I laid my head back down on the pillow. It was around 5 AM. I had just gotten up to go the bathroom real quick.
Believe it or not, not all ranchers wake up at 5 AM. I thank God every day that I didn’t decide to get into dairy.
I could feel myself starting to drift back to sleep.
Mooooo
A soft “moo” in the distance tickled my ear drums. Not an abnormal thing for Highland County. I didn’t think much of it and promptly started to fall back to sleep.
Mooooo
Hmmm… It was definitely coming from one of my cows. The herd is close to the house right now in our rotation.
Mooooo
After quite a few of these intermittent “moos” my rancher’s brain wasn’t going back to sleep without doing something, so I got out of bed and got a flashlight. I’m pretty protective of my sleep but the cows have a free pass to wake me up.
I went out in the yard and walked through the wet grass down the hill behind the house. The days are getting very long now and even at 5:15 the sun was starting to make itself known. It would be at least an hour before it peeked over Monterey Mountain though.
I thought I may have left a calf behind on the cattle move yesterday. Sometimes they can lie down in a corner somewhere and get left behind. I didn’t see anything by the gate. All the while…
Mooooo
The momma was at the top of the hill in the pasture next to the house just going to town “mooing” about every 5-10 seconds.
This wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d hoped. So, I climbed over the fence, careful not to snag my pajama pants on the barbed wire on the top, and started walking up the hill.
I greeted all the cows as I walked up the hill so I wouldn’t startle them. They aren’t used to seeing me this time of day and I didn’t want anybody to get upset. I’d imagine they’re about as happy as me to be woken up at 5.
I didn’t know what to expect but I knew I wasn’t going back to sleep before it was resolved, if I could after all the excitement.
When I reached the crest of the hill, I could see the electric line that separated the cows from tomorrow’s, well… today’s, paddock. On the other side of the fence, I discovered why my new alarm clock had started up.
As it got light enough for her to see, she found out her calf had found his way to the other side of the electric fence.
He probably went under by mistake in the dark and got stuck over there.
I turned off the energizer and moved the line a bit higher on a few posts so he could walk under it. Then I carefully walked around him and coaxed him towards the spot. He hesitated, weighing his fear of the electric fence and his fear of an alien creature in plaid pajamas slowly walking toward him.
He chose the hole in the fence to my relief and the happy reunion was complete. He started eating breakfast right away and everything was right in the world. Except, of course, I was up at 5:15…
Luckily I was able to get another hour or so of sleep, (although I did have some pretty crazy dreams about cows).
Maybe you’re thinking I’m a lazy rancher waking up at 7 but I work plenty when I’m up, trust me.
A lot of things go into making the quality of meat we raise, (called by one of our new customers last week “the best f***in steak I’ve ever eaten”).
Even some random stuff you don’t expect at 5 in the morning.
Hoping to get back to counting sheep and not misplaced calves to fall asleep,
John Michael