Oh Baby! The Class of 2023

 

Some things just never get old. Baby calves definitely fit in that category.

While we aren't doing the day-to-day cattle chores any longer, we still own our mama cows. Tye and his dad, Todd, are the caretakers and calve out our mamas, along with their own herd. 

As I've said before, we are fortunate to have a liberal visitation policy in the neighborhood maternity ward. We've already had "visiting hours" a couple of times as the cows begin dropping their calves. The first time, it was lightly snowing. The second time, we got some sunshine. 

Snow or no snow, the mamas' make sure the babies have warm milk in their tummies.

This little guy was loving the snow. I'm always amused by the similarities between mamas and babies - no matter the species. The mom was calming standing around while the baby raced to and fro.

Our cattle have always had yellow ear tags. Tye and Todd continue to use yellow tags for our baby calves to differentiate from their herd.  

We've used Angus or Hereford bulls to expand our cattle herd. But Tye and Todd also like the crossbred babies produced by Charolais bulls. This baby definitely looks like his Daddy, not his mama.

Others had more a maternal resemblance.

The second day we visited the maternity ward was deceptively sunny, though it was still cold.

I'm sure it won't be the last visit. But maybe we'll wait until it's a little warmer. I can't say that I miss being in the feed truck on these days when the thermometer is struggling to rise.