Adventures in the Lives of Cattle Farmers: Bottle Feeding a Newborn Calf
Last weekend, my wife and I visited my parents' home in central North Carolina. It's almost always an adventure every time we visit them because we never know what sort of interesting events will occur.
My parents live about a mile from my father's parents, who live beside my dad's only brother. So together, over the years, my dad, uncle, and grandfather have managed around 65 head of Black Angus cross beef cattle. This has led to many interesting experiences over the years, but one recurring event that I've been part of is managing the situation when a calf is born and its mother either doesn't accept it or has twins and doesn't realize she's had two calves.
This occurred again about a week and a half ago, so when we visited my parents this weekend, we got to visit with the calf that my mom and aunt have been bottle feeding because they couldn't figure out which cow was its mother. Taking care of a calf can be a lot of hard work. Generally, calves which aren't raised by their mothers in the first few weeks of life are susceptible to all sorts of sicknesses, and this particular calf has suffered from several conditions already, requiring medicine and checking on him a few times each day.
I wanted to share some photos and video clips from this weekend, as we got to visit the calf during one of his feeding times and we got to see him run around.
My grandparents used to raise chickens, and one of their chicken houses is still standing. This makes a nice home for the calf since it's well-ventilated and covered. My dad stacked some round hay bales to make a small corral for the calf, and then blocked the main entrance to the house as well. This meant we could let the calf out of its corral when we arrived, and he happily ran around and enjoyed stretching his legs. Here are some clips of him running not long after we arrived:
We do think this particular calf was a twin, because he's smaller than the other calves, which were born around the same time he was. It was fun to interact with him. He's fairly friendly since he's had human interaction almost every day he's been alive. Normally new calves are extremely skittish around us. He was very curious, so I got some fun photos of him throughout the time we spent with him:
I even tried out portrait mode!
My wife particularly enjoyed interacting with him. Here's another fun clip I got:
Finally, after we played around with him for a while, it was time for his bottle. He gets very excited when it's time for food, and he gulps down the formula as fast as he can!
Normally, the bulls that are born in our pastures get sold for beef at the local stockyard. However, since this guy is being raised a little differently, it's possible he'll have a future as a show cow for the local chapter of 4H, and he may even make it to this year's North Carolina State Fair!
I'll be sure to update you on his future once he's older and gets over the various sicknesses he's suffered from. He seems to be doing well overall, though, so I hope you've enjoyed this look into the lives of cattle farmers!
Great pictures and hope the calf gets accepted. Won't the mother cow 'know' naturally. we are farmers too. I mean I married a farmer cum medical dealer. We have a mother cow and a calf.
I was raised in a city but have come to love farm life. It is work 24/7 but also very rewarding because of the free water, unpolluted air and so on.
Have you named the calf?
The circumstances surrounding an abandoned calf can be very interesting. We had another instance where a mother cow had twins, but had only taken one of them. We found the other poor little guy huddled under a wood pile, so we loaded him up in the back of the truck and took him over to the mother cow who had the smallest calf. She ended up taking both of them!
Not sure what happened with this little guy, but my aunt has aptly named him "Little Bit" because he's still so small. Glad to know there are some other people who have cow experiences here! Thanks for sharing.
This is so sweet, @ethandsmith! It's sad that his mother abandoned him, but he seems to be thriving well despite that. He is so adorable! Yes, please keep us updated! :)
Yes! We're glad that he's been able to thrive. He's had a touch of pneumonia and another disease I can't remember, but thankfully we know two large animal veterinarians in the area, so we've been able to get him medicine so he's doing much better. I'll have to ask my mom how he's doing since we left on Sunday. Thanks for your comment!
How long Ian it necessary for you to raise the calf that’s hasnt been recognized by its mother before the calf is able to subside on its own? Have you ever had a calf that imprinted on you? I’ve seen stories of animals mistaking a humans as its mother and then following around the human for life.
I would honestly have to ask my parents because it's been a while since they've had to raise one. I can't remember how long we normally have to bottle feed it before we can turn it loose with the general population cows and it can eat solid food like grass and hay.
I wouldn't say that we've had any to imprint on us, but the female ones that we've raised and kept for a long time will act more friendly toward us and be the first to arrive when we "call" them. If any imprinting has occurred, it usually subsides by the time we release the calf back out with the rest of the cows. After a few weeks of following the herd's routines, we've been forgotten haha.
Thanks for your comment. I'll get back to you on an exact amount of time!
That’s cool. It’s always interesting how different animals respond to and have different relations with humans. Sounds like your fathers side has a long tradition in the farming industry, did you have any interest in continuing the tradition or did you want to get away from farming as fast as possible?
What's most interesting about my father's family is that my dad and uncle have always farmed on the side. Both of them have full-time trade jobs. My dad is an electrician, and my uncle is a welder who makes precision machine parts. With beef cattle, thankfully, there's not much maintenance once you get the fences up and grow the herd.
Installing and repairing fences was probably my least favorite farm-related activity when I was growing up. It took me years to learn how to nail in a "steeple," which is a U-shaped piece of metal with two sharp ends that can be driven around a piece of wire into a post. It's quite a challenge. I think I mastered it by high school, but my parents never really forced the life onto me. They encouraged me to go to engineering school, and now I'm in graduate school, so I'll probably not go back into full-time farming.
