Jingle

A two day old baby calf was found on the side of the road by a passerby back in late December 2015. He had been dragged quiet a distance down the road by a large breed puppy. The puppy “played” with the baby – chewed him up and tossed him around like a rag doll. The kind and compassionate human reached out to us for help. After getting authorization from authorities to take the baby that was in the process of dying, we went straight the closest vet hospital. He was in shock and about to slip to the Bridge. The vet, Dr. Dow, ran fluids and treated his injuries. We named him Jingle and brought him home to rehab.

A few days later, he got worse and we had to take him to the UF Vet Hospital. They felt he had been rejected by his mom and likely didn’t get needed colostrum. It was going to be an uphill battle. Once stable, we brought him home to continue his rehab with traditional and holistic medicine, 24/7 care, and lots of TLC. At one point, when his temp rose to 108 and he started having seizures, we thought we would lose him. But he never gave up so we continued on and within a couple of days he started to improve. He’s now a healthy and happy little steer.

Jingle comes when called, has been halter trained, and walks on a lead. He has learned to pick up and hold his feet up for the farrier, and he knows to stop and stand still when asked. And he will walk right onto a trailer. Dr. Dow is coming today for his 3 month check up. If all is well, Jingle will be going to his adoptive home in a few days! It won’t be easy – we love him dearly. But it is the perfect home for him. His adoptive mom, Elizabeth, has been beside me through all of this from the moment we met him. In fact, Jingle laid across my lap in the front seat of her new truck to go to the hospital that first day! She’s helped Bob and me with his care and she’s come to visit Jingle at least twice a week. She is aware of what he has learned and will continue to work with him daily – he’s going to be a 1500 lb. tank when he’s full grown! Safety is very important which is why we work with our babies from the day they are born and it’s all done in ways that make learning a pleasant experience.

Elizabeth and her daughter, Bri, love Jingle very much. They are vegan and we never have to worry about him becoming anybody’s dinner. He will be a family member and have a great time playing with Penny – a young donkey that Elizabeth adopted from us over a year ago along with Penny’s mom, Penelope. There are a couple of pigs, and horses. Elizabeth had a stall added to her barn just for him – he will feel right at home.

So for everyone that is concerned about him, and he is blessed to have such a compassionate Village of humans that care about him and have helped him, he will be in the best possible home! And it’s close to the farm. I pass by it weekly when I go to PT so I’ll be visiting him. He is going under a lifetime contract and can come back anytime for any reason. One of the things I really love about this is that I know Elizabeth will continue to raise him just as we have. She will post updates and pictures. This is truly an answer to prayers. It’s very difficult to let him go, I do love him dearly, but it would be difficult to have to turn away another for lack of space/resources. I’ll update again on our Facebook page after his exam today. Thank you all for caring!