Blizzard of 2014
pics of a more warmer time.new calf pics tomorrow?
It has been a while since I have seen whiteouts,
but today had its moments. I am still not ready to believe in giving up on the
global warming theory. And actually I believe the bad weather can be attributed
to it as global weather patterns are changing, glaciers are melting at an
unprecedented rate and higher surface temperatures and extreme drought are
major problem’s we as humans, in turn harm other animals in the process of
heating up our atmosphere with the reckless burning of hydrocarbons, as we use
them for fueling our cars, providing us with electricity, cooking our food and
tanning our bodies in winter. Some uses are necessities humans need to exist, others are frivolous waste.
New momma and baby taken 1-26 -2014
But we all must pay the price. Animals and
humans alike. Habitats are eradicated as sea ice breaks up threatening polar
bears, or drought threatens another watering hole frequented by an endangered
animal without another place to roam to because humans are constantly
encroaching on their habitat. This is life as we know it now. Does it always
have to be that way? Time will tell.
We can only hope that if we have enough
time, and before we send the human race into a death spiral, we come to our
senses and realize we all need to share this planet. The takers, the givers, the biodiversity of life so
precious and slightly out of balance that makes our planet and the world around
us such a unique place to be.
As nasty as it was today, I noticed a young
heifer of mine due to calf, was not with the herd and as I glanced toward the
barn noticed she was hanging around the barn. Yesterday I noticed she was
swollen in the rears and had bagged up, but I felt she was probably a good couple
of weeks before calving. At that time I promised myself to be more vigilant of
watching her. Well today when she failed to show up for grain I instantly took
notice and sought her out to find she had given birth on this beautiful nasty
ass day, to a fine looking young calf, her first, and apparently with little
problems. The calf was up and moving around and in fact was quite a handful till
I managed to get the calf and mom locked up in the barn. Forcing the rest of
the cows into the snow, on top of a hay bale they ravaged today, using it as
bedding for the night.
It isn’t the best idea to have a calf born
in the dead of winter anytime, and I have lost them before when this has
happened but that is the amazing thing about nature, and that it is hard to
predict just when life begins and ends, it just does most of the time and us
humans with our best intentions can be of little use sometimes and at the mercy
of nature. The baby is low in birth weight, but was up on its feet and had
appeared to have sucked on his or her mom. I was to busy to check the sex and
was soon threatened with dark so needed to protect mom and baby as fast as I could.
Will see how the calf does. Whether it is a male or female won’t make much difference
until I see how it gets along. But they are warm and safe for now.
In fact as I write this I just made a trip
to the barn to check on the calf and cow and it is 10 pm. And both appear to be
healthy and getting along fine. Reflecting on everything today I see adaptation
in the face of adversity. Feed and shelter is what kept the cows close to the barn
during this blizzard, and this in turn helped the new mother, as otherwise she
may have given birth away from the barn in the snow and worse could have
happened. Thankfully she gave birth right in the barn.
You never know how a new momma cow is going
to do, or for that matter the calf. But there is something almost reassuring
when you see them on their feet nuzzling their momma’s bag shortly after birth,
as if anxious to finally get a drink of milk and nourishment from the outside
of the cow from whence they just came .
Our environment requires a balance to be
able to maintain life. And at the extremes we push life and its ability to adapt.
What is truly wondrous is to see how we can overcome hardship, animals and humans
alike, to overcome almost any obstacle. Humans have an advantage but we must be
wise in how we use our minds and must realize if we create change , there will
always be an acceptable risk to that change , when it affects our environment
our plants , animals or life as we know it , we need to weigh that change and
decide if it is worth it. If not we as humans and stewards of the land, have
the responsibility of making it all work, especially if we are the ones
screwing it up.
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