Penelope gets a second chance at life

One morning while walking around on his farm, Rosburg's Gary Burkhalder noticed a newborn calf lying on the ground. Assuming the calf was dead, Gary was surprised to see the creature lift its head up. The calf, which would eventually be named Penelope, was born six and a half weeks early. Though Gary didn't think Penelope would survive, his wife, Susan felt there was "something about her." Susan then went over to her friend, Diane Dyer's house to borrow a bottle for Penelope.

"They didn't know if it was going to live or not, so I offered to take her," said Dyer. "She couldn't even stand up by herself at that point, and she didn't have any normal cow hair or anything, so I went to Petco to buy her a dog blanket and everything. I just took care of her."

Bottle feeding Penelope five times a day and providing her with a heat lamp, Dyer noticed the calf gaining weight, acting "perky" and, eventually, able to stand up. Though two months behind calves her age, Penelope is now "caught up," size and weight wise. "I love that cow so much," said Dyer. "She's my buddy. She plays with our lab and goats. She can't get enough attention. She's spoiled rotten. Her favorite thing is bananas. It's like spoiling the dog, but she's a cow, and she doesn't know that she's big. She hadn't been around other cows until we came to the fair. She was with all the cows and she was in seventh heaven."

Unlike cows born in a dairy, separated from their mothers, and bottle fed, Penelope is not so shy to human contact. Letting others pet her, including the patrons at last weekend's Wahkiakum County Fair, Penelope, much like the largest steer in North America, Hornet, was one of the fair's biggest draws. "Everybody loves her in the barn because she's so friendly," said Dyer. "People ask if I'm going to eat her and I say, 'Heck no.' I love her to death."