Surprise! Calf 13

I had a big surprise this morning.  When I went out to check on heifer #60, I noticed a decent sized calf standing over a very small calf.  Initially I thought it was the calf that was born a few weeks ago as that calf is smaller than the other calves.  Then I noticed this calf was all black with no white markings, and this calf did not have an ear tag.

What?!!!   Where did this calf come from?!   I counted all the calves in the field to make sure this was a new calf.  I should have 12 calves.  I had 13 calves. 

Then the calf's mother walked over and the calf stood up to drink.   The mother was one of the replacement heifers.  This replacement heifer was born on March 7, 2021.    Her mother was Sugar.  Hence the 62 on the ear tag.

Here is a photo of the replacement heifer mother just after she was born last year.  So you can compare her to how she looks now.

The calf is not mad.  He just has Toby's face and look.

The mother is 15 and 1/2 months old.  A little young to be a mother.  Fortunately she had her calf successfully and the calf came out ok.  One doesn't like cattle to be so young when they first give birth.  Bad stuff can happen.

The new calf is a boy.

In the afternoon Donna came over to help me band and ear tag the calf.  We walked in the field and couldn't find the calf. We found the mother but not the calf.  I swear I saw the calf this morning and didn't imagine it.

The cows and the mother cow followed me when I walked over to the trees to search for the new calf.  These cows have gotten into the habit at mooing at me whenever I walk in the pasture they are in.  My "divas" always seem to want something from me even though they have all they need.

20 seconds long:  https://youtu.be/SjccTbmQgfU

Donna and I walked all around the field looking for the calf.  We couldn't find it.  I walked back to search in the trees once again.  We are in the neighbor's field, and she was having a guy build a porch for her house.  Donna asked the guy if he seen the calf.  No.  He came out to help us look.   On our second time around the pasture Donna found the calf laying in some tall grass kind of in the center of the field.

Then it came time to band the calf.  I think the calf is less than a day old.  But maybe two days old since we had such a hard time finding the calf in the grass.  Why I wonder if the calf is more than a day old is the calf was a handful trying to hold down.  And the calf started to bawl and wouldn't stop.  We had the other guy stand and watch the other cows.  Those cows were still in the trees but knowing Mama, whenever a calf bawls - even if it is not her calf - she will come over and try to make us stop.   But this time Mama didn't come over.

When I initially tried to hold the calf down on the ground the calf tried to get up and almost carried me away on his back.  Fortunately I was too heavy for the calf and I was able to get him back down to the ground.   When banding and/or ear tagging a calf I never had a calf bawl as much as this one did, or had a calf as strong as this one is.  This calf was bawling just because I was holding him down as we didn't start doing anything else yet.

But we finally got the calf banded and ear tagged.  I got off the calf and it jumped up and started to walk away.  The calf's mother finally started walking over towards the calf.   The calf was walking to the corner of the field, away from his mother.  I walked over as I didn't want the calf to go all the way to the barb wire fence.  He did.  Before I, or his mother, could reach the calf he pushed his way through the fence.  So I had to crawl through the fence to get to the calf.  By this time the mother was at the fence and the calf came back to the fence and was trying to get through the barb wires again.  I grabbed the calf and lifted it over the fence dropping it on the ground.  The mother came over and the calf got up and started to drink from the mother.

Being so young, the mother doesn't have a large udder.  The mother's mother has a very large udder.  I am hoping this mother's udder will increase in size as the milk flows.  The calf was able to find milk to drink.  The calf was aggressive trying to find milk and drink.

I think this calf is Haynes calf, and not Toby's calf.  Partly because the calf doesn't have a similar face as Toby had, and partly because I sold Toby last September.   The mother would have been only six months old, I think too young to be bred.

If this is Haynes calf, this is his first calf born.  So, yes, Haynes can breed cows.  And he has nice looking calves.

Or this is Haynes second calf.  Heifer #60 is older by five weeks than heifer #62, and on Sunday heifer #60 had something that looked to be after-birth, or a placenta pre-maturely detached and now hanging out her rear.  I didn't find a calf when I looked before.  Since Donna and I had trouble finding this calf, maybe I missed finding the calf in the field #60 originally was in.  I looked again this afternoon in that field but still could not find a calf.  What is up with heifer #60?