After some extremely cold temperatures this week, a lot of ice, snow, and utility companies working around the clock, here is a story of how our community comes together when someone, or even a baby calf is in need.
Jenny rode with my sister and her children to view some beautiful scenery around the area, and just happened to drive down a road we do not travel as often.
They saw a calf in a pond swimming in circles trying to keep it's head above the water, when they decided to go and try to get help.
Another gentleman had arrived right before and my sister decided to call our uncle, a prominent farmer in the area, who they knew would know what to do. He arrived along with several other men and a lady neighbor as well.
The story now begins to get exciting, or nerve-wracking, whichever you prefer. A friend brought his tractor over and my uncle hoisted himself upon the end of the front end loader, where the spear for feeding round bales of hay is.
They now drive off into the pond, and my uncle takes a lariat rope to attempt to lasso the poor calf and pull it to safety before it drowns. It is still circling the area where it fell through, and by this time is going under every now and then, trying to keep it's head up.
Jenny rode with my sister and her children to view some beautiful scenery around the area, and just happened to drive down a road we do not travel as often.
They saw a calf in a pond swimming in circles trying to keep it's head above the water, when they decided to go and try to get help.
Another gentleman had arrived right before and my sister decided to call our uncle, a prominent farmer in the area, who they knew would know what to do. He arrived along with several other men and a lady neighbor as well.
Take note of exactly how he is sitting atop the loader with only the spear, which comes to a point on the very end, to hold him when he stands. A point my aunt was none to happy about, to say the least. :/ I will add here, my uncle will be 71 this year, so she had a little reason to worry.
They now drive off into the pond, and my uncle takes a lariat rope to attempt to lasso the poor calf and pull it to safety before it drowns. It is still circling the area where it fell through, and by this time is going under every now and then, trying to keep it's head up.
I must say this is the most impressive move from the entire endeavor! My uncle only took two tries to lasso the calf! I do believe that is pretty amazing, with it mostly under water and continuously moving! He is the true hero of this story! Yeah, Foster, or as we call him, Uncle Bo!!!
As he is struggling to pull this 200, now 250 lb. or so soaking wet calf out of the water, Clifton must get out of the tractor and climb around to help him pull.
They finally succeed, but just as they get this calf out of the water, the ice breaks and it goes back in! Agh! Poor thing...The men on the bank throw another rope to tie to the first and pull the calf the rest of the way out of the water. Success, so far...
All this time Jenny has been photographing the entire endeavor, and now, she and my two nieces run over to rub it and try to get it warm. A lady neighbor had blankets in her car and my sister had one, so they bundled it up and kept on rubbing, as Jenny blew on its nose to keep it from icing over. What a sweet picture! It was a little heifer calf, which is a girl, for you non-farmers. :)
Success! Only now, during the excitement, the tractor had died in the pond as water was very close to the engine, which could be bad; they enlisted the help of another friend and neighbor who brought his backhoe down to pull the tractor out of the pond.
Oh, the drama of farm living! Now, Uncle Bo and Clifton must wait to be pulled out. My uncle said he was freezing! It had been in the teens that morning! Brrrrrrrrrr...
The story has a great ending! The calf belonged to a friend and now is at the vocational school in a heated stall for the Ag. students to work with and learn from. The tractor was taken to our local tractor company, but was ok. A line had collapsed, keeping the water from entering the engine, which would have been devastating financially.
The lady friend had called our local radio station, and they asked for Jenny to send some pics in. She did, they put it on their morning fax, somehow Channel 9 news saw it and wanted to interview Jenny, the photographer, and our uncle. That was exciting! Everything went great, and they were on the news! The reporters did a superb job in editing and putting together the story! It was wonderful!
A pic has been circulating on facebook and instagram, and all we can say is what an exciting adventure it was, as they went on a drive to view and photograph the beautiful winter scenery and happened to be at the right place at the right time.
What joy is in the making of another memory!
Always Experiencing Him,
Jody
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