We weren’t expecting any calves this soon, but there are
three on the ground right now. We think the neighbor’s bull went on a
walk-about.
There’s a herd of elk marauding the neighborhood. They spent
one night in our stackyard munching on third-crop alfalfa bales. Then they went
out in the pasture and dug holes in the snow, eating our stockpiled
feed we were saving ‘til spring. They drug the electric fencing wires
hither and yon. Apparently they've moved on because we haven't seen them for a few days.
I walked home after chores through our backgrounding feedlot
this morning. There is a wide alley between pens to allow hay to be
delivered to opposing feed bunks. The calves look happy. Jesse is doing a good
job of tending them. He feeds them twice a day and delivers large straw bales
into the pens every few days so they have a clean, dry place to lie down. It’s
a pleasant, congenial spot to spend a cold winter day.
The cow herd is divided into two herds this time of year. One
for the older cows and one for the younger cows that are expecting their first
or second calf. We can take our best hay to the young cows and not expect them
to compete with the old gals for feed.
There’s one baby in the young cows, the heifers. She was
born to a “second-calver,” which is a good thing because heifers are so excited
about the newcomer they can overwhelm a neophyte mother. They crowd around, sniffing the baby, and can interfere with the bonding so critical to the calf’s
health. This mother, wise from doing it once before, knew to keep her newborn away
from the herd, under wraps for a bit. She was keeping a tight rein on her baby,
bunting away an interloper as we watched. Once a few calves arrive the herd becomes accustomed to the process and it's not a problem.
Early or not, we’ll take every healthy calf we get. We
have a bit of experience in unplanned pregnancies ourselves. Sometimes
surprises produce the best outcomes!
Mom is wary but standing guard |
Oh, boy! Baby calves!
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