Meet Dexter

Dexter is our third bottle calf. He was born just before the great cow plague hit us and  seemed to be doing fine.

But then John found him one morning, stretched out stiff and cold and seemingly near death. Evidently, whether it was the disease, the vaccine, or the medicine, his mama had suddenly quit producing milk.

So John brought the baby to a warm stall and began the re-hydrating process  -- running a tube down the baby's throat and giving him a dextrose solution.  It took three or four days, with slow improvement and finally young Dexter was on the come back trail, standing and taking milk in a bottle.

Now he's one of the bottle babies gang. Xena and Clover could be weaned -- they're eating calf starter and hay but still want their bottles. And Dexter has two big girls to hang out with.