We have been so busy lately that I have not yet been able to share with you the good news that our fourth and final calf of the year arrived on June 20th.  A fine little bull calf whose delivery was no problem other than he was a bit over a week late in arrival.  By our calculations this cow must have been bred the day she walked on to the trailer to come home from the breeding farm.  Talk about taking her TIME!  So this little fella has been named TIME, as in it is about TIME! We have tried to figure out what TIME she was bred and speculated as to weather she had been bred this TIME, how much TIME was wasted trying to figure out if she was even expecting and standing at the fence wondering how much TIME this heifer cow was going to take to have this baby.  So when this little fella arrived just after 10:00 p.m. I could not help but say "It is about TIME!  Now one has to expect that as in humans sometimes the new Momma needs a bit of help to get the calf on to nurse properly and get this whole udder feeding thing down pat.  Usually Mother Nature kicks into gear and no human help is required.  Unfortunately this was not the case with this cow.  She is quite a hefty gal out of a really prize bull named "Boomer" so we were hoping for a heifer calf to keep as a breeder.  Maybe next year.  So the last photo shows all the rigging that is required to get this kicking, tale swishing, head shaking, Biatch to stand with a halter tied to a post with a belly cinch on to keep her still (pulled tight it immobilizes the back end), while Jr TIME gets his fill of milk.  Very TIME consuming and Poppa and I are a bit tired with the twice daily rodeo to hold down this Zulu Amazon Warrior to let the calf nurse.  In fairness to her though she does appear to maybe have a sore udder, with perhaps mastitis, which appears to be resolving with the recommended cider vinegar on the grain home remedy.  Tonight we did get her to nurse without all the rigging and we are feeding TIME with a bottle to supplement in the mean TIME.  Now my point of capturing this on our blog is to let you know that the first time we set out to accomplish this event, Mark came along to watch as we had no one to watch him in the house.  He was told to stand at the gate and just watch and to stay out of the pen.  When we had the cow caught, haltered, tied, cinched and calf nursing I turn my sweaty face around to see Mark on the cow side of the gate having a good look at the "baby cow getting his milk"!  Momma nearly died of fright and yelled "Mark get the hell on the other side of the gate before you get hurt"...to which he calmly said "Bad word...don't say hell, bad word".  Who sent us this kid!  Mark did obey but then proceeded to do bar gymnastics on the top rail of the gate ie balancing by his pelvis with his hands outstretched to his sides saying "Watch me, watch me!"  I was unable to capture his antics with the camera because you can well imagine that my hands were otherwise occupied.  Daddy and Mommy had a pretty good laugh after the fact.  God bless him he is a fearless farmer...I pray that his attitude does not get him hurt some day.  Come on Mark...grow them "muskles"  you may come in pretty handy in the future.  Meanwhile back in the cow pen...Momma cow and baby seem to be getting along pretty good.  Hopefully tomorrow we will not have to use the ropes.  I have ordered a pair of kicking hobbles from a Veterinary supply company for the next reluctant nursing cow.  They will likely get here too late to help us this time around and will hang in the barn for years, but knowing they are there will give me more peace of mind.  If Momma does this next year she may find her new residence is nice and warm under the BBQ lid!  Good luck little TIME, you are well on your way.  Now where did I put the ear tagger and band castrators?  That is the next rodeo for this year.