Tuesday, June 11, 2013

After Matties calf died, who by the way we named Dexter. We were all very sad. Some of more than others
but even the hardest of us around here was touched and showed Mattie a lot of tenderness in those days
afterwards.
Love all creatures
At one point I considered getting a newborn calf from another cow to let Mattie mother and adopt as her own. Of course the first place I went to begin my search was the internet.

I found all kinds of opinions about what animals feel. Do they understand death? Do they care about their young? You know what I'm talking about here.

Not what I was looking for, I wanted to find out where to get a new born calf for Mattie, because I knew she missed her calf. She looked for him and mooed for him and then would go and lay down where his body had been before we buried the little guy.

I asked my vet about where to get a calf. He told me to go the auction.  I almost did, but for the wise words of my daughter. She said, "you can't really replace him and what if she doesn't want the new calf?"

I decided she was right, and in the end Novella, Sunny and Lana Rose have helped Mattie to come around.
She is doing well, and I will probably breed her in about 6 months with the smallest bull I can find so she can have a calf of her own next year.

One of the things I read about when I was looking for a calf was about a dairy in New York , where the new born bulls are taken to the barn and shot at birth. When I read this I started crying , and I apologized to my daughter for being such a sap, then we remembered how I always cry when I read "Blossom Comes Home". Have any of you read it? It's a beautiful story, of course about Blossom, a dairy cow who has given her whole life to a farmer and .... well you have to read it.

A beautiful book
Then I pointed out that she always cries, ( me too) when we read "Charlottes Web" no matter how many times!

Of course there are songs that make her cry too.
Any way after a few tears and hugs and time every one is doing better, and by the way we have decided we would rather be one of the cryers than not.


Thank you to all of you who wrote to say how sorry they were about the calf. It really does help to have other think about you.

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