When I first saw Little Red it was October 4, 2020, the little lady was born fully 5 months behind schedule. Others noticed her too and a lot of us were shaking our heads, the grass had turned and she was so small. Her chances were slim, in Yellowstone, winter is deadly cold.

Red's mother's easily recognizable, she's been through a lot, one broken horn, another that's twisted down and in. That and she has a bright red calf with her.

You can see another calf, behind Red just over her left shoulder, short horns, Red has some catching up to do.

Oct 6 2020 She couldn't have been more than two weeks old and already the cold is starting to show, she's growing an unusually thick coat of red. There's frosty mornings and any day a storm could dump snow deeper than she is tall.

Last known photo of Little Red with her mother, Nov 7, 2020 10:58 am

I'm not sure what happened, but they wouldn't be seen together again for 141 days

Somehow Red got lost, I saw her Nov 13 looking for her mom and being rejected by everyone he approached, she was sticking with the herd tho, and the snow wasn't so bad, if Red could find her soon she'd be OK.

Nov 13, 14 and 15 I saw Red searching, and then I didn't see her for 30 days. By Dec 17 there'd been a few snows, I kept looking anyway, and then I saw her, fat and happy.

Ridiculously fat and happy actually.

This is the mother that saved Little Red. As far as I know A cow adopting a lost calf is unheard of, but here they are, A picture's worth a thousand words.

This mothers day, I'd like to raise a glass to the Mother than saved little red.

We named her Ooh Ne Tsi which means Mother in Cherokee (on the left) and that's Danitaga on his right, which means blood brother

Lifts the glass
Spills the wine

To Mothers everywhere
One and all