Yesterday was a momentous day for the Bluestockings. Quite by accident, we stumbled upon something lovely.
We had been visiting the farmer, who is unwell, and as we were leaving there was a lone cow in the yard where the cows wait to be milked. On the ground beside her was this little bovine dainty!
Judging by the surrounding ground and the look of the cow, I wasn’t so sorry to miss it actually being born (I only just survived seeing kittens born – waaaay too much gore for this city girl!)
But even with a tiny bit too much reality for me, I had to stand and marvel, just marvel, at the wonder of creation; that animals reproduce after their kind; that this perfectly designed, so useful to man, so beautiful in it’s own right, little calf had just arrived in the world.
God is a creator of remarkable designs, and uniquely, of life!
(Just as an aside, did you know cows ears are NOT soft? I thought they would be flexible, like a dog’s. Not so!)
Nov 28, 2009 @ 09:12:02
Aaww! Sweet! Your family has been really blessed by all the experiences on the farm. I do hope your farmer friend is okay.
Nov 28, 2009 @ 09:27:37
That is really, truly amazing!
Nov 28, 2009 @ 10:14:40
its incredible.
i spent seven years living in the country.
And never saw any animal births.
.
Your posts take me back to my life then
Nov 28, 2009 @ 10:26:55
Any birth is miraculous. This spring, two of our goats gave birth. It happened so quickly, while we were working on various projects, we only knew about the babies when we walked by. Baby rabbits are pretty darn cute too. Good for you all getting to see that!
Nov 28, 2009 @ 11:16:42
How beautiful! Look at those big, brown eyes, just staring right at the camera like that! I bet that made your week!
Nov 28, 2009 @ 12:40:51
Oh!! This little fellow makes me go weak at the knees… I so agree with you Mrs BB.
And I had a little chuckle at your discovery
My Darcy’s ears are incredibly soft, and I always, always touch them, and kiss them. Especially when they are cold. I love cold doggies ears. 
I love this calf’s eyes… so innocent.
Nov 28, 2009 @ 14:36:55
The miracle of birth never ceases to amaze me, and how quickly animals are on their feet astounds me.
Thank you for sharing. I haven’t ever seen a calf being born, much less a newborn calf – you live and learn.
Goats are delightful when they are born, though.
Have a great weekend,
Blessings,
Jillian
Nov 28, 2009 @ 17:42:25
To Jillian’s comment re baby goats… we were driving past a farm on the way to Cairns one day, and there was a paddock full of them (baby ones). They lept and bounced everywhere and I was amazed at how cute they are (having not really seen one before). I was amazed that they are as cute as little lambs. They are definitely up there on the Cuteness List
Nov 28, 2009 @ 19:04:53
Ruby, I hope my farmer will be all right, too. It’s a hard thing to be a dairy farmer and be sick, because those cows need to be milked no matter what.
I do think we are incredibly blessed. Because we live *very* inner city, I really despaired for my children.
For a long time, I hoped it would be possible to move further out, but we are sort of tied here because of work. This (visiting the farm) has been almost better, because it has given me an opportunity to realise some of my own limitations (I’ve decided I would only survive owning a farm that was air conditioned, fully insect screened and… scented. With maybe covered, raised walkways between the sheds
)
This has been a fine lesson in contentment for me. It’s a good thing God doesn’t always give me what I ask for!
Whitney – it was pretty amazing. I love to go there, and have learned SO much in the last year.
Richard, even if you grimace at the process (it is kind of gross) it’s so incredible to be there when something is born. It’s hard to believe you spent seven years in the country without seeing anything enter the world!
Yousei Hime – baby rabbits!!! OH – I could be so jealous about that!!
We are not allowed to keep rabbits here. The fine has been increased to ..wait for it…$30,000. Yes, being sprung keeping a rabbit is an expensive business. It’s only in Queensland, though. Other states of Australia it is legal to keep rabbits.
I just can’t imagine how cute a baby bunny would be!
Melanie – it was pretty sweet! One of the farmers actually took this pic for me with my camera. I was on the other side of the fence (have I mentioned I am chicken hearted and scared to bits of cows?) and the cow was facing the wrong way for me to get a good shot of it’s face.
I was rather glad he was willing, because the mother was just a little aggressive.
Amanda, that’s funny! I am not a dog person, yet I love those floppy, doggy ears. I thought the calves ears would be the same (the one time I overcame my cow terror and got close enough to touch one) but they were..not exactly crunchy, but …a lot more rigid that I expected. I have not been tempted to repeat the experiment!
Jillian, I would have had trouble believing you about baby goats being cute, because I am even LESS of a goat person than I am a dog person (bad experience with goats as a child
) but – one of the ladies at our homeschooling group was bottle feeding one, and had to bring it along to park day for a few weeks.
And you know, Amanda is right. Baby goats are right up there on the cute scale. Who would have thought? They really are every bit as cute as lambs!
Thanks for sharing with me, all
Nov 29, 2009 @ 03:07:56
$30,000 . . . omg! Must be for environmental protection (non-native species and such). I can’t think of any other reason to control rabbit population. Next batch of babies we have, I’ll take a picture and post it just for you.
Nov 29, 2009 @ 17:11:06
LOVE this. Heart melting. Ah. And just noticed Your tags. We did home educating too. Worked out great! Rock on! And Thank You for this sweetness!
Cheers and Namaste All.
Nov 29, 2009 @ 20:38:54
Hi Mrs BB,
So was it a heifer or a bull calf? On a dairy farm that is a VERY important question. Mind you it does take a bit of the warm and fuzzy feeling off the whole baby calf thing, when you know what happens to the bull calfs eventually! Maybe its best NOT to ask….I’ve just found out our Jersey house cow is pregnant, and look forward to my very own cute surprise. Once again, your blog just hits the spot with me, always interesting, always beautiful photography, congratulations to your friend who took the phot too!
Bye for now,
Heidi
Nov 29, 2009 @ 22:13:55
Yousei Hime, I would love to see some pics of your next lot of baby rabbits – thank you!
You are quite right: it is for environmental protection reasons. In other states the farmers are required to control the rabbit population, and I suppose they are trying to spare us that situation. But… I would love to have a bunny!
Bliss, (laughing!) I have no trouble imagining you fitting into the home educating world
Thanks for your visit!
Heidi, the farmer did check, (well, I saw him lift it’s tail and presume that was what he was doing?) But when he had done that, he had a long walk around to get to a tap to wash up. When he came back, I was distracted by asking him to take the picture, which was a bit of a procedure
You have a house cow? I’m in awe. Those things are BIG! …and…SCARY! I have to feel sorry for them pregnant, though; that poor cow’s udder.
Not that I want to be too indelicate, but oh! it brought back some painful memories. ( I wonder if they use cabbage leaves in maternity hospitals the world over? …and I wonder if they would help cows?)
Thanks for your kind words about visiting here, Heidi, it’s a pleasure to have you drop in
Jan 21, 2010 @ 22:14:50
Their ears might not be soft, but they are awfully cute when they are fuzzy!
Jan 23, 2010 @ 09:18:39
You’re right, Missy, they are pretty cute!
Do you know how to make your name a link to your site? I didn’t realize you had a blog until I saw the post on AHS.