10/29/2025
It has taken me a week to muster up the courage to make this post, but it’s a well deserved post I have to make… My heart is so heavy to say, that we had to make the hard decision to put Marley down last Wednesday. Tuesday morning I went to the field like any other morning to walk her down to milk and found her laying down in the pasture. If you know anything about cows, you know it can be fatal for a cow to lay on its side. Although we have no answers how she ended up in this position, we tried everything to get her up. Rolling her to her sternum to try and relieve any stress on her hips or back legs, propping her up with a hay bale, even picking her up with the tractor… But in the end her back legs would not move. Presuming there was nerve damage to her back legs or spine when she fell/went down/laid for too long. Marley declined rapidly… Her ears fell, her breathing shallow, her moos softer, her eyes closed… In 24 hours I went from hopeful to sobbing in helplessness. I tried everything. I sat with her, talked to her, tried everything possible to comfort her, but in the end she was suffering, my girl was hurting… Making the decision to “give up” is the hardest thing you can do. Those of you who have had the experience putting your pet to rest, you understand the “what if” or “is it really time” questions you ask yourself over and over… This is no different. Marley was a wonderful girl, my favorite guernsey gal. She was a gentle giant with so much patience and the best milk
