Success!

We had success feeding the bummer calves. Desert Boy thought it was pretty neat to go back and visit the calves. They didn't seem to mind his company. They didn't even mind Henry, although Henry was more interested in chasing the ducks in the pond than spending time with the calves.

Nevertheless, he was on the lookout for any spilled milk.

A happy calf. Don't you love all that milk drool?

Desert Boy posing next to the calf. I'm not sure if it has a name yet--the main caretaker gets to name the calves. And often they become quite attached to whomever feeds them and will follow that person around or leave a group of cows to come say hi when they're older. Cows might not be all that intelligent, but they can be cute.

Feeding the Bummer Calves-Training

It's that time of year again when a few calves need to be fed by hand because they don't have mama cows to feed from for one reason or another. This year Cynthia is going to do most of it, but we tagged along for the training session because we'll be backup feeders.

First Dave showed us how where to find the bottles and how to fill them up with warm water.

Then he measured out the milk replacer. "Milk replacer" is a nice, simple, descriptive name. How come none of the baby formula manufacturers use it?

Next is the explanation about the nipples, with smaller holes for the younger calves and bigger ones for the older ones.

Finally, put the nipple on and shake it all up!

Desert Boy decides he wanted to get in on the action. He volunteered to carry the giant bottle out to the calf pen. He had to be told a couple of times that the bottle wasn't for him, no matter how much he wanted to give it a try!

Then Dave put the bottle in a holder to feed to this two-week old calf. She's a twin, and her mom only took one of her calves, so now she's growing up in the bummer calf pen. Our dog Henry is about the same size.

She's quickly adapted to her alternate feeding and is happy to eat.

This four-week old calf's mom died, so that's why he ended up here.

He's also a really good eater. There are several more pens, so as the calving season proceeds, probably a few more will be abandoned and brought in. It's sad to see them without their moms, but at the same time it's nice they have a second chance.

Tomorrow is our first day to go and give feeding a try by ourselves. We'll see how well we learned!

One Month

Desert Girl turned one month on Monday. Yeah, she can't believe it either!

She says, "Hey, Mama, make sure you photograph my good side. And photoshop out all that baby acne."

It's amazing how much like a teenager she is in other ways, too. She likes to be up at all hours, eat huge amounts around the clock, make a lot of noise, and get lots of attention.

Fortunately we don't have any attitude problems. Yet.

Time to Eat

I wasn't sure if I was going to post these pictures, but then I figured that this blog has lots of posts about nature and what is more natural than eating?

Desert Girl was getting hungry one day, and Desert Boy offered to feed her. I said sure, he could give it a try. Here are the results:

Needless to say, the "feeding" didn't last long!

It was very nice of Desert Boy to offer to help. But once was enough for him!

Unexpected Visitors

I was napping when I heard some heavy footsteps outside the bedroom window. I figured I was hearing cows, because they've been in the meadow below our house. They are heifers (first time mama cows), recently arrived with their new calves. I hoped that they were outside the fence, but when I peeked out the window, I saw one in the yard. And then another. And then I went to the kitchen and saw the view above out the window.

I grabbed the camera, because cows in the yard are usually a fun subject to photograph, and sure enough, this was no exception. This heifer went up to Henry's water dish for a drink.

Another heifer thought that might be a good idea.

I decided to open the door, and this is what I saw...

Hello, cow! It took her a moment to realize that she wasn't being invited in. Then she raced off the front steps and back into the driveway.

The heifers had come in through an open gate, but they didn't want to leave by it. So I opened another gate and gave them some room (and made sure Henry was with me). These heifers had come to visit because they were bored, but now they wanted to get back to their calves, so they didn't waste any time leaving through the gate and heading back to the meadow.

I enjoyed my extra bit of afternoon fresh air walking around the yard. Now I've just got to watch my step a bit more, because there are some extra fresh, juicy cowpies decorating the yard!