Proud Mama Moment

My daughter was relating an incident that made her particularly proud of her girls and their priorities.  The girls had rushed home from school to finish their homework and grab a bite to eat before they left for their best night out each week.  Tumbling Class!  Both girls seem to enjoy being upside down more than being on two feet.  For one hour each week they flip, somersault, cartwheel, and do handstands with a group of their friends.  Frankly, they amaze their old, not so limber, grandmother.


Homework finished they quickly jumped into their tights and headed for the door.  Before they could open it their daddy burst in, calling, "I need help with a mama cow!  Come quick!"  Hesitating, my daughter looked up at her hubby, weighing the need to help the cow with the disappointment of her girls.  "Uhhh.  It's tumbling night...." she mumbled.  He nodded his understanding of the problem, but shrugged.  The cow and baby couldn't wait.  She started to turn when a voice piped up behind her. "Well, what are you waiting for?" demanded her youngest, "Let's go help that baby!", chimed in the oldest.  With that, both girls jumped into their muck boots over their tights, grabbed their farm coats and out the door they went.


The new mama was a first time heifer.  Heifers don't have prenatal classes and sometimes they seem a little unsure of what they are supposed to know by instinct.  This one was a classic case. Instead of finding a nice, sheltered place to deliver, she had hunted until she found the one big, mud hole on the farm.  There, she had delivered her little baby which was now cold, wet and muddy.  Then instead of rushing in to clean it up and encourage it to get up and nurse, she was standing there looking at it in puzzlement.  She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, but she wasn't anxious to claim that little ball of mud.


If the calf was to make it they had to get it dry and cleaned up.  Then they had to get the new mama to do her part and start acting like a mama!


My daughter started walking the cow toward the barn while her hubby and the girls gathered up the little calf and put him in the ranger.  The girls watched the calf while the adults herded the mama cow.  With the girls opening and closing gates, fetching hay and cooing over the baby, they soon had the little family in a stall, safe and warm.  Now dad would take over and see that mama and baby got off to a good start. 


Looking at her watch, my daughter shouted to the girls to change their boots,  they could still make half of tumbling class. With a dash and a slam they were off. 


As my daughter related, it was a proud mama moment.  Proud that her daughters realized that occasionally events and happenings mean that they don't always get to do what they want.  Proud that they realized that the health and possibly life of the cow and calf depended on prompt and quick help.  Proud that they understood that they had a responsibility to the animals that were under their care.  No questions asked,  just quick response. 


That's what farm life teaches kids.  It's a big part of why we farm.


It sure isn't to get rich!