Expo

Hello.  It's been a while... don't worry I'm back with a post with enough cuteness it's bound to make up for my lack-o-postin.

We had a new baby last Saturday.  We were at the Beef Expo (yes, there is an expo for beef cattle) so we had a family friend check a cow we thought could calve any day.  He called with the good news that we were now the proud parents of a bouncing baby bull. 

This is one of the few Mommas who doesn't actually have a name.  Just a number... well a former number.  She use to be number 7.  So I call her 7.  Not to be confused with the number 30 she actually has on her ear tag.  I can never remember that 7 is now 30.

So 7 had this little baby.  And everyone is doing quite well after "the incident".

The second day Momma 7 was penned up, she discovered she could stick her head through our temporary gates to get to the calves feed.  My dad saw this going on and gave her a swift kick in the butt which, sent her into a conniption.

She managed to tear down our temporary gates with her head still in them, soon dislodged her head, but then lodged her whole body in a little hole we have this set-up for the calves to come in and out of their small pin.  Until the other day, no cow had ever attempted to squeeze through said hole.

It was a struggle, but she made it.. somehow.  My dad said he thought he was going to have to get the saw and cut her loose (a fun task no doubt) but then she wiggled freed and only lost a few patches of hair.

With the calf still inside the pin, my dad took his time resetting the gates and soon the cow was politely mooing to be let back in with her calf.  So my dad opened the gate and in she came.

A friend called naming rights at the Beef Expo and so this little dude's name is fittingly Expo.

We've got one more cow left to calve and that should be the last one for another month or two.  Big Momma (the cow) is getting close so expect another baby post soon!

Another Surprise

Surprise!

It's another baby girl.  We walked into the barn Friday night and saw her and Momma Annie standing there.  So we penned them up and got to work!  The poor little baby hadn't eaten yet so we headed inside to mix up a bag of colostrum.  Baby calves need the colostrum from their mother's milk in the first hour or so after being born and we wanted to make sure she had her share.

We keep this stuff stock piled.

It's a dry power we mix with water.

And load up the bottle.

My dad was on bottle duty so I could snap some pics.  It took a little getting use to, but the baby caught on pretty quickly.

Momma Annie was a bit concerned but this is her 11th calf and she's a pro by now.   In fact, last year Annie had a calf in March so this little baby was another huge surprise.  Literally, a HUGE surprise...  The baby is a big one.  Especially for a heifer.  But she's also very strong and a bit hard headed.  We could tell it must have been a long birth because if you listened closely, the baby had a bit of a wheeze when she breathed.  That means she probably didn't get all the mucus and gunk cleared out of her airways.  But as the days go on she'll get stronger and soon she'll be out running with the other calves.

Speaking of other calves, here is Bruce.  He's taken quite a growth spurt over the past few weeks.

So what do you think the new baby's name should be?  My dad suggested Valentine since it's so close to Valentine's Day.