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.
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