we have a less chance of like her getting loose and running away somewhere. She laid down the entire time.

She's pregnant.

Jonah and Josiah, can you guys get that? So she is very cute. Tell me if you guys got it.

Okay, Lily, you get in and get the bucket.

Oh, nice and open.

Then she looked like a little deer.

She does.

She's like, give it to me, give it to me, give me the cat.

Look, do you see her?

I know, she's very excited.

What is it?

So let's get, let's get rubbing the, the claws real quick.

Bring all 3 rags, try not to drop them on the ground. If you rub her down with those claws, she'll smell like Aunt Flossie. And that Flossie might be more likely to accept her. Although it kind of looks like you're raring to accept her. Guys, this isn't 100%. This is a big chance. 4 and a half hours one way, 9 hours in the car.

Hurry up.

You know, it's a chance that the, the, the Flossie won't accept her, but I kind of— given that she was so interested in Teddy And she's such a good mom. I'm hoping for the best. Good job, guys. Good job rubbing her down. And ultimately what I'm hoping— I mean, I think it'd be a dream if she went in there and they nursed now. Don't think it's gonna happen, or Josh didn't think it was gonna happen. I guess I don't think it's gonna happen either. I mean, we can hope.

It's okay.

Hold on, Gideon. What I'm hoping for is tomorrow we come in, it's the colostrum, we put her in this stanchion and she doesn't have much milk because the calf's taking it off. Actually, she kind of backed off. This might be our chance. Yes, let's do it now because I'm gonna put— wait, I'm gonna put this close so I'll open this door and there'll be no gap. Okay, that'll be our best chance. Ready?

All right.

Oh boy, guys, kids, back up, kids, back up.

It's okay, Fluffy.

It's got— wait, back up, Rebecca, just in case. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. All right, I'm gonna get her back in.

Perfect.

Okay, that didn't work. Let me Oh, Shane.

I know she's scared.

Shane, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Okay, Jamie.

She's gonna be right there.

All right.

Wait, wait, her leg.

Everything's calm. Everything's good. Look, look. She's already going for it. She's like, I'm not so sure.

She is.

Okay, you're gonna try. This is what Josh said would happen. This is normal. She's not gonna— she's not gonna just surrender. The good news is the calf is trying. Flossie's not letting her. This is out of our territory. I think there's a lot of excitement. I think Flossie is trying to make sure this calf knows who's boss. There's a pecking order.

Yes, it's true.

And I think that the cat is gonna submit. It has to.

Yeah, it's a her.

All right, we've given them what, 20, 30 minutes? Uh, I asked Josh about it. He said, well, you could rub some milk on the calf's back and the butt. So let's, let's hope that Flossy hasn't hurt the calf or anything, and then we'll, uh, Teddy, you can't go. We'll herd Flossy out and do that to the calf and then open that stall back up. Okay, I'm just gonna come over here stealth-like and see what's happening. Calf's still up, that's good. Little calf came out too. She thinks this is her mama, so at least we don't have that problem.

I have—

I—

we can soak another one.

Here.

Yeah, I need to get Flossie back in there, and then I'll get the little calf back in there, kind of like we did that before. Come on. No, come on. Good girl, good girl. Go in there. Calf's all for it. Oh nope, let him come out. Let her come out. She actually went in the stance and shut the door. Now I'm kind of curious, should we, should we see if the— if she won't kick us? Give her more alfalfa. That calf's wanting it, isn't she? Are you a little tiny thing?

You be careful, Justin. This cat's little heartbeat is just going— aww. Flossy's a good mom. She's just confused.

She is.

She's confused.

In the stall away from the herd. Are you tearing up? It did make me cry.

It makes me happy that— it's getting what it needs and Flossy's letting it happen and this is a really nerve-wracking experience. I think this week's been kind of hard, so it's been, it's been beautiful watching this, and I hope tomorrow when we come out and they're more bonded.

We had a moment there. Let's not push them. I feel like with us around, they get— it stresses her out. So yeah, let's get it back to as natural as we can. Lights out. Well, it's the next morning. I'm dying to check on the Calf situation. Let's see what happened last night. Okay, the calf's alive. Have you adopted that calf yet, huh? Have you adopted the calf? Cow looks well, laying down. You are a good mama. You are a good mama. You know, she's She's just jonesing to get out. She wants to be with the herd, but I understand you want them to be in close proximity so they, you know, kind of forced to bond. I'm wondering if we could put them out next to the herd in a small net, give her hay. That would take one stress away. I'm gonna text Josh and see if He thinks there might be a problem in that. It won't be as small as a stall, but could it— I could set it up to be not much bigger. Good news, I heard back from Josh. He said I could confine her wherever I wanted, just so long as they were confined together. We're gonna get her out in the field, but let's— we're here, let's get her in this sturdy stanchion. Let's see if it's the baby's nerves. Come on.

Wow, wow, wow.

The calf is acting like it's her mother.

Did the calf come too?

Right there.

She's nursed.

I think the calf is nursed. I think the calf is nursed. Holy smokes, I was correct. I don't think there's much in there, which means the calf nursed. Let's see if there's something else now.

Okay, the calf doesn't want to nurse.

I feel like maybe the calf has nursed because it didn't feel like there was much in there. You just want to be out there, don't you? Yeah, you'll calm down a lot if you just get out there with your buddies. I'm milking it. Doesn't feel like she has as much. She did knock it over once, so I can't tell exactly for sure. I'm not going to take it off because I want the calf to be able to easily get some. She's not gonna let the calf get the rest of it. No, good, without my help. She's letting her nurse. We're gonna get you out, okay, Flossie? She is ready to get out, isn't she?

He's not kicking the cow.

No, that's good. Good thing about this is we can, uh, we could do this out in the field. We have the mobile stanchion out there, so, and I think she would be more comfortable because the other herd wouldn't be nearby. Go ahead and open up that fence where we're going to take her. The cows— today's fence is already set up. Go open that up and, and then you can come lead her. That calf might have nursed last night. It's hard to know. She didn't have as much milk this morning, so either it's stress or the calf got some, or a combo of both. We don't know. I think eliminating some stress, getting them out in the field. All right, we let her out. Oh gosh, that always freaks me out. Okay, let's get you back to the herd. Thankfully the calf's adopted her and going with her. Where are you going with me? Oh, we'll keep up with Mama. Keep up with Mama.

Come on, we don't need any alfalfa.

She just wants to be back with the herd. I got her in the next paddock. Look how calm— already she's calmed down again. That calf was persistent. That's great, John. Let's get a foot-to-foot net and just put them— pin them up there. That's good, she's peeing. She pooped this morning. That's a good sign. Long story short, we've got Phyllis and calf in a little fence. We've got them in their own Energizer so that If calf gets caught in the fence, we can turn it off easy. Right there, we got a little Energizer, got a little— in a little 100-foot net here. We're gonna let them be there together right now while we milk. We can kind of monitor it. I didn't see any activity while I was milking. Uh, she didn't even try. She must have got enough this morning. That's what we'll do, I guess. Let's leave them out here all day. This net, it's not hitting too hard in case she gets tangled in it enough that I don't think she'll want to get tangled in it. Flossie is definitely less stressed out. This is the bond we want. Mom was just licking her calf. Phyllis was just licking Polly. I think we'll get there. I mean, I didn't drive all that way thinking she wouldn't, so here's hoping for the best. More on this, I guess, in the next video. We'll be documenting it throughout the weekend and get this to you guys on Monday. Love you guys. Thank you for the support. Uh, we're all in this together, aren't we?