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In Reference to War's Motherhood with a Cow's Story and a Bear

To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. or the climbing falling colors of a rainbow… Maya Angelou

By Annemarie BerukoffPublished 2 years ago 4 min read
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“Squirt some milk on your finger so the calf can learn to suck,” said the farmer.

There seemed to be a problem with the mother cow who walked away when her new born calf tried to suckle. It was crucial for the baby calf to suckle within the hour to get the rich colostrum milk for energy to start his growth. Fortunately, this was a temporary setback.

It had been a terrible day for the young mother cow with her first time delivery. For a couple weeks, she had been kept in the pen under observation but with the first birthing signs decided to escape the pen to a more solitary place as they are known to do.

However, her chosen spot was in the shed at the end of the field still boggy from spring run off. The calf was born with his face partly n the mud and would have smothered to a terrible death. Fortunately, the farmer was aware of the situation and quickly rescued the newborn by carrying him back to a safe calving pen followed by his anxious mother softly mooing.

It was a natural instinct for the mother to lick her baby clean of the afterbirth and the muck off his small white face. Within a few minutes he struggled unto wobbly legs to nuzzle and find the hind teat. This time the cow shied away unnaturally perhaps because of the human smell. The calf would need to be shown how to suckle while the cow’s head was roped in place.

Finally, after feeding, the baby calf laid down to sleep while the mother was untied to eat her fill of hay. This time upon waking up he know where to find the teat for some warm thick milk and this time the mother cow didn’t move away. The mother’s instinct to nurture and protect was alive and well, licking her baby over and over again.

Interesting facts about cows … amazing domesticated animals, placid in their perfection of feeding and making milk. ..

They are uniquely adapted to graze on grass with 32 molars on a gummy mouth pad that helps to rip up grass. Their most specialized adaptation is their large four-chambered stomach used to ferment and digest the tough grass cellulose with bacteria and other microorganisms followed by “chewing their cud” which means to regurgitate and re-chew food multiple times in order to absorb nutrients before it passes on to the rest of the digestive system.

This “rumen” then passes from the small intestine to circulate in the udder (mammary gland) where special cells combine the nutrients with sugars from the cow’s liver to create milk.

Cows have their first calf when they are just under two years old with a gestation period of about 280 days. They can produce an average 6 gallons of milk daily with production lasting for around 10 months following the calf’s birth and live for 20 years or more able to have 10 or more calves in her lifetime.

So, recently on the farm, a small black bear was seen along the fence line. Undoubtedly, the larger mother bear would be nearby both hungry after a long winter’s hibernation.

“Is the newborn calf in danger?” I asked.

“No,” answered the farmer, “because his mother will defend him to her death if need be. In the same sense if the bear cub was in danger the mother bear would defend him with her life.”

Motherhood

Understood, that is the nature of motherhood whether animal or human.

The virtues of a mother are nature itself … nurturing, generous, adaptable and hopeful. The strength and unconditional love of mothers is indomitable. Like a fortress there is no greater warrior than a mom protecting her child.

So, what happens when war attacks mothers and they can’t surrender to a vicious monster of powerful hate? They must still bear the unimaginable burdens and horrors of watching their children hurt, frightened or killed before their eyes. They must witness the abomination of missiles targeting maternity hospitals to murder babies and the unborn.

Howl at the flaming clouds of death; curse the bombs obliterating your home and precious memories; flail clenched fists at the evil war criminal, a hunchbacked selfish subhuman, who invaded your peaceful country.

Somehow you must find universal strength to persevere as you see your son’s body thrown into a well or your family lying under a bloody sheet on the street never to talk again.

Somehow you must stay brave as you say goodbye to the father of your children as he hugs them possibly for the last time before he must try to defend along the battle’s front even if vastly outnumbered.

Somehow you must calm your children’s fears hiding in underground cellars as bombs whine and thud all around them but knowing the soul destroying atrocities of war are imprinting their grief for a lifetime.

But somehow your mother’s strength must persevere and survive the brutality of this war. Your virtues will be needed to believe in humanity and peaceful coexistence again.

Annemarie Berukoff

By Joshua Reddekopp on Unsplash

Humanity
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About the Creator

Annemarie Berukoff

Experience begets Wisdom: teacher / author 4 e-books / activist re education, family, social media, ecology re eco-fiction, cultural values. Big Picture Lessons are best ways to learn re no missing details. HelpfulMindstreamforChanges.com

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