While farming isn't my favorite thing to do, I wasn't thinking "get me out of here" at any point in time. I learned a ton of useful skills during my time growing up, which brought a healthy appreciation for farmers and their hard work. Of course, beef cattle are much easier to manage than bumper crops, which is never something I've done. My family tried to plant corn one year and never did it again.
It's getting harder and harder for farmers, especially in America because of increasing competition across the globe and rising costs of implements and equipment. I know this is the case for chicken farmers, especially.
The beef cattle have been a great source of income for my family over the years, especially in recent years, as beef prices have continued to rise. The other main farm-related thing my family still does consistently is bale hay. They sell it and keep enough to feed our cows in the winter when the grass isn't plentiful.
I know that was probably way more of an explanation than you asked for and belongs in a blog post by itself, but I hope that helps give you some insight into my life growing up!
That’s a great explanation. I was interested because when I was younger we lived in the country side, we weren’t farmers by any means but we did grow our own vegetables and several fruits. Just maintaining a decent size vegetable garden was challenging enough, so I can imagine tending to animals comes with a lot of challenges. Farming is one of those under appreciated professions and with big multinationals sweeping in and taking away profits from regular farmers, I think the government needs to step in and restrict these massive companies from complete exploitation. It’s good to see your family raising beef cattle has been profitable, sounds like you have a hard working family
They are very hard-working! It's been more difficult lately as my grandpa has aged and can't do as much to help out, but they still make it work.
I know about the garden work, too. We always had a small family garden, but some years, we would plant way too much corn or too many green beans and then we would be shucking and snapping and shelling all summer long. I have fond memories of watching Star Wars over and over with my cousins while we strung vegetables to help out my mom.
I'm not sure what is going to become of large-scale farming in America. It's always fascinating to go see large farms. I've seen them from the air when flying to Minnesota and South Dakota before, and the large irrigation systems are always impressive. Hopefully crop prices will rebound and the farmers will be able to continue working hard.
Thank you for sharing the pics and video of this beautiful interaction
.
Animals have an amazing way of grounding us..we think we give to them but its a two way street..animals give so much more back to us as we get to be with them.
I look forward to updates as this little fellow grows..what an enjoyable story .
Glad you stopped by and enjoyed the blog!
Your comment reminded me to text my mom and ask her how this guy is doing. I'll be sure to keep you updated. Thanks so much for your thoughtful response.
That's so cute! I love the little gif of him running around! It must be hard to think the process of having a farm and having to sell these animals you dedicate so much time.
It was delightful to see him run around. He'd kick up his heels occasionally, too, but I couldn't ever capture that on video. I'm hoping that he'll end up being a show cow so that all of my aunt's hard work won't go to the slaughterhouse. But we shall see.
Thanks for your comment!
He's very pretty and doesn't seemed to have suffered too much with his various ailments -on the contrary, very lively! Must be a bit lonely, though, for abandoned calves. Lovely pictures and video.
I was also surprised that he was so lively considering he still had a slight cough from pneumonia. He probably does get lonely because he ran up to us when we arrived to see him. I know they go check on him a few times a day, so hopefully, it won't be too bad. Also, the other cows are in the pasture right outside where we're keeping him, so he's not completely devoid of company.
Thank you for your kind words! I appreciate your comment!
I love the calf, makes me remember the place where I grew up. Our neighbors had cows and whenever a calf was born, we kids would have so much fun cuddling them when the mother cow was away :)
That's great! I think the first time my wife (then girlfriend) visited my parents' house, we had a cow that had a hurt foot to give birth, so we got to pet that calf since the mother was preoccupied with her hurt foot. She ended up caring for the calf with no problems, though!
They are fun to pet and interact with when they're so small. It's hard to believe they grow to be so large! Thanks for your comment!
He seems pretty happy to have some company! I wouldn't know he was sick the way he was running around. He's super cute!!
I know! I was surprised to see him running around so much, too. Especially after I found out he had a slight case of pneumonia. Glad he seemed to enjoy our visit!
Check out this little guy! What a character :D
You structured this piece so well mate, I loved the little video snippets you thrown in there, it really gave your post a nice personal touch. It's a real shame that the little guy doesn't have a mother but I guess the human attention ain't too bad!
I don't think he's complaining at all about the attention. He got to interact with a bunch of us due to his misfortune. I'm glad you enjoyed the gifs! I like to include those instead of video clips because people are more likely to enjoy them if they don't have to click a play button.
It's always fun to type up short posts like this where I recount a recent experience. I'm glad I got some video clips of him this weekend.
Thanks for your comment!
The GIF's were an awesome feature mate. Really enjoyed them. Do you use a quick multi-shot on your camera and then string them all together?
You are totally right there, I'm one of them, I will usually only click on a video if something really grabs my attention in the text. Good old human nature.
Anytime bud!
I just took regular videos and then used a website to convert the videos to gifs. It's pretty simple, and it has great results. I'm glad you enjoyed watching them!
Oh, nice one man! Great tip :)
I love how he just randomly sniffs the hay and suddenly starts running :D so random. I'm a fan.
He does love to sniff things. There were a few objects in the chicken house that he particularly liked, and we had a hard time getting his attention while he was sniffing them. He did allow us to pet him while he was sniffing, though. haha
Thanks for your comment!