~Will Stella get her groove back?~

Hey everybody, I have gotten so many emails asking about our poor cow. I had already blogged about how her calf died inside her, and she was way down in our hollar. Well, the vet didn't come out until THE NEXT DAY!-- but we did get her calf pulled, and he gave the cow "named Sugar" some shots. He said... some make it and some don't. " Wait and see." Meanwhile.. she laid down there all by herself over night right next to our creek and couldn't get up. Our son Trent is a construction worker and was home for the week so he and our other son Tony helped TREMENDOUSLY figure out a way to get her up out of there and to our barn. It was so steep and we spent a great deal of time making a path to get down as far as we could. The top picture is of Trent' jeep about as far as he could get down in there... then we strung chains the rest of the way.....
Here is my hubby Mike, and Trent.... and this is "Sugar." She was in a VERY bad way. Her back end is almost paralyzed. She is very close to the creek and the grade is very steep up to the top. See all the vines... it is so lush down in there... poison ivy, oak, lots of seed ticks, chiggers.. and more ticks.
Because of all the stumps, and rocks we knew we needed something STRONG to put her on to skid her out. In a pinch... you just gotta use what you have... and we found this old car hood. Trent took the front hinge things off so she wouldnt get hurt on them, and Mike chained through the front... then came the great task of trying to lift her onto it. It was a muddy, manury, itchy... did I mention LOTS of ticks?.... oh yeah I did... but if you have ever been chewed on by chiggers and ticks... you UNDERSTAND...~
The boys worked so hard. There was so much brush, and vines to remove before we ever even started up the hill...... (I moved rocks and took pics :) )
Trent used the chainsaw cutting old cedar stumps, and Tony used the lops cutting all the vines... and then finally it was time. Trent used his jeep, and Tony used our old farm truck in front of the jeep to pull him.... and Mike.... well..... Mike....
RODE on the hood WITH HIS COW.... holding her head, protecting her from dragging it on the ground.... I love this picture of him...if you click on it enlarging it... you can see his heart in that expression. He loves having cows so much... and I guess has some of his Grandfather in him!..... :) Anyways, every so far, he'd jump off the hood and pull on the chains trying to pull her away from big rocks, and more stumps... it was an incredible chore to get her out of there. Then once to the top, they pulled him and the cow all the way to our barn.


Here she is safe and sound... and they were taking a much needed Mt Dew break! I was so proud of all three of them and I just love this picture. I will always look back on this day and remember how the three of them pulled together trying to save this sweet cow. Once we got her
up here to the barn, they borrowed an A frame from our wonderful neighbors Ron and Jackie, and I ran to the vets and borrowed this gadget that you hook her up with... and we hoisted her upright so she could try to stand for 20 minutes. She drank, and ate some grain, and then we repeated this again last night. This morning she is still alive, but was laying down all the way on her side.... We want so badly for her to make it and pull through this.... now it's up to her. We renamed her Stella...
When we hoist her up to a standing position... she moves around and you see that spark in her eyes again.... hopefully she will get her groove back. :)
Thanks for all the emails asking about her.... !
Yall have a wonderful day!
Lea