Whether You're a Brother or Whether You're a Mother

Well, we made it home at last yesterday around 6:00. Yvonne, Kerry and Judy were waiting for us. Maddie and Yvonne had to stay in Dallas for soccer. So she still hasn't got to sleep in her own bed. We had a long night's sleep and still got up early today.

This morning I noticed Randy out in the pasture pretty far from the house. He usually doesn't go that far off. After further investigation I noticed a brand new calf had been born. Its not unusual for the mom to leave them in the pasture, but by around 3:30 this afternoon it was still there and the mom hadn't come to check on him that I had seen, and he was right out in the hot sun. 

This morning when I let the cows into the bottom with fresh grass, I noticed one of the moms (218) had just had a baby. However, there was another new calf on the side of the gate where I had not had the cows. I don't know how he got over there. This afternoon when I went to look and see if there were other cows that had calved recently, #218 took the calf by the gate away to the creek in the shade and stayed down there. I have only seen twins once in cows. These were very far apart, so I don't think they are twins. 

G-man and I loaded the first calf into the back of the truck and took it down to a shady spot where the other cows were to see if a mom would claim him. I can't see that another cow has had a calf as recently as this morning. No mom had come to claim him when we left. We will go down around dark and check again. Its a bovine mystery.

We got 8 new baby chickens today at our favorite feed store. G-man couldn't wait to build his flock back up. I don't remember if I had said, but our final chicken disappeared while we were gone. There were rumors in the neighborhood that a cougar had been spotted. I kind of doubt it, but Sissy said she saw some large cat tracks across the pond. Another reason to get that calf in with the herd.