United Parcel Service is known for delivering a myriad of packages, but one Wisconsin driver made a special delivery earlier this month: a Holstein calf.
Cue all the “special delivery” jokes now.
Jon Strnad was driving up a hill in the town of Seymour when he saw a cow in labor in the pasture of KJ Farms, a small dairy operation. With a farming background, Strnad recognized that the heifer was struggling.
“The calf was halfway out, still had the sack over its face. It reminded me of growing up on the farm,” Strnad told reporters with WFRV. “Looked like she needed some help, and I couldn’t drive by without helping.”
The UPS driver jumped the fence in full uniform, running to assist the cow.
“Gently, I grabbed her front legs and took a little pull, and she came. And I tried to break her fall,” he said of the calf. “She’s laying there, and she wasn’t moving. So I went inside of her mouth, tried to get that slimy stuff out. And then I’m rubbing her head, and then all of a sudden she came alive.”
The farmer’s wife, Tracy Gagnow, opened her door to a bloody-handed Strnad, who shared the details of assisting the dairy cow.
When Gagnow called her husband, Kurt, she told them that the UPS man had just delivered a calf.
“He did! What color box was it in?” Kurt had jokingly responded back.
“You always hope for the best, but you always have in the back of your mind, ‘We might lose this one,’” Strnad said. “I’ve seen that scenario play out too many times where it doesn’t end well for the calf.”
According to multiple news sources, the calf was born two weeks early. However, the calf has been dubbed “Joni” after her rescuer, Jon.
The Gagnows will take Joni to the Outagamie County Fair in June, where the calf’s story will continue.