2024: Calf 7 - Lightning Picasso's

Saturday morning when I took out a small hay bale for the cattle in the middle pasture I found Little Buelah already had a calf.  I also saw that Lightning Picasso had a fluid bubble coming out her back end.   This was a sign that she was going to have a calf in the next few hours.  She ate some of the hay so the calf wasn't immediate.   I came back a few hours later and the calf was licked off and was now up wanting to drink from her mother.  I tried to check if the calf was a boy or girl but Lightning Picasso kept backing up and the calf would follow.  I didn't want to lay the calf down to check as I wanted it to get its first drink of milk from her mother.  So I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  I think the calf drank her other dry as she drank and drank, and drank from each teat.  I bet it's a girl as the calf is already very active.  When it was done drinking I laid the calf down and checked.  Yup.  A heifer.

In the afternoon when Donna, Michael and Kari came over to band Little Beulah's calf, we also ear tagged the heifer.

After I laid the calf down to check if it was a boy or girl it immediately got back up.

Later when I put a large hay bale in the north pasture the cattle walked over to the bale.  Lightning Picasso followed once the other cattle reached the hay bale and she saw what was going on.  Her calf remained laying in the middle pasture.  I wanted the calf to be with the other cows and her mother in the north pasture.  I opened another fence gate and the calf got up and walked over to me and the open gate.  Once she came into the north pasture she went the other way and not towards the hay and her mother at the far end of the pasture.  I tried to help the calf walking in the correct direction.  But she didn't want to walk where I wanted her to go.  So I quit.  Let's see if she will follow me.  She did.  So we walked and walked and walked until we reached her mother eating from the hay bale.  The mother then took a break, backed away from the hay and other cows, and stood and let her calf drink from her.  All is good.

Earlier while I sat on the ground and waited for the calf to drink and drink before checking if the calf was a boy or girl another cow walked over to check me out.   She has yet to have a calf this year.