05/25/2026
Do I own a ranch or a 3 ring circus pt 3
Do you remember yesterday when I said that last part about the fence was important well here ya go….
Tuesday the 19th should have brought a little calmer day. Did you catch the key word in that last sentence? I was outside doing noon bottles when I looked down the hill against the fence and I seen cardboard flapping in the wind. I tell myself we need to go get that as soon as I was done feeding. As I’m watching the cardboard I noticed that it was moving at both ends. Hmmmm oh that’s not cardboard that is a calf! Suzy was bagging 2 weeks ago when we was working cattle. I slipped and turned her back out in the big pasture.
After I get bottles rinsed I hop on the side by side to go down and collect my “cardboard”. Mom came up to the gate with the herd because they thought they was getting feed, 🙄 of course. So I get to the bottom of the hill and start toward the lil bo**er and it gets up, ok. Then it walks under the hotwire fence. Alright no biggie I back off and it’s only one strand so thought she will come back to where mom left her. NOPE!!! That lil heifer crossed the corner of the pasture and walked through the freaking barbwire fence!!!!! That was alright I watched her lay down so I knew where to look.
I get to the top of the hill and Joey was outside and he hops on and we drive over and down the edge of the neighbors field. He picks her up and she is fighting him. It’s very clear at this point she isn’t a fresh calf.
We get back to the house and we grab a bucket of feed and go down to the gate where we can get mom and move her over to the maternity pasture. We place the calf in the maternity area hoping mom will see her. Calf takes off running up the fence. Of course ALL the cows see we have grain so they are all in the way. Suzy is being a pain but we finally get her through. We look up and I seen the calf at the corner gate at the other end of the pasture. We hop on the side by side and drive out and to the top of the hill. We look out at the pasture and NO BABY!!!!!
We both start looking around like WTF could she possibly have gone. The gate she was last seen at had a bent spot where someone was playing on their tractor in the snow earlier this year and got stuck, but that’s a whole other story. Anyway we walk down and start looking. I walk all over the field and along fence rows, nothing. Joey goes back around and starts driving the field, nothing. We come back to the house and start doing other things hoping that mom will start calling for baby, but do you think we can ever get that lucky?! Not here on WTFN ranch.
4 hours later I finally turn to Facebook and asked if anyone had a thermal drone. Joey has the scopes and crap but evidently that doesn’t “shoot” through grass. As expensive as that freaking thing was it should see through a brick wall 🙄. I had posted on a local page and my cousin Amber seen it. She tagged her mom and asked if someone they knew could help. After a chat they was waiting on a call back. In the meantime I had a nice lady message and say someone was going to reach out. The guy was a firefighter and said he had a short window and would head my way in 20 mins. Joey had decided to drive back down to the field and see if maybe he could get a better view with his scope. He gets to the ditch that runs through the field and stops. He just so happens to look down and low and behold what does he find?!?! You guessed it the calf. He almost ran her over!
Joey comes in the house and says “something is wrong with her”. 🤦🏼♀️ of course there is because the last week hasn’t already been a nightmare. I go out and she won’t get up. She is looking around and all the good things but suddenly she just won’t get up and she had some bloody snot. So I make a call to the vet and they page Dr John, this man is going to regret taking us on, and he said to give an antibiotic and she is just likely stressed. Before I called doc tho I had called SuLynn with Cupcake Cattle Company, super sweet and very knowledgeable lady. She didn’t answer so that’s why I called the vet. Last year CCC introduced me to this supplement called Boost. It’s a liquid packed with vitamins and minerals to “give a boost”. I had given that as well as the antibiotic when SuLynn and I finally connected. She said other then giving those things, put her with mom and pray for the best.
This time we got them together in the original barn inside the chute area so that I know neither of them can get out. Joey laid the calf in with Suzy and it cries out. Suzy walks over to her and shoves her with her nose and the damn thing jumps to her feet 😑.
If y’all could take a second and welcome Aella - Greek, meaning “whirlwind.” This name conjures images of a powerful, unstoppable force, perfect for a girl who will make her mark on the world.
