It takes a village to raise a cow

To most Madison County citizens, Monday February 22 seemed like just another pre-spring mountain day. The sky was mostly grey, with occasional momentary displays of fragmented sunlight, a few drops of rain were spit, and by afternoon the wind was blowing colder air in from a new front. No one knew quite how to dress for the weather or what to plan for. Indeed, it seemed like a typical February day.
But in the barn just below the Chapel Hill Church (on Starling Gentry), a heart warming story of the courageous journey of one injured milk cow unfolded beneath the light of the wintry sky.
Maude, our milk-wielding heroine, assisted by the kindness and ingenuity of family and neighbors, took another step of courage in the 10th day after her "big accident."

Flash Back: It was Friday night, February 12. The night was dark. The air was cold. The ground was a solid sheet of thick ice, ice that could have been deadly to a thousand pound grazer should she have slid just a few more inches. Maude was making her way, slowly and steadily, back to the barn from the milk stand. She slipped on the ice and fell with a crash to the ground, then proceeded to slide down the icy driveway to the edge of the bank that drops off to the creek. After several unsuccessful attempts to get up (which caused her to slide even closer to the edge of the bank), she gave up.
"Dark was the night. Cold was the ground." Every time she moved, she slid a little closer to the edge. The Mecho family stayed out in shifts of 2 with her throughout the night, and every time Maude moved to attempt to rise, they leaned against her with all of their body weight to keep her from falling down the bank and into the creek.
"If she went in the creek, that would have been the end of her," remarked neighbor Todd Mahy in hindsight.

Saturday morning found the entire family cold, exhausted and nervous. And Maude was still down. Neighbors came to assess the situation and "lend a hand." "CR," another cattle man was "worried she broke her back." The vet was consulted on the phone; the prognosis looked bad. Fortunately, "Freddie" Nichols arrived with his trusty tractor, and he and others were able to carefully relocate Maude into the shelter of the barn.

For the next week, the Mecho family attended to Maude every 2-3 hours "around the clock." The injury was still unknown, although it was deduced that there were no broken bones. Maude needed to be "turned" every few hours so that the weight of her body wasn't applying too much pressure to one hip for too long. She also needed to be fed, watered and propped up to be "milked out."

Selena, the youngest Mecho explained the situation like this: "OMG! It was so much work! I was like 'WTF!"

Moonie, the eldest daughter, described the texture of the udders as "slimy and gross." (After all, an injured cow still needs to "eliminate like the rest of em."

Rosemoon was comforted by the strong support of both her internet and her "meat" communities.

By Saturday, it had been 8 days, and Maude still was unable to stand. "She needs to stand because her muscles are atrophying," explained the Mechos. Over the weekend, family and neighbors alike rallied together to "get Maude up."
Carpenters Charles Mecho, Todd Mahy, and Greg Adams designed and built a frame specially outfitted for Maude's dimensions. Other neighbors, such as James and Iliana Wilson, were on the scene for "consultation and general assistance." Rosemoon and Greg measured Maude's girth and found a simple design for a cow sling on the world wide web. Greg utilized some heavy duty nylon material he "keeps on hand" to sew a custom made sling for with which to hoist Maude up into the frame so that she could get some time on her feet. Come alongs and pulley systems were used and on Sunday, Maude was successfully hoisted to a standing position by many loving hands. There she stood, on atrophied and shaking legs, for 30 minutes before she collapsed in exhaustion.
Another attempt to hoist her up was made later and was unsuccessful, as she made sudden jerky movements which caused the frame to break.

Today was a new day. The carpenters reconvened to rebuild a reinforced edition of the cow frame. Neighbors gathered and assisted the exhausted Mecho family in hoisting Maude up to a standing position again. This time, she stood for nearly 3 hours! She drank many gallons of warm water which was carried to her lovingly from the house, and she enjoyed snacks of oranges, carrots and hay. Neighbors and family stood around in the barn, visiting with each other as neighbors do and watching Maude, quite literally, chew her cud. By the end of 3 hours, people were getting hungry and Maude was getting tired. Anxiety was high as the support sling was loosened and Maude began to attempt to lie down.
"I just don't want her to fall again," everyone seemed to be muttering.
The Lord was looking down on Maude today, probably from the church, and granted yet another small miracle. She laid herself down gracefully, with all of her bones (and her custom built frame) safely intact.

"I think recovery from here out will be a lot quicker," Rosemoon commented at the end of the afternoon.

And God willing, I think it will be too.