Calf 5

Tuesday calf 5 was born.   After 11 am I had checked on calf 4, who had been born at 4 am.  Donna and I went out to put an ear tag on calf 4 around 1:30 pm.  At that time we discovered that cow 40 had just given birth.  Probably around noon.

This new calf was a bull calf.  So I had to go get a bander to band him for castration.  He was so newborn that it was hard for me to find his little balls to make sure they were on the 'right' side of the band. Donna had to find the balls as they kept moving up into his body when I searched for them.

Newly born.  Newly banded.   Boy, the sun is bright.

Tuesday afternoon when I went uptown for errands I also bought new tags for the steer calves.  Last year I had only orange tags for heifers and didn't tag the steer calves.  A main reason for tags is to link the calf to its mother.  So I bought blue tags for the steer calves.

Today I put an ear tag on the new steer calf.  As the calf was only 24 hours old I was able to catch him.  That is why I will not tag the first born steer calf.  He is old enough that I most likely wouldn't be able to catch him.

The calf's mother was not happy about me handling her calf.  Once I reunited the new tagged calf with his mother she immediately took him to the far end of the pasture, the farthest place away from us.  I could feel her eyes burning a hole in me as she stood back there staring at us.

Newly tagged