Ree Drummond Shares Update on Newborn Calf Saved Near Ranch During Winter Storm

Ree Drummond is sharing an encouraging update after a newborn calf at Drummond Ranch who narrowly survived a dangerous start to life during a winter storm.

On Friday, Jan. 30, The Pioneer Woman star, 57, posted a video of herself bottle-feeding the calf, offering followers a hopeful update after days of caring for the animal around the clock. In the caption, Drummond explains that while her husband, Ladd Drummond, 56, initially tried to reunite the calf born during the storm with her mother, the baby animal was too weak to stand and nurse on her own.

“After a few hours, she still couldn’t get up by herself to nurse,” Ree wrote, adding that the couple brought the calf back to their heated garage to warm her up and help her eat more. Born during the storm, the calf had “a rough start” and, at one point, appeared unlikely to survive.

According to Ree, the calf began to show signs of improvement after receiving her mother’s colostrum, two bags of colostrum replacer, and her first round of milk replacer. She is now staying in a warm area of the ranch’s old barn, where she’ll remain for several days as she continues to gain strength.

While it’s “highly unlikely” the calf will be able to nurse directly from her mother, Ree shared that Ladd hasn’t ruled out trying one last time. “For now, the calf is alive and getting stronger every day,” she wrote, giving a shoutout to fellow ranchers and farmers who have faced extra work amid the winter weather.

The update follows an earlier post from Jan. 24, when Ree first documented the calf’s rescue in a video showing Ladd carrying the tiny animal out of the snow and into his truck.

In that post, Ree explained that Ladd noticed a cow standing alone while feeding and realized she had given birth the day before. When the cow rejoined the herd without her calf, Ladd drove back to investigate and found the newborn freezing, weak, and unable to follow her mother.

“The calf hadn’t nursed at all,” Ree wrote, explaining that Ladd loaded her into the feed truck to warm up before bringing her to their garage. Because the mother cow was severely engorged, the calf wouldn’t have been able to nurse, prompting Ladd and the ranch hands to saddle horses, ride out into the snow, rope the cow, and milk her.

The collected colostrum (essential for a newborn calf’s survival) was fed to the baby throughout the day, with plans to reunite her with her mother once conditions improved.

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While Ladd’s first attempts to reunite the calf with her mother didn’t work out, he is hopeful that the pair can be back together once the calf recovers from her time in the elements.