She can admit now that things seemed a little dicey with the twin calves that were born on Saturday. The cow who gave birth to them is not a really big cow, and barely looked pregnant, let alone as if she was carrying twins! Both calves are pretty tiny (the Cowboy says they are the smallest calves ever born on this ranch!) -- and the two of them together don't weigh as much as the calf we pushed to the barn!
Saffron is the stronger of the two and progressed the fastest, but Dawn had a little trouble. Her legs were a little crooked and she had trouble keeping up with her mother, so the Bag Lady was worried she wasn't getting enough milk. The Bag Lady was much relieved yesterday to see this:
We also had another calf yesterday. She came into the world with quite a lot of fanfare! The Cowboy was getting his fencing supplies ready to go to our cattle lease (summer pasture on land rented from the government) when he heard a terrible bellowing and bawling and carrying on. He grabbed his rifle (there are bears or wolves or coyotes who would love a tasty little calf), and we ran out to see what was bothering the herd. It was this:
MEET SAGAN:
Her mother was surrounded by the other cows and wasn't too happy about it! When we finally got the rest of the herd to move off, she settled down and mothered up.
The Cowboy went off to do his fence-mending, only to call the Bag Lady a couple hours later and ask her to bring him the spare set of wire-stretchers. So the Bag Lady went over and helped with the fencing for awhile.
NEWSFLASH: BAG LADY ATTACKED!! WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG POST TO BRING YOU LATE-BREAKING VIDEO:
(Warning: this video contains footage that may be disturbing to some viewers...blah blah blah)
(Actually, this is the brute the Bag Lady pushed to the barn...he's getting his own back!)
21 comments:
Such ferocity during the attack! I mean you, Bag Lady.
Good luck to little Saffron and Dawn and Sagan.
Congratulations on the new addition.
That attack calf looked positively demonic.
I'm so mean!
It was really hard to keep the camera steady during that attack!
Thanks for your well wishes.
WHEN GOOD CALVES GO BAD! hehe I love how the mother is all "my kid? that's not my kid!"
Saffron is so pretty!
Missicat
Oh, missicat, I wish I'd said that! 'When good calves go bad' - that's hilarious!
And yes, Saffron is a pretty little thing, isn't she?
(One of the neighbours has the cutest little calf I've seen in years - I wanted to steal it! It's black, but has a little white streak starts midway down it's back, all the way to it's white tail.)
That calf loooooooooooves you! Too cute.
Hilary - that's your namesake, Smitty! He just wants to play all the time!!
I feel so honoured! And I can see such a resemblance in the cuteness factor between me and Sagan the calf (hehehe).
Very cute video:)
Sagan - having never seen you, I'll take your word for it :) She is definitely a cute calf - very sleek and shiny!
Attach of the killer calves...I would have been terrified of the big one deciding to join in on the "fun". That cow is seriously the size of my dog...but MUCH more aggressive. If you run towards our dog, he runs the other way!
df Bag Lady,
That is the best video. I watched it twice!
Terrie
Those calves are all so cute Sis! That video is the funniest thing I have seen in awhile!
Emily - most of our calves would run the other way, too. This little guy is more accustomed to humans because we had to help him learn how to eat.
dfTerrie - glad you enjoyed it!
Reb - some of the calves love to play "head" games - mostly, they get into mock bull fights. Much bouncing and head-butting involved.
You grow 'em feisty!
Some of 'em sure are!
aww, that is so adorable! Congrats on the new arrivals!
Thanks, workout mommy! And thanks for visiting!
The night of the cow!
Where do you put all these little cows? Surely they come with little stacking notches in their backs for easy storage!
Geosomin - we just store them outside until June, then we move them to a temporary storage area...then in September or so, we find a permanent place for them.
I think in order to get "Dawn" to drink a bit more milk, you may need to put out a few creme-filled apple donuts.
Great calf footage, that was hilarious!
And, um, it occurs to me that if anything bad happens to the calf named Crabby? I may not want to know about it!
Crabby - all the calves are doing well now! I'll try to post some updated pictures eventually...
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