So I’ve decided to name the calf tagged #1 “Janice” and here’s why…..
Janice needs to go to the vet because she has a bad foot and isn’t putting any weight on it. We’re pretty sure she got hurt when everyone was sliding up and down the “Grand Canyon” embankment from the cow-tastrophy we had on Sunday.
I noticed her limping while we were rounding everyone back up. Now, Kopp and I tried to catch her Wed morning to no avail. She’s an older calf so it’s damn near impossible to catch her. We chased her on the loaner mule (remember that our mule is at the shop… also due to Sunday’s cow-tastrophy) for a bit, then tried on foot for a bit more, then back to the mule, and she eventually slipped through the fence in to the corn field. Fantastic. Kopp and I decided to scrap it since it had been about an hour and hope that she would come back through on her own after she settled down.
Today I went to count cows, check fences, and see if #1 made it back to her momma. Well, I found Mom on top of the hill but not her calf so I walked the woods for a bit to see if she was hiding in the shade with the rest of the calves. Nope. I walked back to Mom and asked her where her baby was. She snorted at me, turned and ran down the hill to the corn field, bawling the whole way. I didn’t see anything at first but then I noticed a little nose peeking out of the corn. Damn it! She’s still on the wrong side of the fence! I followed the fence line to a spot I could crawl under and carefully came up beside the calf. She just stared at me, Mom was gently calling her from the other side, and I scanned the area for places she might be able to slip through.
Here’s where the name “Janice” comes in. You know that Progressive commercial where Flo visits her sister at her new house and tries to tell her about homeowners insurance with her laptop? Flo is all, “Janice, look!”, “Janice!”, “Look!” “Look!” and Janice couldn’t give two shits because “cycling is her passion”? Yeah, here I am trying to show #1 the different places she could slip through the fence, sweating worse than a menopause hot-flash because its 5,000 degrees, covered in dirt from sliding in and out of barbed wire, all the while trying to get her attention. “Look here, Sweetie! Just slip through right here! I’ll hold the fence for you!”, and “Look! Mom is right there, she wants you to come to her!”, and “Look, it’s easy, I’m holding the damn fence for you now MOVE!”. I think raising my voice at the end was the last straw becasue that’s when she turned back in to the corn and I swear she was saying, “Stop it! Hiding in the corn is my passion!”. That’s the moment I visualized the whole commercial and named calf #1 “Janice.”
Janice is still in the freakin’ corn so Kopp and I are going to try to get her out in the morning. Dude!! I’m totally going to call her mom, “Flo”!!!! LOL!!!!
