Calving Time

Well, it's that time of year again...The cows are starting the Fall Freshening Season. So far, we've had eight heifer calves, seven bull calves, and one calf that didn't survive birth. We are about par for the course at this time of year. Calving season is always a hectic time of year and, while it's nice to see those cute calves, I do breathe a big sigh of relief when the season is over. (I also breathe a very big sigh of relief when the calves are all weaned and hauled to the calf barn.) Each season bring about the miracle of birth but it also brings about the need for ALOT of patience. No matter how many calves you have at one time, you will be guaranteed to have at least one that can escape any kind of pen you have it in, a few that get sick, a few that are too stubborn to learn how to drink properly from a bottle, and a fewer than you would like that do everything right. So far I've had a calf fall down a fox hole while trying to run to Momma out in the pasture, two calves who could wiggle out of the 12 inch opening in their hutches, and, currently, a stubborn bull calf who protested his being taken from Mom by refusing to drink his bottle. And this doesn't include the cows...We have several cows who regularly wander up to the barn to bellow for their babies who, being penned up, can't respond with anything other than a pitiful little bleat. We also discovered we have some pretty messed up breeding records because we have cows giving birth two to three months before they are scheduled to do so and, in a few cases, without us knowing they were even pregnant! It's frustrating, amazing, and funny all at once. Well, I guess that's just life on the farm.