Read next post first...

If you are stopping by for the first time today skip back and read what was writted earlier first. Like chapter one.

Chapter two
Rob, the quality is bad, but you still may want to avoid the picture.

We lost our first calf of the season this morning. The vet is pulling a very large bull calf from a very young mama, a worst case scenario. Had the calf been smaller or the first year cow larger a different outcome may have come to pass. A very disappointing first birth.
Only a few hours later our second calf of the year arrived, a healthy red heifer (baby girl cow). The poor little girl in her efforts to stand and nurse kept rolling down the hill much to the chagrin of her bawling mama. Red as she is affectionately called gave birth on a very steep, very goopy hillside. Drew carried the baby up to the back of the barn where we made a little nursery area. They have no roof, but the ground is level and firm. Little Red, or Fire as Jer calls her is strong and nursing off of her third year mama.

While I was toweling off our new baby and coaxing it to stand a two year old steer (neutered boy cow) kept trying to lick my face and chew on my hair. Drew has pics and I will try and post them later. Typically by now this guy would have already taken the long ride to the butcher shop, but because he was a bottle fed orphan his growth is retarded and he is still hardly big enough to produce a very large steak. He has always been a bit of a pet so who knows his future. I am sure he has heard the rumors and was "licking up" today.

As a side note our vet is a home school graduate from Marion Center who attended Penn state and then Cornell University for his vet training. A circle of life kind of thing. All so interesting after this mornings musings that the day would take these kinds of turns. And in the end, a peace reigns. I am sure God is pleased with the day He has make. I am.