We have 8 calves on the ground, including a pair of twin bull calves! It’s always a say-your-prayers situation when a cow has twin calves, as it’s not uncommon for one of the calves to not make it. Sometimes a cow can’t produce enough milk and sometimes the cow just rejects one of the calves, thinking it isn’t her calf. So for the first week or ten days we were anxiously watching. We didn’t expect the twins to put on weight as quickly as the other calves did, but we did want to see the twins filling out, running around, and nursing. Fortunately, after a couple of weeks, it became clear the twin calves were going to make it. So now we have 8 healthy calves on the ground.
The calves are rather hilarious. While the cows and steers are very calm and mild mannered, the calves love to take off and sprint around the field. You can almost imagine them saying, “Look at me, look at me! Look how fast I can run!”. They also have a goofy habit when going to nurse. To make sure the milk comes down, before and during the time it nurses, a calf will slam its head into the udders as hard as it can. Surprisingly the cows don’t seem to mind it. After a calf nurses it’s not unusual to see a big milk mustache on their face!
The calves are growing well. When we trailered the herd to a new property at the beginning of November we had to pick the calves up to get them on the trailer – the older ones must be at least 100 pounds at this point!