There I was, wandering around in the pasture, checking every tall stand of grass and cluster of brush for the day-old calf that was hiding somewhere out there in the pasture. And I saw this . . . Rosie apparently had a bad...
Read MoreRosie, our Jersey cow, isn’t pulling her weight. Sure, that premature calving was a setback, and a gal needs time to recover her health after that sort of trauma. Rosie’s always been a good mama cow, and she...
Read MoreI’ve been spending a lot of time with the Jersey cow and her preemie calf. When viewed from the side, Rosie looks pretty good. At this angle, she still looks very pregnant. Or very fat. Whatever you call it, she’s still huge. I worried about bloat. I dreamed one night that by some freak chance she had another calf in there, still growing and biding its time until it could emerge like some alien space creature with big teeth and a raging, carnivore appetite.
Remember what I said a few days ago? That I brought a bovine into the bathroom? It’s true. Today I’ve included the proof in photos for those who can’t believe any sane woman would bring farm animals into the house. Hmm, let me rephrase that. Today I’ve included the proof in photos that I brought […]
I’ve never wanted a bottle calf. In my experience, four-legged bottle babies are pushy, demanding pests. A few years ago I got a scary-looking hickey from a bottle calf that thought my thumb made a good pacifier. I’ve been bumped, shoved, and slobbered silly by half-grown calves that think humans are just part of the herd. And then along came Cocoa.
Alone, but apparently not lonely, our young Jersey cow Rosalie spends her days in the back 40, munching on grass. Her only responsibility is to eat enough to maintain her ever rounding figure. She’s doing very well at...
Read MoreThe calves got bored with the fenceline meet-and-greet routine pretty quickly. Or maybe they got tired of being licked. So they went exploring. Rosie behaved like a typical new mother, hovering close, keeping an eye on her...
Read MoreI was away for most of the day yesterday and left the calves and their mama in the barn where they couldn’t get into much trouble, and where not much trouble could find them. The coyotes have been too active lately, and a...
Read MoreI knew that Rosie was about to deliver and had been checking on her at all hours for several days. Besides that, she was huge. Seriously, look at this picture (below), taken in the back pasture on a rainy day last week. For...
Read MoreOn the right, aspirin for people. On the left, aspirin for cows. Twice a day, Lottie, the Jersey cow, gets two of the big ones. The instructions say ‘by bolus’ which is a fancy way of saying ‘poke it down her...
Read MoreLottie’s had a rough week. Her 4-month-old calf is a rather vigorous nurser. Add a bit of chapping from winter weather, and her tender parts got quite sore. She quit letting the calf nurse, which led to other issues. She...
Read MoreI slept through the actual moment of Winter Solstice, when because of the Earth’s tilt, the Northern Hemisphere leans farther away from the sun than at any other time during the year. It happened just after midnight here...
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