They killed two other calves, both less than a week old. Five days later, the pile of bodies rotting, more men from the Ministry came to disinfect them. When they opened the doors, amid the putrefying scene of carnage, angelic Phoenix got up and walked towards them, mooing quietly. She had spent five days next to the body of her dead mother. I couldn't believe it.
Nobody knows whether the calf was given the injection and survived, or was simply overlooked.
An hour passed, and no one from Maff arrived or called back. In fury, Michaela phoned the Express and Echo in Exeter. The farmers realised the calf needed a name, and Michaela suggested Lucky. Philip said a calf born on Friday 13th only to watch its mother killed five days later was anything but lucky, and suggested Phoenix. They took Phoenix to the garage and bottle-fed her.