Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Calf Tails...errr...Tales

The Bag Lady thought you might like a look at how the calves are progressing, so here are a couple photos of some of them. Can you pick out your namesake in these pictures?



That's okay, the Bag Lady gets a little confused, too. So many of them look so much alike, sometimes she has to wait to see which cow is their mother before she's absolutely sure which calf is which! Of course, some of them are more easily identifiable. Little Dawn and Saffron are still a bit smaller than the rest, but they are growing well.

Lewis is the only calf who will actually allow a human to touch him. He will come up to the Bag Lady and sniff her fingers, then reach out tentatively with his tongue and have a taste. He will allow her to scratch his head, but only when he is in the mood...typical. Most of the rest of the calves will come almost up to the Bag Lady, stopping just out of arm's reach. They are all very curious.

Almost all of the calves have chased the Princess dog, which strikes the Bag Lady as funny. The Princess is part Border Collie, and Border Collies are supposed to be cattle dogs. They are supposed to chase the cows, not the other way around! The Princess hasn't quite grasped that concept. She still chases birds across her airspace, though, especially ravens and magpies. Silly dog.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Methinks Im a lot like Princess.

Missicat said...

I am sure Missicalf is one of the little guys who are stuffing their face.....

Leah J. Utas said...

Not sure who's who there. All the darker ones look like Jocelyn to me.
Maybe Princess is just toying with them?

JavaChick said...

One of my uncles had a Border Collie and she was always trying to herd things - cars, children, whatever.

the Bag Lady said...

Mizfit - you chase birds?! :)

Missicat - I think you're right! :)

dfLeah - maybe you're right - the Princess is faking them out!!

Javachick - the Princess doesn't seem to have the herding gene, but she's certainly bossy with her humans - she likes to have them together where she can keep an eye on them.

Scrumpy said...

That is sweet about the pup. :)

We had a Shetland Sheepdog and he was constantly running in circles. Some people in our neighborhood had a little fake sheep in their front yard and he would go nuts every time he knew it was coming up on our path.

the Bag Lady said...

SB - where would we be without our pets? They give us so much amusement, entertainment and devotion.........

Anonymous said...

Where we lived up until I was seven, across the back fence were Mr. Matlick's cows. (Angus.) They would come up to the fence if they saw us standing there, because I would hand feed them the bluegrass from our backyard, which was a treat compared to their usual fescue. One year I had an almost pet calf. Number 66 would come when I mooed for him. He'd eat out of my hand, but he wouldn't let me scratch between his ears.

You want to see herding behavior, get two herding breed dogs. My two never stopped herding each other from the time I brought Stony home until Hobie died. "I don't want to be the cow anymore!"

Mary Anne in Kentucky

the Bag Lady said...

Hi, Mary Anne - that cracked me up ("I don't want to be the cow anymore!") Almost brought home a pure-bred Border Collie pup a few weeks ago, but decided against it because the Princess would have been heart-broken. She rules.

Hilary said...

Aww family photos! ;) You must warn me about the day that they "leave home." I don't want to know!

You almost got a pup? You almost got a pup and didn't take pictures? Baggie!

the Bag Lady said...

OH, Hil - he was the cutest thing... didn't have the camera with me, though.

Penny said...

They are JUST the sweetest! I am going out for a meal tonight and I definitely at least 30% less likely to get the steak now... ;0)

TA x

the Bag Lady said...

TA - Oh, dear. Hope I didn't ruin your appetite! Have fish - they're not as cute!!

Geosomin said...

I would love to see a cow chase a dog :)

the Bag Lady said...

It's pretty funny! I tried to capture it on video the other day, but it happened too fast - the Princess can really move when there are half a dozen calves chasing her! :)

Anonymous said...

Lewis is so cool!

Reb said...

I can tell which is Pegasus, but only because of the white face. Great photos Sis, you will have to try again with the video of Princess being chased though, that will be very funny.

the Bag Lady said...

Thanks, Mark.

Reb - I'll see what I can do....

Unknown said...

Border collies are such sweet dogs- and they're so silly!

The calves are all looking very cute:)

the Bag Lady said...

Sagan - this dog is really funny! She loves to play.
The calves are looking pretty good, aren't they?