Yesterday morning I came up one cow short in one pasture.?ÿ Finally found her down in the bottom of a pond that is officially bone-dry.?ÿ She had just given birth to the second calf (twins) and was cleaning up the first born.?ÿ I was smart enough to leave to let Nature carry on.?ÿ Late in the afternoon I took my wife along to see the babies.?ÿ Found the cow and one twin.?ÿ Looked all over but couldn't find the other one.?ÿ Went back this morning with the same result.?ÿ Went back about 5:00 this afternoon, with a side by side.?ÿ Found the second calf at long last.?ÿ All cleaned up and looking identical to the one 1000 feet away with the mama cow.?ÿ Gently convinced it to take a stroll up the hill to join the others.?ÿ Mama came over to check it out, then kicked it when it tried to get some supper.?ÿ It became clear Mama had decided one mouth to feed was enough.?ÿ I snuck up on the little rascal and caught it.?ÿ Of course, it bawled like it should.?ÿ Mama looked back for a second then took off at a trot in the opposite direction with the first twin close behind.?ÿ We sent it home with the fellow who brought the side by side to help search.?ÿ Between four grandchildren, two daughters and a girl friend, there is no doubt the baby will be cared for quite well on his farm.
Pretty little solid-red heifer, just like the other twin.?ÿ Mama is solid-red but Daddy was jet black.?ÿ The little rascal probably doesn't weigh more than forty pounds.?ÿ Mama weighs closer to 1400 lbs.?ÿ So, it has a lot of growing to do.?ÿ As both twins were heifers, there is a strong likelihood that they can become mothers some day.?ÿ A male/female combination of twins typically results in the female being a freemartin, thus very unlikely to be able to breed.
One time an old dairy farmer client of mine called and asked if we wanted two 3-4 day old calves. The kids thought it would be so fun. It was until they got big enough to knock the kids down trying to get the bottle. We decided after that, no cows.
@stacy-carroll Oh now. What a good life experience bottle feeding twice a day. They can get a little head butting going on for sure. ?ÿI made the mistake of resting the bottle by my you know what on e. It??s all it took to learn that calf??s natural instinct is to head but momma in the utter to give milk. Lol. Hey you can also use it to teach the kids that nothing is free. It takes work for those so called free calves to survive.
I just lost a momma cow to coyotes. ?ÿShe was giving birth and i reckon the got her. No fun dealing with that for sure.?ÿ
freemartin
I had to look that one up.
First time i read it, i thought it said stevemartin.
I had to look that one up.
Has nothing to do with life on the farm, but my "had-to-look-up" word for the day was Schadenfreude.?ÿ Thanks to Google I had a translation rather quick.
A new home for the little girl.?ÿ Has a belly full of colostrum, now.?ÿ The accommodations may look antiquated, but, they beat starving to death or becoming a meal for a coyote.
Went back about 5:00 this afternoon, with a side by side.
This is what came to mind:
Has the Mama Cow been visited by DCF (department of Cows and Familes), for calf abandonment? Shame on her especially with six or 8 feeding nozzels. ?????ÿ
with six or 8 feeding nozzels
Where did you see one like that? If memory serves, the ones I milked 60 years ago had 4.
In rare cases, cows can have the standard four teats and two small, undeveloped ones behind those.?ÿ They apparently are not connected to the milk ducts as they are about as productive as retired surveyors. ???? ???? ?????ÿ
When I raised (and milked) goats I had a couple of does that had a small underdeveloped (and unproductive) third teat.?ÿ Interestingly they were grand and great-grand children of a doe that had the same oddity.?ÿ Some of that Darwinian evidence I guess.
