Calf 1 born in 2021

I had predicted I would have a new calf on January 29 as last year the bull broke in the corral to satisfy the cow 34 days after she last gave birth.  Close enough.  The calf was born today, January 30.

I had been checking for a new calf late at night and early morning this past week.  No calf at 9 am today.  No calf at noon today.  A new calf when I checked at 3 pm this afternoon.

The calf was already cleaned off.  The calf's fur was still slick, but not wet.  The fur was slick as it was still drying from being licked clean.  The calf was up and walking around already.  In fact when it saw me it came out from the area with straw and walked over to check me out.  The mother was mooing softly to tell her calf to not leave her and approach me.

I looked, and since the calf walked around I wasn't 100% sure, so I reached down to verify the calf was indeed a heifer.

Usually I prefer male calves as they are worth more money than heifers.  But I wanted this calf to be a heifer.  That is because female calves seem to be stronger than males shortly after birth, and a January calf needs to be strong from the start.  And secondly, since I plan to get a new bull after Toby does his job this year, I also plan on keeping some of Toby's heifer calves for the new bull next year.  This calf will be the oldest heifer, and the older the heifer, the better when it comes time to have their first calf.

While the mother, #60, is a white faced cow, the calf is all black.  So much the better.  She's a little cutie.

Thankfully the weather and temperature today, and for the next few days, is fine.  The temperature highs will be near 40 degrees, slightly warmer than normal.  And no wind.  The overnight lows will be in the low to mid 20s.  If the calf stays in the covered area and straw it should be warm enough.  I didn't see any sign of the calf shivering today.

Even though the roofed area had straw, the straw had been laid on for a few days now.  So it wasn't 100% dry anymore.  I got some fresh straw to have a drier area to lay for the calf and her mother.

I just checked, and the calf and mother were standing in the new straw.  They looked fine.

I think I will name this calf: January.  Or Jan for short.

When Donna came over to see the new calf it spent the whole time sleeping.  Just after Donna left the calf got up and walked around and drank from her mother.

Here is a 1 minute 26 second video of the calf walking around: https://youtu.be/QfgAeUZu4Rc