Sunrise, The Calf That Almost Wasn't

After moving to Sunrise Farm in November 2004, it wasn't until the middle of December that we had our first heifer calf. A heifer calf is the future. A bull calf is nice, as it starts the cow off on a new lactation, but a heifer calf, as well as being four times as valuable, is an investment that you only see pay off years down the road. We were excited when Melissa, arguably the best cow in the herd, produced a calf we quickly christened 'Sunrise'.
It all went downhill from there. The birth itself was very difficult, and involved rather more pulling than I would choose to do. She was an enormous calf, and Melissa had a lot of difficulty getting her out. Sunrise was stuck in the birth canal for a long time, which is the sort of situation that can get out of control alarmingly fast. When she did finally hit the ground, her muzzle was bloated from being constricted so long, and her tongue was blue. But she was alive!
Sunrise fell sick right away, compounded by her apparent inability to drink. We could hear her heavy labored breathing from one end of the barn to the other. We undertook the task of tube-feeding her up to five times a day, kept her warm, dry and left the rest to luck.
Sunrise somehow made it to a week old, we know not how. No one who saw her gave her any chance at all. Then one day, after a little over a week of this round-the-clock care, Doris' excited voice came over the radio, "Sunrise suckled!!" Apparently Doris was doing the routine tube-feeding, and Sunrise head-butted her, her first sign of any interest in anything, Doris tried the bottle, and away she went!
Sunrise took off. She is now noticeably bigger and stronger than other older calves, and whether or not as a result of the intimate care we gave her, she has turned out to be outlandishly friendly. She happily goes for walks with us, chews on our shirts, and wants to be petted. Doris had a show animal like this many years ago, and if it is just a character trait rather than that first week together (nature rather than nurture), then this is a calf in a thousand.