Bottle Calf

In the early summer, we turn our bulls out with the cows, and hope that they’ll all  go out on “dates” within a two month period, so that about nine months later our calving season only lasts two months, March and April. This way all the calves are the same age and size and will sell better as a lot when they are sold at auction. Unfortunately, some of the cows play hard to get with the bulls. They use all the excuses: “I have to wash my hair tonight”, “I have to get my nails done”, “I have a headache” -you get the picture. As a result, most years we have a few cows who don’t calve until June. One of those cows finally calved recently.  Well, turns out besides being later than the rest, she wasn’t much of a mother either. She rejected her calf as soon as it was born. She didn’t clean it off or allow it to nurse, kicked at it, and went on about her life footloose and fancy free. Harland put the newborn calf  in a little barn and gave it a bottle.

Not having time right now for the extra chore of bottle feeding a calf twice daily, we asked a friend of ours who has other bottle calves to raise if he would be interested in buying our calf.

He came that next night and took the calf to his new home.

And he lived happily after after.

(Well, sort of…. he is a beef calf after all and big macs have to come from somewhere, but that’s a couple years down the road and he’ll have a good life until then.)

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