The adopted calf

The other day we pulled a calf and lost it. It was very sad and we felt bad. But then we saw a cow in the herd that had huge udders and tits. Too big for her calf to even suck on them. So we stole her calf and skinned the dead calf, put the skin on the new calf and hoped that the mom with the dead calf would accept it. It was a success! And quite the adventure.

We put salt on the skin before we put it on the calf

When we went to go steal the calf from the huge uddered mom, she was on the fight. She was a very good mom and wasn't going to let us take the calf without a fight. So after getting stuck in the snow and having to walk a ways to get a tractor to pull us out we were on our mission. Justin got in the back of the truck and roped the calf's back legs and pulled it in the back. Then I punched it and we took off across the prairie...with an angry momma cow chasing us, Justin trying not to fall out while hanging onto the calf, and I was trying not to get stuck again or drive into a ditch. What an exciting rodeo we had. But we did it. But that wasn't the end of our night.

Next we had to skin the dead calf and pull it over the alive calf like a sweater. It was a very exciting night and neither of us had ever done that before, so it was a learning adventure. But it was successful and the momma cow with the dead calf accepted the new calf with the fake sweater skin coat.

We had to tie the back legs on with some twine

The calf was so happy to have milk and after a few days it was frolicking around the pen with it's huge sweater skin flapping behind it. haha