Yakking it up

Day two of the recent yak calf saga.

The little girl got strong and warm enough to stand and follow me around the house and outside yesterday so I decided to reunite her with her momma. Looking back I know I made several animal husbandry mistakes but at the time I was willing to try them to see if she could be re-introduced to the herd (and momma).

When she finally came outside with me, her momma was very happy and I made my first wrong decision. Put her into the general yak pen instead of carrying her to the barn and seeing if momma would follow. Momma attached herself to her right away and I thought that was a good sign but what followed was a bad sign. The baby had no idea this yak was her momma and was content to follow anyone around--little yaks, yearling yaks, old yaks...didn't matter. I saw that was not a good thing although she did love it when Momma licked her and grunted at her. (No one else did that) I followed along at a respectable distance and chased interlopers away when they looked like they were bent on mischief. Kodi-yak our youngest '08 calf thought she should be able to play with him and was kinda persistent in those thoughts. My long yak staff came in handy to gently push him back and out of the way without getting too close the the re-bonding process.

The calf didn't nurse while I was present but there were other chores to be done and when I checked again things were the same except momma was a bit more possessive and didn't like me trying to talk with her baby. I left them alone and watched discreetly from the house windows.

Eventually she decided to head for the woods with her and at that point I mounted up with the feeding snowmachine and went to check things out--tried several times to position myself between the calf and the momma with the machine but that little dickens was too quick for me. That made me think she had in fact nursed as she was pretty lively. I backed off again and left the momma to her own decisions (Mistake number two) and decided I'd check again just before dark and intervene if necessary.

Went looking for them just before dark and found them way down in the woods--what a distance for that baby to travel--again I was lulled into thinking she must have had some sustenance other than what we gave her in the house. They seemed bedded down nicely--Momma got up for the grain I brought but went right back to the baby. Miss Gotty was with them so I knew if a predator of any sort came along she'd help defend the calf and would be a help to Pemma. (Gotty is our sweet 5 year old Royal cow and lost her baby last spring just as we bought the herd.) I decided to leave them alone (Mistake number three) and check at first light.

First light this morning brought me back to the same location where they were last night. Gotty was still there and anxious to see if I had grain, which I did. Pemma Y also came for the grain and I had a good chance to see that the calf had been lying all night in the same spot and looked pretty lethargic but alive and breathing well. I went to round up hay for the cows and came back with hay and my yak staff. I put out the hay some little distance away from the calf area and Pemma Y came to eat. I used that time to circle around (difficult to do in the thick brush) to catch up the calf and make it back to the snowmachine. Pemma Y came and tried to challenge me slightly but I held out the yak staff and warned her off sternly. I am so glad she is one of the more laid back moms! I got the calf to the machine and sled, tucked her down into the hay I had left and hightailed it back to the house and warmth. I doubted she'd make it she was so weak but now, 2 1/2 hours later she's hanging in there. Some warm food and a spot by the heater hopefully will do the trick. I know she is absolutely exhausted and weak from lack of food.

We'll see.....