Man Spots Cow Acting Strangely Before It Dawns On Him That He Needs To Follow Her Right Away

It all started on that fateful drive as Dave made his way through the small township not far from Lake Ontario and the United States border. On his way, he pulled over to inspect a grazing herd of cows... and he saw something strange.

Now, Dave was no cow expert, but he had an inkling that it was not normal behavior for cows to scrape at the dirt while mooing and whining like this one cow was doing. Something, he knew, was amiss.

The cow — who, according to the tag on her ear, was named Flo — took long looks at Dave over her shoulder while she continued hoofing the ground and making noises of distress. He began to consider that the cow needed something. But what?

Flo had lush green pastures to graze in and a pond for drinking and swimming. As far as Dave could tell, she had the cattle equivalent of a penthouse suite. On closer inspection, however, Dave noticed something strange in the grass near Flo...

Hidden in the grass and on the wrong side of the farm's fence was a calf — and he was lying helplessly in a ball. Had the mother cow, Dave wondered, simply been warning him to stay away from her baby?

It only took a moment for Dave to realize he was wrong: futilely, the mother cow sniffed her calf through the fence, and it was clear she wanted help. As he crouched down beside the fence, Dave realized just how much trouble this calf was in.

The calf was dry as a desert stone, a sign he'd been dehydrated and in the sun for some time. More concerning, though, was the fresh umbilical cord still attached to the baby. That meant the poor calf had been born earlier that day! But worst of all...

The calf was alive, but clearly scared, and he was lying beside an electric fence that had no visible gates. If Dave was going to help the baby, he was going to have to brave about 2,500 volts coursing through the fence's wires — enough for some unpleasant shocks.

But Dave knew the stakes. A newborn calf needed milk and a mother's affection; what's more, if Dave left the calf where he lay, he could wander into the road and get hit. With little hesitation, he crouched down and went to work.

Picking the calf up and carrying him to a gate — wherever the nearest one was — sounded like a recipe for a bad back and an angry mama cow. The best option, as far as Dave could tell, was to gently nudge the calf under the fence, bit by bit.

Taking a few shocks in the process, Dave lifted the lowest wire of the electric fence with some kind of stick and painstakingly worked the calf underneath it. Unfortunately, the newborn calf didn't offer much help in moo-ving.

Meanwhile, Flo responded positively to the operation, despite the shocks her newborn was taking from the electric fence. Dave understood that he needed to show he was taking the utmost of precautions with her baby...

After a delicate process, Dave gave the calf one final push — and he broke free from the shocks of the electric fence! Finally, he was back inside the pasture with his mother, who greeted her baby with some sniffs. But Dave's mission wasn't over yet...

First, he participated in what appeared to be a spontaneous reunion party. Flo was thrilled to have her baby back and Dave was equally pleased to have helped them out. After saying his goodbyes to the cattle, the heroic man headed towards the home he spotted on a distant hill.

There, Dave spoke with a farmer and his wife, who were the owners of the new baby cow. Unsurprisingly, they didn't even know their sturdy cow had given birth! For them, there was work to do — so they invited Dave along.

Together, the farmers and Dave tagged the calf's ear and used iodine to treat the still-dangling umbilical cord. Though the calf seemed healthy, the farmers feared he'd suffered some physical damage from the hot sun...

But much to the farmers' delight, the young calf was in tremendous shape — though he probably had a killer suntan! The calf, it seemed, had truly lucked out: what could've been a disaster turned out to only be a minor struggle, thanks to Dave.

In fact, Flo seemed to recognize the gravity of what Dave had done for her and her baby. As the mother walked away — led by her happy calf — she gave Dave one last knowing look as if to say "thank you."

For some, stopping in the middle of a drive to look at some cows wouldn't even cross their minds. But Dave took a minute to observe the often under-appreciated parts of nature and the world, and he ended up playing a big role in a life-changing moment! If he was looking in the field home to a cow called Clarabelle, though, then he’d probably never have spotted her calf. She’d hidden it away, you see — and for good reason.

Clarabelle, a beautiful Australian milk cow, was miraculously saved just hours before she was scheduled to be killed and butchered. Her story was truly incredible, but it was only just beginning.

As what is known as a "milk cow," Clarabelle had been forced to endure an almost constant cycle of births so that she would keep producing more and more milk for her farm. It was tough on her body, but it was even harder on her for another reason.

With each birth, her calves were always taken away from her shortly after they were born, with most of the male offspring being killed for their meat and the females being put in the same milk-cow cycle. Even after being rescued, this process left a mark on her...

When the non-stop birthing and aging process inevitably caught up with the unfortunate Clarabelle, she was finally "spent" and was considered to be of no practical more use to the dairy farm.

Luckily, a good Samaritan named Pam Ahern and others at Edgar's Mission, a non-profit animal sanctuary based in Australia, were able to save Clarabelle just in time before something terrible happened.

Before she was slaughtered, Pam rescued Clarabelle and took her to live on the mission's massive 153 acres of land with over 350 other animals who had been rescued from similarly desperate situations.

Despite being welcomed to a new home where she was treated better than ever before, the trauma of her previous life as a milk cow stayed with Clarabelle in some remarkably noticeable ways...

This was especially true since, as her rescuers soon came to realize on their own, the cow was surprisingly pregnant once again. It must have been an exciting, but also nerve-wracking, time for her.

Clarabelle began acting more and more nervous and defensive as her due date approached. Considering everything that she had previously been through, it's easy to understand why she was anxious, but she was exceptionally distressed. Shouldn't she feel more calm now that she was at the sanctuary? Her caretakers decided to get to the bottom of what was wrong...

Roughly a week out from her expected due date, Clarabelle's nervous behavior was beginning to deeply concern the mission's volunteers. Then, one day at feeding time, workers became convinced that Clara was actively trying to hide something important from them.

She kept glancing around nervously at the pasture behind her. So, naturally, that's where the workers went looking. Sure enough, hidden deep in the brush, they made an amazing discovery...

Clarabelle had already given birth, completely in secret, and had hidden her newborn calf in a remote part of the pasture where the tall grass and fallen trees would keep her baby out of sight! How sneaky!

It appeared that she had learned her lesson at her previous farm, and she was utterly determined to make sure her that her innocent new calf wouldn't be taken from her this time around.

Workers found the calf on Valentine's Day, but she had actually been born just a few days earlier, as evidenced by the fact that she was completely clean and her umbilical cord was nowhere to be found...

They named the newborn calf Valentine, both because of the special day when she was found by the staff and for Clarabelle's steadfast love for her. They couldn't have chosen a more fitting name if they tried!

Even though Valentine was finally safe and sound at Edgar's Mission, workers understood Clarabelle's lingering anxiety and they were more than willing to do whatever they could to make her more comfortable.

Research has shown that most cows actually have remarkably good memories, especially when it comes to traumatic situations, which make them cautious and fearful later on in their lives.

Perhaps more importantly, like most mothers, heifers will try their best to protect their newborns, however they can, the same way that many other animals are protective of their young.

Clarabelle and her little calf Valentine were lucky enough to be able live and grow together at Edgar's Mission for as long as the the future would allow. Not all cows can say the same!

Today, Valentine is all grown up and quite independent, but she's still incredibly close with her mother, who went to all those lengths just a handful of years ago to ensure her safety and survival!