Rosie Birthed a Stillborn Calf

Farm life can be HARD. Our beloved Jersey cow named Rosie birthed a stillborn calf late yesterday. Its hooves presented but it moved no further. Johnny Van Eerden and I had to each pull on a hoof with all our might for what seemed like an hour (and a second) — with no help from an exhausted momma — to save Rosie herself. A half dozen grandkids were there watching. What an experience. 😔

Rosie has never mooed. But she spent the night and morning at the spot where she birthed that calf calling out to it with a groaning moo, letting down milk from her full teets. It made Rachel and me cry as we witnessed how God has woven the things of mothering into a beautiful creature like a cow.

“The Lord gives, and the Lord takes: blessed be the Name of the Lord.”