New Calves

Two new heifer calves were born this week at Full Quiver! The calves are fun to watch the way they prance about. One kicks up its little heels in a frolic, glad to be alive on such a brisk morning and eager to use its new found legs. After a tottering romp it comes to a sudden halt, every muscle trembling beneath its light brown coat as its soft, dark eyes stare wide-eyed and watchful, and then with a little bawl it wobbles off to rejoin its mother. The recent two make 6 calves all together in the calf pen. After the first 24 hours (so the calf can get that vital nutritious colostrum) we separate the calf from the cow. The cow goes back with the herd and the calf joins the other calves in the calf pen. Here we bottle-feed them with the cow’s milk until they are weaned and ready to go out to pasture with the older cows. This system helps to bond the calves with people and has also proved better for the cow’s udder health in the long run. It’s always entertaining to watch the calves at feeding time. Rebecca (12) and Lucy (10) are in charge of their care. They fill the bottles at milk time and then carry them out to the calf barn. There are currently six little heifers in the calf pen. When the calves see the girls coming into the barn they jostle against each other at the door of the pen, their rough, pink tongues lolling in anticipation of the warm breakfast to come. Rebecca and Lucy position the bottles along an extended piece of board stung up for the purpose so that each calf has its own bottle. Now some of the older calves will finish before the younger calves and then they turn to push the younger ones out of the way to steal their bottles. Rebecca and Lucy have to make sure each gets its allotted amount and so they dangle the bottle or hold the greedy calves until the younger ones are finished. It’s quite a sight to see the calves all lined up in a row, their tails wagging with pleasure, foamy milk running down their neck. Calves often jerk and bump up on the udder when they’re nursing the mother cow to make her let down more milk. They do the same thing when they’re bottle fed and we’ve found out the hard way that you should never hold a bottle against you if you don’t want to be butted in the stomach or chinJ