I went and spent time with Hop every single day and after a while she started to get used to me being around her. One Saturday afternoon, I went with dad and Ruth to give her some food. We said hello to her and spoke to her while we put her food out. I had decided that I wasn’t going to spend time with her that afternoon as I wanted to do a little bird watching at the dam below our house. So after feeding her, dad and Ruth drove home while I made my way to the dam.
As I was walking past Hop I noticed that there was this tiny white thing at her rear. It looked weird so I ran to tell dad about it. He said that it must be her bull string, which shows that she is on heat. That made me feel a whole lot better and I went back to the dam to find some birds. I had an interesting afternoon and saw a few nice birds before making my way home.
The next morning at about seven o’clock dad and I went to feed Hop. When we got to the boma I immediately went to see how Hop was doing while sad handled the food. She was in the furthest of the four compartments and when I got there I stopped dead still. Hop was standing up and right next to her was a small calf. Hop had given birth! I stared at it in disbelief for a few seconds before telling dad to come and look. I didn’t tell him that Hop had given birth, so when he saw the calf he couldn’t believe his eyes. We were both overjoyed and watched the two of them for a while before going to tell everyone about what had happened.
Hop and our new arrival, Skip!
When we got home and told mom she burst out crying. And what made it even more special was that it was on Mother’s Day. I had forgotten about that though but mom wasn’t at all bothered. Hop having a baby certainly made up for it. And I live on a farm, so how should I know that it was Mothers Day?
All the staff members on the farm went to have a look at kokai and her calf. They called Hop that because she was crippled, but they all loved her. The calf was a little girl and we decided to name her Skip. She and her mom didn’t like all the attention though so we left them alone for the rest of the day.
We were all so happy that Hop finally had company. She had been alone in the boma for eleven months without us knowing that she wad pregnant. It was probably better that way though as the surprise was well worth it, but I was kicking myself that I didn’t sit with Hop the previous afternoon. I would have seen her giving birth but it wasn’t the end of the world.
Baby Skip
Hop seemed much happier now that she had some company. She charged at us more than usual though, but that was just her motherly instinct. Skip always stayed at her mom’s side but was very rough when she wanted milk. She would butt her mother to stand up and when she was up, she drank and drank until Hop got tired and just had to lie down.
A week after Skip had been born we found that Hop had a big wound on her bum and so the vet had to come in to treat her. He darted Hop, but because Skip was still small and harmless, she didn’t need to be darted. While the vet treated Hop, Skip ran around like crazy. She didn’t know what was going on. She rammed into me the one time when she ran past and nearly knocked me to the ground. Even though she was small, she was still strong. It didn’t take the vet long to patch Hop up and the mother and daughter were soon reunited. We left them alone for the rest of the day. Hop’s life just gets tougher and tougher but at least she had Skip to help her through it.
After Hop and Skip had settled I went and spent time with them every afternoon. At first they only lay in the back of the boma and watched me, but I enjoyed every second that I spent with them. I spoke to them as much as I could to get them used to me. I lay down next to the boma and watched them day in and day out. They slowly got used to me, but still didn’t come closer.
Hop and Skip
One day when I arrived at the boma I found Hop and Skip eating at the bowl. They immediately started making their way to the back of the boma but I reassured them that I wasn’t going to hurt them. I sat down next to the boma and spoke to them, hoping that they would stop. And after walking a few meters they did just that. Hop lay down and Skip went and stood behind her mom. I was overjoyed that I was only a few meters away from them. At first, both Hop and Skip only stared at me with their big brown eyes while I spoke to them, but after a while they started to relax and they even closed their eyes at one stage. I couldn’t believe it and just lay there and spoke to them for the rest of the afternoon. I mumbled out all kinds of things to them until it got dark and I had to make my way home.
I was slowly gaining Hop and Skip’s trust and learning more about them each day. I was fascinated with them. Now all that I needed to do was touch them. But how was I going to manage that?
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