Well… I ended up with another calf in the bed of my pickup, only this one really is an orphan. When I found him in the pasture a few days ago, he was off by himself and no cow was around. I tagged him with an x-number so I could record him, but planned on re-tagging later when I matched him with a mother. Well, a few days passed and he was sticking with the herd, but no luck in matching him. He looked healthy so I figured he either had a mother that was playing hard to catch or was stealing milk from the other cows.
When I got to the pasture Saturday he was drawn up and weaker. Since I was at the conclusion he didn’t have a cow claiming him, I figured it best to bring him on in. Chances are he may have been a twin to one of the smaller calves tagged the same day. Sometimes with twins, the cow will only take one calf and leave the other behind. He was probably stealing milk from other cows in the pasture, but wasn’t getting enough.
Now it looks like I have a bottle calf on my hands, though I really don’t mind because winter looks to have passed us. Bottle calves are easier to care for in the Spring weather. No snow to deal with and its before the hot days of summer drag em down. It’ll give me something else to mess with along with the cows, horses, and dogs. All I need now is some goats. Oh wait, we have some of those too…
I hate giving newborns a name, (sometimes it seems to bring bad luck), but this calf looks to make a good turn around. So, I need some help with a name. I have asked my Facebook and Twitter friends and have narrowed it down to four. Pick your favorite and vote this week. I’ll share the results later in the week.
A little back ground. He’s a steer (male) Brangus calf. An orphan. And from Arkansas, so he’s gonna have a Southern drawl. Or I should say “moo…”
