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Spring on the farm is so exciting for everyone but especially for newly adopted children not used to country living. Nothing is cuter than new babies frolicking in the hay field. They run, jump in the air, butt heads, and tease their mothers. It always amazes us how within an hour of being born the babies stand up; know where to find their mothers’ udders, and how to suckle. If a baby won’t eat initially, we have quart-size baby bottles with four-inch nipples that we can use to feed them. Whenever we have had a newly placed foster or adopted child, they have really enjoyed the experience of feeding a calf with a bottle. Last year, we had a bottle calf and our teenage foster daughter begged to feed him everyday.
Super Dad was raised on a dairy farm so he has seen calves born nearly every year of his entire life but he still gets excited every spring when calving starts. The photo I took today is of the first two calves born. The mother cow shown is the last Hereford on our farm. She has been with us for many years and is a good mother so we have kept her even though we switched our herd to Angus. Her calves are always really cute. Herefords are white and brown so the calf ended up with a white tipped tail and a white star on his forehead. All of our other cows and our bull are Black Angus.
Our daughter Ali, who recently turned five, has always loved the cows. Over the years, I have located her several times with the cows. She was quite enchanted with the new babies today when I took her to the barn. She really wanted to pet them so I had a difficult time convincing her that she needed to wait a few days or go with Super Dad to pet them. The mothers are always very protective of their new babies for a couple of weeks. As I was taking photos, the Black Angus cow put her head down and then pawed the ground with her hoof. The Hereford cow is nicer but she was in the same pen with the Black Angus. While the children can enjoy the animals, they must also learn to respect their size.
Photo Credit Julia Fuller 2008
Hubby and I grew up in the same small, midwestern farming community. Spring is best, county fair time is second! What an awesome way to grow up. Has your family read the James Herriot books? Good stories!