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06/30/2007: "CALF!!!"

Update: It is a heifer, a nice little girl calf. We're naming her Rainbow!


We managed to get Rainbow and her very protective mother up to the cow shed, and boy was that an adventure. Our friend Dorothy, who brought Aura to us back in December, called with some advice. She said NOT to leave Aura with the calf, but to give the calf a lot of human attention, especially in the first few days. She said it was very important that the calf becomes socialized immediately. So we decided to go make friends. Aura was not going to let us near her baby. And we discovered that Aura knows quite well that she has big horns. Wow.

Little Rainbow helped us out. She wobbled under the electric fence wire and flopped down about 4 feet away from Aura's intense gaze. I think she was feeling a little stiffled. Aura tested the electric fence and found it to be a deterrent to getting to her calf. So Nate sat down and petted Rainbow while we thought out what to do and Aura practically had another calf. Rainbow was amicable enough, allowing Nate to cradle her, stick his hands in her mouth and ears, and pick up feet, exactly what we needed to do. But based on Aura's behavior, there would be no way for us to separate the calf from her on a regular basis. So we decided that they might be spending some time up near the stanchion.

Being very gentle and calm, Nate picked up Rainbow, all the while keeping a close eye on Aura. We feared she might charge through the flimsy wire, despite its high voltage, at the sight of her calf being taken away. But she stood there and her frantic lowing turned into frantic mooing. For a cow that didn't moo for the first seven months, she sure knew how to turn on the noise machine. But she didn't move. She didn't charge or paw or prance. Nate cradled Rainbow in his arms and took her up to the cowshed. There we fawned all over her and she seemed to enjoy the attention. And yes, she's 100% a heifer, complete with tiny little udder. And up from the pasture came the forlorn mooing of a heartbroken mother.

We settled Rainbow into some clean straw and went back for Aura. Aura, smelling her calf on our hands, practically ran up the hill after us to get to her calf. Nate said, "So this is what a motivated cow looks like". I had no idea she could move like that. But up into the cowshed she went to be reunited with her calf. Both are settled in now. Aura is in the stall that contains her stanchion. That means we can lock her head in a position so that she can't gore us with her horns when we try and handle Rainbow. It also means Nate will be cutting her food and bringing it to her. The stanchion is also necessary for milking. So we'll give that a try this evening. More later!

ps, I put this morning's photos in the "more" link.




Nate and I went to visit Aura yesterday evening and I commented how her udder looked like it was about to burst, literally. It's been big lately, but that was too much. In the morning, as Nate was doing the chores, he heard a soft lowing. We hadn't heard a peep out of her since she got here. So Nate went down to investigate and found a tiny wet calf nursing and being dried by Aura.


Aura seemed to have the whole situation under control and Nate didn't want to butt in. So he gazed happily for a few minutes, then came back into the house. He made a cup of tea for me, brought it up to bed (I was being lazy!) and happily announced the news. Boy did I jump out of bed! Down to the paddock I rushed with camera in hand. The calf was still wet, but drying in the bright morning sun and attention of mother.


It's hard work being a newborn calf. After circling Aura a few times and enjoying a bath, the calf layed back down. Wonderful!


You can bet there'll be more pictures later. We're trying to give them some space to settle in. But we'd really really like to be 100% sure it's a heifer, and we'd like to make sure Aura is going to cooperate with being milked this evening. We'll keep you updated!