I then give her an injection of epinephrine and begin my CPR once more; I also tell Joe to breathe into the calf's nose and mouth as if she were a drowning victim, to keep oxygen flowing. Still the calf remains lifeless.

Then I remember a trick my old mentor, Doc Tenney, had taught me. Whenever he had to treat an animal with severe respiratory problems, he would place his fingernail on a certain point of the nose and press down hard. He could never explain why this instantly stimulated breathing, but his experience taught him that it succeeded more often than not.

Remembering his placement, I dig my fingernail into the calf's nose. Seconds later, she screams wildly as a huge plug of mucus shoots out from her nostrils. She then turns to make her first moo to her mother. Jesse slowly lifts herself off the ground and begins to lick away the placenta that covers the baby's stomach and abdomen, massaging more life into her chest through the powerful licks of her large tongue.

I didn't know it at the time, but this was one of my first experiences with animal acupuncture. It turns out that Doc Tenney's little trick, which he picked up without knowing its ancient origins, succeeded because it put pressure on one of the most important acupuncture points, Governing Vessel 26, which stimulates the heart and respiratory rate.