I actually passed out from exhaustion earlier, but the vet called, so I only got a 45 minute 'power nap'. I put a call into him this morning because Ice Cream was down and quivering at one of my barn checks. He gave me a few ideas to try, then told me to call him with any results. So, as my girl laid on the ground, DS & I cleaned as much of her bag as possible and milked the only teat I could reach. Got a whopping pint of colostrum, but hey, I was proud of our efforts! Brought it in, put it in a bottle and served it up to Flank. WOW! I am amazed at what a little Momma's first milk can do for a calf! He was hopping around in his little pen, bucking and raring to go! 
We went back out a couple hours later and got 3/4 pint from another teat. We were using the Dansa hand milking system I got this past Spring. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it was WAY faster/easier than doing it by hand! Ice Cream didn't mind at all, and DS worked the pump, so it was gravy for me! Forgot to mention: We had trouble trying to tube feed Flank, so we gave up. I got him to suck my fingers, to 'activate' his sucking reflex, then hubs sat with him for an hour getting him to drink a bottle of milk replacer (It's all we had - yup, not really prepared for the 'what-if's' cuz my husband said I was just getting freaked out by reading all the negative scenarios online and we 'aren't going to need any of that stuff'. hmmm...) After that, I sat on the bale of straw we used as a barrier for him, with the bottle beside my leg. He came up and 'bumped' my leg, looking for milk, found the bottle, and drank. I thought it may help for when he got back out with Ice Cream. When hubs got home, he took a true measurement of Flank - he's 27" tall!! For a miniature, that's HUGE! Don't know his exact weight, but he;s either about 40# or 1 ton, based on when I carried him into the house 
Tonight Hubs also carried him out to the barn and we put him in with Ice Cream. At first, she ignored him, and I was worried. An hour later when we checked, she was licking him. At the 3 hour mark she was encouraging him to nurse. She is a fantastic Momma - I am so proud of her! We are leaving him in with her, in spite of the temps tonight ( Deb: supposed to be -20's and bitter again. Ugh). He really is doing great, and at my last check (it was -10 then)they were snuggled up together on a pile of straw 
One more check and I can go collapse into bed!
) Tough to see the brindle in his coat here:
Ice Cream is only 36" tall, and she's 3/4 mini Jersey, 1/4 lowline. She looks a bit strange right now too (I mean, besides being caked with mud and...dried 'other' stuff). The vet said the calf rearranged her internal organs to fit and right now - she's skinny for the back 1/3 of her body, and really fat for the front 2/3! His name is Flank because I love fajitas and he will be going to freezer camp (this will be the true test for all of us! I quit eating beef for 20+ years after the last steer I raised. Michael is already attached. Mike is trying to treat the whole thing like the pigs, but we only had them for 6 months. We'll have Flank for 2 years
![:\](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/side.png "side :\")
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After I hung up the phone with her, I thought about the fact that I couldn't have paid for the education DS got through this 'ordeal', and I suppose we could've kept him home from school to experience it, but would he have 'studied' and absorbed everything so intently? Would he have showed the interest that he did? Who knows. I like to think not, but that's probably just MY bias showing
