Bessie speaks

Pre-calf, Bessie did maybe one "moo", and I can't even remember for definite that she did.  Lucy sometimes lets a moo escape, and one time I even shrieked, because it was so unexpected.  The cows simply aren't that noisy for a large animal.  (The geese and ducks on the other hand.....they could be sent packing for all the noise they make, if I didn't like them so much!) Good mom that Bessie is turning out to be, she is carrying a running conversation with the calf.  All sorts of "moos", from anxious and urgent (when the calf slipped through the turned-off electric wires around the cow pen) to soothing and reassuring (when the newborn calf tripped and landed in the dirt), to warning (when the dogs try to peer in through the triple-strand electric wire fence and get too close to Bessie's baby). I have to say, both dogs are terrified to get too close, so there must be some underlying tone in that moo-ing that says to a predator "I'll get nasty with you if I need to, don't even think about tempting me or I'll take you out!" Michael has named the calf "Ruby", which is a really cute name for her.  "Sparkle" or "Sparkie" were my ideas, but Michael is supposed to be taking care of this calf.  The eventual idea is that when we eventually sell her, Michael can use some of that money to pay for teenage-boy driver's insurance.  So "Ruby" it is. Milking Bess was a joy last night.  It made me remember the first few times that I tried to milk her, unwilling as she was back in January.  This time, the reason was different, but my frustration was the same.  Her sweet little Ruby was curled up and sound asleep on a pile of dry manure, and no amount of prodding or rattling grain in the bucket would persuade Bess to actually walk away from her baby.  I had to hoist Ruby up off the ground, guide her into the milking room, get Bess to follow, and then close the door after all 3 of us were inside.  Bess immediately went into the stanchion to munch her grain, and Ruby curled up to take another baby-nap.  Bess mooed a few times to make sure Ruby was nearby.  ;) I truly love watching farm mamas with their babies.  The hens with their little chicks, the duck with her ducklings, and now Bessie with Ruby.  Even if the mothering techniques aren't all the same, there is an obvious God-given maternal instinct that makes me smile every time. Ruby should be the last baby for a while.  No hens on nests, no dogs or cats capable of having babies, no ducks trying to set up housekeeping this late in the summer.  It's OK, and I have to admit that the anxiety that I sometimes feel is greater when there are farm animal babies to keep track of.  I think that the absence of farm babies all winter will make it that much sweeter when the babies start making their appearance next spring. Welcome, little Ruby, and thanks to God for a healthy calf, an uneventful delivery, and a wonderfully attentive Bessie! Laura.