Pinto

I sit inside my trailer as the coyotes howl and the pigs grunt outside, thinking about my day. Our prized cow, Pinto Bean, was pregnant today. And I say pregnant today because we didn't know she was pregnant until this morning when we saw discharge starting to come out of her.

After this discovery, the whole day was spent somewhat on edge, with a scout going up to see her every half hour to make sure everything was alright. But I guess our scheduled scouts didn't do much good because it was the crew that first noticed that Pinto was finally in labor. On my way over to the sheep in the little Kubota, I noticed a van pulled over to the side of the road. As I drew closer I realized they were all pointing in Pinto's direction and motioning for me to come over. I pulled up to the window where Pancho told me to run and get Dru to help Pinto who was now standing with great discomfort in the middle of her pen, looking quite miserable.

Only minutes later Dru and I were standing by the gate together, watching Pinto struggle with the baby. After only a few minutes of watching, we couldn't handle it anymore so Dru went in and pulled at the calf until the whole body slithered out onto the hay. With quick movements she rubbed the body, trying to revive it but no matter how she did, the delicate body wouldn't show signs of life. In the end, the tiny calf lay there in front of us as Pinto regained strength and stood up again. It was with sorrow that we watched as Pinto nudged her dead baby and began to lick its entire, limp body dry. With each lick the carcass moved jerkily, flopping around as she lapped up the placenta that stuck to the baby's hind quarters. Her longing moos echoed in the silence of sadness that enveloped us as we watched the scene proceed. As Dru always says, "it never gets easier".