Home, home, h-o-m-e on the Range!

 Farmer Andrew and Cowboy Hank had their work cut out for them when they found this baby calf stuck in the mud.  The poor thing was wet, cold,  and covered in dirt.   Now, if  you were a kid and your mom found you the way Farmer Andrew and Cowboy Hank found this little fellow, you might just get in t-r-o-u-b-l-e with a capital T !      

 Rather your all grow up, or still a kid,  I bet there is a smile on your face right now remembering a time when you came home covered in dirt.    I can almost see the S-M-I-L-E  as you  remember  your mom  putting you in the tub,  maybe even with bubbles, and you getting an ear full about what you were doing on your great outdoor adventure.  The whole time you are being scolded,  you were thinking about  how much fun you had..Did she just say, "Dangerous!"   

  For this little fellow, dirt turns to mud when it rains and cows and calves get stuck in mud.    This little calf  did not get an ear full from his mama, no, she was no where to be found when the farmer and the cowboy found him.    She may have stood beside him and mooed for him to quit playing in the dirt and mud,  but when he did not obey her,  she ambled  over to eat some hay thinking that he would soon come to her, little did she know, he was in trouble.  He could not get out of the mud, he was stuck, and mama cow could not help...
     
   While riding out on the range, Farmer Andrew and Cowboy Hank spot the baby calf in the mud.  They knew he needed to be pulled out and rescued...

   First things first, get some rope and pull the calf out of the mud, and it's into a wagon for a ride to the barn!  A bar of soap and a tub of water is what this calf needs... 

   He is happy to be clean,  and while he is drying off,  Farmer Andrew is reading about the milk replacer the calf  will need while he recovers.  Milk replacer is powdered milk in a bag and is used when a mama cow cannot feed her calf.  The powered milk is mixed with water and poured into a bottle. 

   Being in the barn for a calf is like being in the hospital for a person.   Farmer Andrew or Cowboy Hank will have to bring a bottle of milk to the barn several times a day, just like a nurse brings people food in the hospital several times a day.  

   
   After preparing the milk, the little calf gets his very first bottle from Farmer Andrew and Cowboy Hank.   After his bottle, he will stay in the barn, in a stall, with straw littering the ground.  He will be warm and safe there until he is well enough to return to the herd.

Cowboy Hank

Back to work for Cowboy Hank!  

   Farmers and cowboys have to ride around on the range, sometimes on horses, like Cowboy Hank,  looking for cows and calves in trouble,  and when they find them, they're there to lend a helping hand.