88 - 1st full day

Geussing the new calf is a bull. Phil is about 75% sure he saw the goods last night.

The little guy doesn't have a name yet, but his # will be 88, for the year he was born and his mom's #.

88 had a pretty interesting day.

When I woke up and checked cows, he was just waking up with mom, Ramona. He was running down the hill to the leftover hay from the night before. He would stop and jump in the air and run again then jump. Since he's a future bucking bull the fact that he likes to jump is a plus.

Then I didn't see him all day. I saw Ramona, she was by the house...eating...sleeping...eating some more...I'd check every 2 hours and everytime she was by the house and 88 was no where to be found. I gave her until noon and I went and did a little search for the calf. Wanted to make sure he was OK, but I couldn't find him. I know momma cows will hide out their babies while they eat and relax. So I didn't think too much of it, until 5 and still no calf. Phil was home by then and we both went looking. Ramona didn't even care we were driving around the pasture (most mommas will keep one eye on you and one eye on the hiding spot). At this point I'm sure Ramona is a terrible mom that hasn't nursed her calf all day. We hunted for about an hour with no luck. Had to come back and feed everything else, then looked again after.

Finally, hidden very well in tumble weeds was 88. Phil picked him up and was sure he was dead. He was lifeless.....then as if he was pinched he started thrashing around in Phil's arms and bellering for mom. Phil yells at me, get the door....Ramona all along still cares less....which is really angering me. We got 88 in the pickup and hauled butt to the cows. All the cows, except Ramona, hears him and is running towards us. We contemplate on taking him to a pen and coming back and roping mom and putting her with him...but he has been drinking... no way he can thrash around in the pickup like he was without some milk in him. We decide to give mom another chance and drop him off. We wait until everything is settled down and just watch. 88 goes and gets a drink, so we let it be.

It's almost dark and she just brought it up to the house.

I'm hoping we were a little over zeolous in our search and mom just happened to have went and nursed him during the times I wasn't looking. The other option, Ramona being a terrible mom that doesn't care where she left her baby just isn't what 88 needs. We'll give her another chance, but you can bet I'll be watching her.