The Worse Happens! Dealing with a Dead Mom and her Calf.

A cow dies, leaving her young calf behind. Today we look at how to deal with the calf and its deceased mom.

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[OurWyomingLife]

For those wondering why we don't lasso the calf. I am right-handed, and the throttle for the four-wheeler is on your right, so it doesn't work well, but more importantly, I am not trying to traumatize or hurt the calf. We just wait for an opportunity to place the rope around its neck, simple as that. :) Thanks All for watching!!!

[tamipalin]

Mike, one of the best aspects of you sharing your life with us is that you don't sugarcoat things, or try to protect your viewers from the more unpleasant aspects of reality. Thank you for your honesty and your obvious concern and care for your animals!!

[miriambertram]

We all appreciate your showing the difficult part of you daily life.

[tamaragonzalez]

Though it is sad that a cow passed I can't stop laughing watching you and the wife trying to corral that calf.😄 You didn't tell us how many hours it took to finally get that baby. Truly enjoyed this video.

[janetdoten]

I'd be worn out after 11 babies too! RIP #097. Thanks for sharing

[dorothysellers]

I was raised on a dairy farm back in the 1950’s. Ok they were Jerseys. I remember one day during the summer my dad had found one of our herd that had died. He went to bury her and he tied her back legs and wax going to just drag her ; when he started up the tractor…she had already started “blowing up”!!! And her back legs just came off leaving the rest of her!!! Daddy came back to the house and finished throwing up!!

[lindagentile]

Very educational vlog on the composting of cow # 97 .
She served well alive & will serve afterwards...
Thank you for sharing Mike & Erin you both do an AMAZING job...🤗✝️

[asheelterestini]

I have been waiting for this video since I started watching your channel. I haven't commented because I didn't want any backlash for the channel or myself. I know this isn't the first animal you've lost on the ranch, and I have been wondering how you take care of the cows you've lost. Thank you, for answering the silent question and it's nice to know the animals are taken care of in a "kindly" manner.

[mpedmar]

Showing the good, the bad and the ugly of life on a farm is commendable. I know a couple of other channels that do also, but most avoid showing or talking about it, this gives people starting out farming a false sense of what to expect and when death or disasters happen they end up feeling like failures. I truly appreciate you keeping it real! I'm sure that #97 only had the one bad day and now I pray that # 9 Orphan Andy accepts the bottle and flourishes.
Stay happy, healthy, hydrated and safe.
May God continue to bless you, your family and your adventures.

[cindyboard]

Mike if the bottle feeding doesn't go well, older calves drink milk from a bucket pretty well sometimes. Just like drinking water but instead he's getting milk. Good luck!!! Stay safe!!!

[phyllisraeglabe]

Great video. We have had a few senior citizens die on my ranch. They have all been over 16 year old and we are thankful to them for providing a healthy number of calves. Many of their calves have now produced many more calves here on the ranch. Thank you for sharing with us.

[chloeshann]

I love that you show the good and the bad. People will second guess and criticize (even more so when they have zero experience), but when you are there day in and day out... you do the best you can and fortunately more days work than don't. I'm sorry you lost your cow.

[beverlyberkholtz]

So sad that Little Andy #9 lost his Momma. The Circle of Life can be cruel at times. Soon he will become friends with Marty and Frida and all will be as it should. Love watching you and your family. May it rain enough to give you a Awesome Hay Crop and fill all your Dugouts. 😉

[alanwchase]

Boy thats a tough thing to lose a cow.Never heard of composting a cow, however it seems more respectful than calling the rendering truck.This way she lives on as part of the ranch.She was certainly a very important member of the herd.I was wondering when you start feeding a supplement (Calf Manna?)to the bottle calves?Very informative and respectful video.

[rentechpad]

We just went through something like this a couple of weeks ago and we had a really tough time getting the calf to cooperate and not continue following her best friends momma. It turned out that one of our first time heifers (her best friends mom) either loves babies or loves nursing or, being a first time mother did not know that it was odd for her to nurse someone else's calf. My daughter told me later that she saw that the orphan calves mother and first time mom really hung around each other a lot, so it's possible that both calves tended to nurse whoever was closer and may have a time or two nursed both, because after spending half a day with trying to actually get her back to the corral where the bottle calves were, the other calf and her mom followed us, and as we were trying to negotiate the calf into the corral, she got hungry and started feeding from the other calves mom. Its not a bad deal to have another mom take up the slack and feed one its one less come bottle time but while we have been lucky and if we lose a mother and have a mother that just lost a calf we can get them to accept each other, but never had a cow, with her own calf well bonded to hern taking on someone else's calf. Talked to the vet who said cows will automother someone else's calf if they hang around a lot and what might have been going on is the old cow really was not in condition to raise a calf and the younger one had taken to nursing both. He has use put all there in a corral together for a few days and watch how they were doing and we were seeing two calves nursing on her together at times and separately at times, and when she would call and one calf would not come she would keep calling til she had both with there. They are now all back out with the herd and she acts like a heifer with twins :)

[andyhead]

I feel honored that you named him Andy
Great job!!

[susans]

After watching Mike trying to wrangle #9, I was with Erin and okay with letting the herd mosey on down to the corrals and sort him off there, LOL That baby-sitting mama cow was getting pretty serious with her displeasure of you messing with her own calf's buddy. Snortin' and pawin' the ground preliminary to mowin' you down . . .

[brandeissports]

I’m sorry for your loss. 11 calves, that’s awesome!

[pamdean]

Sorry for the loss of your cow. Glad you are keeping her on the ranch.

[thewisceeeggg]

Great job catching up with orphan Andy!