If you remember, calf 1 (Mama's calf) was born Sunday, April 5. Monday April 6 around noon calf 2 was born. The mother is #60, the cow that looked to be close to labor a few days earlier.
The mother cow is black with a white face. The bull is black with a white face. What color is the calf? Brown with a white face! Before you start thinking another bull snuck in and got Buddy's girl; cattle with a white face, whether brown or black, can mean a Hereford is in the family tree.
Fortunately the cow gave birth near a gate. When I went over to check on the calf and determine if it is a male or female, my brown cow, Mama, suddenly came running over. I thought she was at the far end of the pasture with her calf. Apparently she had come up to eat from the large hay bale. I climbed up the gate really fast. Mamma then turned to the calf. She sniffed it's head and had a confused look on her face. She turned to me then back to the calf and sniffed it on its back. The calf's mother was mooing at Mama but Mama ignored her. After sniffing the calf at its rear end Mama looked at me then turned and trotted down the pasture to the far end where her calf lay.
While the newborn calf was brown with a white face, and Mama's calf was all brown, all Mama knew was that she had the only calf.
After Mama left I was able to check the calf and saw that it was a little bull calf.
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| A few hours old. |
The weather on this day was cool with intermittent brief snow showers. Later in the afternoon the calf was shivering. I picked up the calf and carried him to the loafing shed in the corral. He was heavier than he looks.
For some reason his mother lost track of the calf when I carried him into the loafing shed. So I had to carry him back to the corral entrance for her to see him and come. Once both were in the corral I closed the gate so they would stay in the corral and the loafing shed which was warmer and drier.
Of course Buddy had to check out his little boy.
About five hours old.
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| Brrrr... it's cold outside. |
The next morning Donna helped me band the calf to castrate him. Then I let the mother and calf leave the corral. Below they are posing before I open the gate. Look at those ears on the little guy.
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| Following his mother out of the corral. |
Here is the calf three days later.
The following video was taken less than 24 hours after the calf's birth, shortly after I banded him. Later in the video his momma chews him out for not keeping up with her as she left the corral. The video is 1:02 long.
https://youtu.be/ulAOqTwTQ2I
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