Dairy Cow Wouldn’t Stop ‘Crying’ at New Farm, So the Owner Reunites Her With Baby

(Illustration - Ewelina Wachala/Shutterstock)

From the archives: This story was last updated in February 2019.

There’s nothing quite like a mother’s love, be it in the human world or the animal kingdom. The beautiful story of this mother cow is a testament to the above statement.

In March 2016, when it was time for Maybelle, a dairy cow, to retire, the farmer sent her to The Gentle Barn—a sanctuary in Tennessee—to show his appreciation for her years of services.

But once Maybelle settled in the sanctuary, she began to act strangely.

Rather than grazing the idyllic pastures, the cow, seemingly uneasy, kept crying and pacing around.

“She was just crying and crying,” Andrea Burritt, manager of the Gentle Barn, told The Dodo.

Maybelle kept looking at the rescuers as if she wanted to tell them something.

“She would look you right in the eye, and just scream,” Burritt said. “It was awful. She was pleading with us.”

Burritt knew something was amiss and tried figuring out what was wrong.

She guessed Maybelle might be separated from her baby, judging from the cow’s weird behavior.

Concerned about Maybelle, The Gentle Barn’s co-founder, Jay Weiner, drove to her previous farm to find out the truth. And sure enough, Maybelle did have a baby left behind—a 9-month-old male calf, named Miles.

After the situation was explained, the farmer agreed to hand over Miles.

Weiner loaded Miles on the trailer and brought him to The Gentle Barn to be reunited with his mother.

“We have your baby, we have your baby,” Burritt told Maybelle.

When Maybelle saw Miles in the trailer, she began “chasing the trailer across the pasture up to the top.” Maybelle called out to him, and Miles responded.

As the trailer door opened, the cow and her calf ran to each other at once.

“They knew it was each other immediately,” Burritt said. “She checked him over to make sure he was okay, and then they walked off together.”

Since then, Maybelle and Miles have been inseparable.

The story took an even more amazing turn when Maybelle gave birth to a female calf, named Eclipse, in September 2016. The cow was actually pregnant when she first set foot in the sanctuary.

“Our one rescue turned into three!” Burritt told WBIR.

Ever since, Maybelle, Miles, and Eclipse have been staying together in The Gentle Barn, enjoying a happy family life!

“Eclipse constantly watches Miles, and he teaches her how to play and how to be goofy,” Burritt said. “They like to knock wheelbarrows together and just run around the pastures as fast as they can.”

As for Maybelle, she’s a loving mom to both her babies. “She teaches them manners, does everything a human mom would do,” Burritt said.

The greatness of a mother’s love knows no boundary—and animal moms are no exception!

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