Taste of spring most certainly welcome

Well, the taste of spring we had this past week was a welcome feeling and I’m not disappointed we didn’t see the rain they were talking about.
I know a few of my friends, who have been moving cattle to their yards for their calving season, have been really struggling to move snow in corrals, as well as open and close gates.
It is even more difficult now since the snow has really hardened up.
It’s funny how good the sun feels, and I can’t help but think “bring it on,” yet spring is my least favourite time of the year—messy, muddy, and the worst time of the year to have cattle (or at least to have cattle confined in a yard anyway).
• • •
I had to end up bothering one of my friends again to help with a calving (a 4 a.m. bother).
I was watching a cow most of the night on the camera and finally decided I had better go and check her to see what was happening and also check on the others.
Good thing I did since one of the others was calving, but the afterbirth was coming along with the calf. If you wait too long with something like this, it means a dead calf.
So I called for help, just in case. The thing is, if I don’t call and get in a pinch, then help is 20 minutes to a half-hour away—and that could mean a dead calf (it is likely more like 30 minutes when it is four in the morning).
We pulled the calf and all was fine, then decided to pull the other calf that I had been watching the entire night. It was a big calf, but the cow was simply lazy and was hoping for us to do her job.
I certainly do appreciate having such good friends that come and help—and not even be upset about missing sleep for me and my cows!
I have four left to calve, but I do think that two of them must have been bred the day I pulled the bull because they are going to wait right until the bitter end. Still, I should be able to get a few full nights of sleep now anyway (the time change felt worse than the interrupted sleep, though).
• • •
We had plans to go out for supper to celebrate my mom’s retirement even though she’s been retired for almost a year (bad kids we are). But, of course, as I was planning to leave, everything seemed to work against me.
The nasty wind we had didn’t fit well with some of my calves. I ended up having two “colicky” calves, so I chose to stay home to keep an eye on them.
I guess I could have left, but it is hard to relax when you are wondering what is going on at home. All is fine, but I hope the nasty winds are gone for a long while.
• • •
I really do have good friends. Another one of them came over and put my little rabbit down for me.
She was suffering but I wasn’t able to do anything about it.
We will miss “Mocha”—she was a sweet little bunny that the girls loved to literally “drag around.”
And just remember, this is one tough girlfriend I have (the one that works at Tompkins Hardware).