'They needed one another': Mourning mother cow who lost her baby is introduced to a grieving orphan calf on the ranch, and this calving season gives them both a new beginning

Ayala Sorotsky • Writer and Editor

Oct 7, 2026 12:15 PM EDT

A grieving mother is an awful thing to be, no matter the species.

My daughter recently celebrated her first birthday. I can't even begin to describe how much happiness she brought to my life, but also a new anxiety that was unlocked the minute she was born - that something will happen to her. Something bad. Anything. It's a crippling fear no one talks about, but it enters your body as an instinct, not something you need to learn, as soon as you become a parent. And that's true not just for me, not just for any other parent, but for any animal parent out there. The parental instinct of protection is deep and strong.

So when I saw this mother cow who lost her calf, something in me broke. It was like she lived my worst fears. My daughter is healthy and happy, but her calf was gone. And her grief was immense. It's really no wonder the rancher who raised her was crying with her. Cows are friendly, intelligent animals, and they feel deeply - so that motherly feeling was absolutely hurting her.

But there was a window for hope, a sliver of something to look up for. Another tragedy struck the farm when a fellow mother cow was gone, leaving her calf orphaned. While it's absolutely devastating to have two hurting animals to take care of, they were both there for each other in their darkest hour. And from the darkness, a light started to shine.

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"She's standing back there, and her baby is over there. She's kind of like standing and waiting."

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In August, one of our sweetest mamas had a stillborn calf. She mourned and grieved and cried. I cried with her. It was heartbreaking.

Then, a week later, we lost one of our mamas to mastitis. Once again we were brought to our knees.

Josh and I were devastated and discouraged. Our entire calving season had gone so well, and now, here we were, at the end of it, facing two heartbreaking losses.

But then, something beautiful happened…
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We decided to try grafting our grieving mama with our orphaned calf.

I reached out to my friend @dallas.wise.37, an animal method practitioner, and she began her long distance work on our mama.

For the first few days we put our mama in the chute and assisted our calf with nursing.

But really, they didn’t seem to need us. They were drawn to each other…they needed one another.
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We watched the beautiful bonding process quickly unfold.

Our pair grew close every day, and within a few days, they were nursing all on their own. This was our sweet Jesus at work!

This was now her baby, the one she desperately wanted and the mama he needed!

They were now ready to join the rest of the herd.

This was truly one of the greatest miracles I’ve witnessed.
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A moment of relief, really

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That's true with both humans and animals

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It truly is a beautiful moment

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They both look so happy!

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