Calving season 2017 started a little early this year.
Normally our cows give birth in late January to March. But the day after Boxing
Day, one cow was hanging out in the barn by herself. When the Farmer went to
check on her a while later, there was a tiny calf standing beside her.
The calf was up and moving around but didn’t appear to be
eating. The lack of selenium in our soil has led to a weak suckling instinct in
both our sheep and our cattle. The Farmer gave the little heifer a quick shot
of the miracle supplement and in just a few minutes she was up and under her
mother, nursing away.
We like to keep the new family in the barn for the first
week or so, to ensure the baby knows who her mother is. Hopefully by the time
they are released to the barnyard, they will have formed a strong bond and will
be less likely to lose each other in the herd.
Every morning we brought two pails of water from the pump to
the inner reaches of the barn, where the new mother and baby were recuperating.
We filled the feeders with hay and tossed some old straw on the pen floor to
sop up some of the wetness. It gets pretty messy in there in a very short time.
After a few days the new mother had had enough of the spa
experience and was more than ready to get out of the barn for some fresh air
and sunshine. Her little calf was running circles around her in the pen, ready
to head out for a romp. We waited for a mild, sunny day to let the pair
outside. The temperature was hovering right around the zero mark when I opened
the door to the pen. Mama didn’t need much coaxing, and baby followed along
with a little skip. I put some of the leftover hay outside in a spot that was
sheltered from the wind. Cow and calf lay down for an afternoon nap.
Within about half an hour, the sky had darkened and a
blizzard blew in with a snow squall and biting winds. I worried about the
little calf and hoped her mom would lead her into the part of the barn where
the cows take shelter from the weather. I stood at the window squinting my
eyes, trying to see the little black dot in the snow against the barn. I
worried she would be too cold, or get separated from her mom in the blinding
snow. Just then the Farmer came in, sliding the patio door shut on the storm
behind him.
“I put them back in the pen,” he announced. He said he
picked up the little calf and carried her back to the room she had just
vacated. The weather was just too nasty for such a new little creature. Mom
followed, if a little reluctantly. She was enjoying being outside, but wasn’t
about to let her baby be taken away.
The next day we tried again to let the animals outside. This
time the pair sauntered as far away from the barn as they could go before
hitting deep snow. They lay down together in the sunshine at the far corner of
the field, as if to say, “we aren’t going back in that barn, thanks. We’re ok
right here.”
The little heifer spends her afternoons lying on the bed of
spilled hay around the feeder. The bull stands protectively over her so that no
one accidentally steps on her while feeding.
We will have to keep a close eye on the rest of the cows to
see if any others are planning a surprise birth. Betty is getting a little
slower and she has a funny look in her eye. The other day she didn’t want one
of the apples I was handing out, either: a sure sign that she isn’t feeling
like herself.
Soon we will have fat cows stuffed into all of the old
lambing pens and even the horse stable will be full. One down, eleven to go. Calving
season 2017 has begun, with a little heifer calf I named Holly. It would be
ideal if the rest of them were born before we head to Jamaica at the end of
February. Our house sitters aren’t much for delivering calves.
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Email: dianafisher1@gmail.com
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