A Story

Phil was ready to check on the new calf
Early in the afternoon,
When I suggested a different task
That required a run to the local hamlet.
Before he left, I asked if he wanted to check on the calf
First. He chose not to. I didn’t push it. He left.

A few hours later, home once more, I asked again.
He headed out. And found that

The calf had somehow pushed her way
Into a little gulley where the mom could not finish licking her.
The baby had not yet eaten.
This should never happen.
Babies need the mother’s colostrum in the first half hour
Before the stomach lining changes and the window is lost.
Shivering, unable to stand, the baby needed
Help.

Phil carried her up to the calving shed.
We gave them a bit of time to recover from the trauma of the move
Before we went to intervene.

Phil held the cow. I milked her.
We tried tubing the baby,
Bypassing the mouth and going directly to the stomach.
The problem is, if the tube goes to the lungs,
You kill the baby.
It’s a drastic threat to work with.

So we sort of half tubed the baby,
And I think she had some.
Then we tried bottle feeding, but that didn’t work.
Then I tried propping her up and getting her to nurse.
Then Phil did that while I went to reheat the now-chilled colostrum.
If we needed to tube the baby, really, we could do that.
I returned to find the baby gingerly nursing.

Before bed, we rousted mom and daughter
And made the daughter eat from each teat.
Will that be enough for her to live through tonight?

We shall see.

But the real story, to me,
Is that I don’t view this all as entirely my fault.

Yes, I did arrest Phil’s initial progress out the door to check on the baby.
And I didn’t insist, before he left for town,
That he simply check.
Both of those were opportunities I should have pressed:
Both times I felt a check in my spirit.

In the past, I would have carried the weight of this
Entirely.

But it is not entirely mine.
Yes, I ignored the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
But I suspect (though I have not confirmed) that I was not the only one.

For now, the calf lives

With Adam and Eve,
Who can no longer hear the voice of God clearly.