08/24/2026
I went through the pasture at 6:00 last night looking for 28. She's close to calving and needed checked. I couldn't find her and decided to check after supper.
While cooking super, Kylie called.. one of the cows in the back pasture who's supposed to be 2 months out has calved.
So we go on a hike to find it.
And it was a hike.
An hour later baby is in the barn and 496 is in the milking herd pasture. And the tractor has a flat tire. 😒🤦♀️
We go up, eat supper and then I head out to find 28.
Instead I find 10.
And boy is she in a predicament.
How on earth do you get a cow out of a sink hole?
And its thundering.
If we wait.. it's only getting worse.
The tractor can't get in there.
Nothing can.
She's stuck, but fine. So we leave her to finish night chores, feed babies and figure out a way to get her out. And I set off in search of 28.
After walking the pasture 3 times... in the lightning and wind, I finally find her.
No baby. So I told her I'd see her later and headed for cover.
Then it's back to 10.
How on earth do you get a cow out of a sink hole?
We decided we had to have a tractor or something in there to lift her out.
So. We need tractor access.
It's too dangerous to continue working in the dark. She's safe and will be ok through the night. And we are thankful it didn't rain and make it a mud pit. We head off to get chainsaws prepped for early morning to remove the trees to get in there.
Sunday morning starts with a phone call.
28 had her baby.
12 can't stand.
And 24 is being troublesome.
I head off to retrieve baby and check 28 and I find a baby... but not from 28. From 39.
It's cold and shivering and she doesn't care.
First, we shift 12 around so her legs are set so she can stand and give her time before trying to stand her up. She keeps trying, but can't 🫣
They are gathering up supplies to remove 10 from her sinkhole so I focus on 39s baby.
I take it inside the bathroom and dry it off and start thawing colostrum.
Kylie and I run up to eat breakfast.
Chainsaws are still running to get 10 out.
Tripod is getting set up for 12 because she still insists she can't get up.
I get 39s baby fed and laid out in the sun to warm. It eats very well so it's looking good.
As soon as the tripod is set up, 12 decides she can in fact get up without help.😒🤷♀️ o well. At least she is up.
The milking crew are getting the milking going.
And the rest are ready to move 10 out of the hole.
Or so we thought 🤦♀️
We need her to stand so we can spin her around to slide her out of the hole. Enter the hip lifters.
We finally get her standing. And while she does go back down, at least she's in position to pull her out now. And the straps are under her.
Perfect.
We rig it up to winch her out.
It's a slow process. It's not perfect but neither is the situation she put herself in.
Once she's FINALLY out of the hole, we spin her to make sure when she stands she doesn't go back in.🫣
She's convinced she still can't stand so we set the hip lifters back up and she cooperates. She's up. Finally.
She still has a bit of recovery. But she's out of the sink hole. And headed for the water tanks.
And it's only 9:45am.
Now to tend to the babies.
And check on 28 and 39.
