When I got here this week, The Cowboy let me know they had not one, but two new calves!
My father always enjoyed it when the calves arrived. It was a regular topic of conversation when I would call. He would often take the time to wander down and just "check up on them".
I had never thought about calving season being at different times in different parts of the country but it makes sense with varying weather conditions. March is typically calving season here. Calves born in mid December here would most likely die or be very miserable for a few months.
ReplyDeleteEd, I do not profess to know enough about cattle to definitively determine the best calving season here, but it does make some sense in that 1) New growth will start soon; and 2) Our Winters are not nearly as inhospitable as yours: we will often be in the 40's or 30's but not a great deal below that.
DeleteLet's hope those new calves don't make the acquaintance of those mountain lions eh?
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - Hopefully not, although they are confined to The Upper Meadow, which is almost completely tree free both within and up to 100" or more without. My sense is likely that a mountain lion would not like that loss of cover, especially when the deer hereabouts are just a plentiful and more likely to be in convenient ambush zones.
DeleteThe bigger concern is likely coyotes, which do appear here from time to time.
There's something about new life that brings joy to the soul. And really, one has to make the time to observe and enjoy them when one can. They grow up so quickly.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, the two smaller one (a bull and a heifer - I forget now) were from the June - July timeframe. They do indeed grow up fast.
DeleteWhen my Great Aunt and Uncle lived here, they also kept Herefords, but Red ones. One of the funny stories is years later, after my Great Aunt had moved up to town and then came down after The Cowboy and his son had started keeping cattle here, she looked at them and said "They are the wrong color!" She would have liked the fact there is at least one red one.
My father loved having them here. He just said there was something right about them being on The Ranch.
Your Great Aunt was correct
Delete... the wrong color! There's nothing cuter than a Hereford calf! Not that I'm biased or anything. ;-)
-hobo
Hobo, it made me laugh when I heard the story. It was very much just the thing my Great Aunt would have said. It does make me wonder what my Great Uncle might have said, although he was a great deal more reserved.
DeleteToward the end of my lambing forays I started having more and more eagle problems. Those birds would try and sometimes attack the new lambs right after birth and it is illegal to even scare them away without a permit supposedly. SO i made sure I needed to check the fences often during lambing season. Guess eagles wouldn't be much a problem with calves though :)
ReplyDeletePP, fortunately we have no eagles here, just hawks and falcons.
DeleteIllegal to scare away predators taking advantage of your livestock. Put in place by people who benefit from the livestock but have no idea how it is raised or how Nature actually works.
Young animals 'fooling about' are fun to watch. They do the unexpected with hilarious results. Careful if you are close to the calf and Mom - they are protective !
ReplyDeleteThey are indeed fun to watch - earlier in the day (and not on camera, of course) I saw one of them jumping and frolicking. So darn cute.
DeleteI am more than careful around mamas and their children, especially cattle. 1100 lbs or more of angry mom is not to be toyed with.
As a Philadelphia city teenager, I applied for and got a summer job at the farm complex associated with a Pennsylvania State facility near me.
ReplyDeleteI spent a little time in the dairy part and learned more than I ever wanted to about cows.
The experiences of that job taught me that farming deserves far more respect than it gets, and it also taught me that no future career of mine would involve farming or large animals in any way shape or form.
Having gotten that off of my chest, I was moooooved by the photos and film.
John, I was going to respond to the joke, but found myself a little cowed into fear when I faced trying to write a response...
DeleteFarming involves a ton of respect. We as a civilization (not even as a society) have lost that respect, partially because we no longer have a direct connection to our food and partially because we see technology as the resolution to our agricultural problems. We have built an edifice based on manipulating Nature and dissecting into carefully managed parts which rely completely on technology and inputs and believe that technology will bail us out when needed, like it does in every other part of our life.
When this construct fails - as it will - we may finally get back to agriculture as a respected and valued profession, instead of a lesser art.
Well said, TB.
DeleteThank you Leigh. Turn me loose for a week with time and thoughtful books and all sorts of strange things come out...
DeleteGreat news for The Cowboy! Thanks for sharing, TB.
ReplyDeleteYou all be safe and God bless.
It is, Linda. We can use every bit of good news, these days.
Delete