‘Special delivery’: UPS driver delivers calf at Wisconsin farm

SEYMOUR, Wis. ( WFRV ) — In his decades-long career as a UPS driver, Jon Strnad has delivered millions of packages. But few have been as special as the delivery he made on April 15.

Strnad was driving up a hill in Seymour, Wisconsin, when he saw a cow in labor. He said the animal was struggling in the pasture of KJ Farms, a small dairy operation.

“The calf was halfway out, still had the sack over its face. It reminded me of growing up on the farm,” he said. “Looked like she needed some help, and I couldn’t drive by without helping.”

Strnad hopped a fence and ran over to the mama cow as she birthed her calf.

“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.”

Farmer Kurt Gagnow and his son, Jacob, weren’t around, so Strnad went knocking on the farmhouse door. Gagnow’s wife, Tracy, answered and immediately noticed the blood on Strnad’s hands. She said he told her, “By the way, I just pulled a calf out in the field.”

“Tracy called and says, ‘The UPS man just delivered a calf,'” Gagnow recalled, to which he replied, “He did! What color box was it in?”

“We’ve had a lot of people that stop in and say, ‘Hey, you’ve got a cow having a calf out there,’ but I’ve never had anyone pull one,” he continued.

While the family and Strnad now share a beautiful memory, they all know the significance of Strnad’s quick actions, too.

“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.”

Gagnow explained some of the challenges cows can face during the birthing process. If the birth takes too long, the calf could have trouble breathing if the embryotic sack covers its face. Additionally, if the calf becomes stuck and the mother can’t push it out, she could damage her spinal nerves and become paralyzed, especially if she attempts to stand up.

“If the sack is still hanging over their nose, they can’t get no air,” Gagnow said. “And then she stood up, so the calf is only halfway out. And if [Strnad] wouldn’t have helped it, more than likely the heifer would have ended up paralyzed.”

The family decided to name the calf Joni, drawing inspiration from the UPS driver’s first name.

“J-O-N-I,” Tracy said. “Jon for his name, and then an I.”

The Gagnows plan on taking Joni to the Outagamie County Fair in June. As for Strnad, he said he might join them there this summer.

“Happy to see she’s doing great,” Strnad said. “It makes me feel good. I haven’t smiled this much in a long time, and I appreciate that.”

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