A New Season

Yay! I get to talk about cows again.

Calving is underway at Willows Ranch. Our tiny herd of 14 first-calving heifers spent last winter growing themselves, and this year growing babies.






After a not-so-auspicious start to our cattle enterprise here - the bull we leased broke his leg (thankfully near the end of the breeding season), then a yearling steer lay down and died - we wondered what would happen next. Heifers can be full of surprises.


Falcon and Valor are surprised at all the fuss.














Sure enough, the first calf presented with hind legs first. Uh-oh. But the clever heifer was doing the deed in daylight, we had all our supplies and a shiny new calving machine. Apart from the way it makes me feel when we have to help a cow have her calf the whole operation went smoothly. You women who have had children could possibly relate; or maybe your husbands can. It's one thing to watch natural processes from a distance and quite another to stand there "helping". You can hardly massage a cow when she's in pain. All you can do is get the calf out as quickly as possible.

Anyway, little #1 slid out and his mother loves him and he's doing just fine.











(We won't be naming these calves. It's too difficult
to put an identity into the freezer. These guys are destined to be natural, grass finished beef.)


#2 came along this morning. He's having to get by with a little help from his friends until his mother settles down a bit. She's a fidgety one with lots of milk so it's a bit painful for her when he's getting a drink. It's Goddy to the rescue with some milk replacer to keep up the little guy's strength until we can get her into a smaller pen for a while. We (that means Goddy) may have to milk her out a bit to ease the pressure. I wonder if I should loan him my helmet - I'll bet she's a kicker.







Can't wait for the sun to shine and the grass to grow! We decdided long ago that if there ever came a day that we don't think calves cavorting in the sunshine is the cutest thing ever, we'd be done with ranching. Yes, even crusty old aggies think like that!