The past 13 days have been busy, but we’ve had a few days of reprieve between calvings. We’ve had 14 calves over this time span. Unfortunately, one cow slipped (miscarried) her calf. It was about a month premature, I figure, and it was not alive when I found it. We’ve also had some trying weather, as well, to deal with. A few mornings we’ve awoke to snow. Sometimes the snow melted fast, other days it stuck around all day. It makes for miserable weather to be out in for us, but more so, for the newborn calf. Even though they are newborns, there’s a lot of natural adaptations that are in place that help a newborn calf stay warm. A healthy newborn calf is able to thermo-regulate their body temperature especially if the cow licks him off immediately after birth. The calf is stimulated, able to suckle, and ingest warm colostrum from its mother, containing high fat and protein, which helps the newborn calf to continue to maintain it’s body temperature.
Here are some photos to enjoy from some of our calves born in the past few days, enjoy!
New calf in the snow in April
Moms and babies in the snow
New baby in the morning light
