Calving season 2018 at Hickory Hollow began this week. We already have 4 new calves on the ground (delivered)! So we wanted to update and show you all some of the cute new faces around Hickory Hollow.
Well, we had a contest going over on The Reluctant Cowgirl Facebook page as to which cow/heifer would have her baby first. By the way, a cow has already had a baby before. A heifer is a cow that has not had a baby before. So we were basing our contest on the vet check and the pre-labor signs that the cows were showing. And last year that worked!
This year we were off by a country mile!! Oh well!
So the first cow to actually have a calf this season was #4. She had a little bull (boy). And of course we think he is as cute as can be. Here is the proud momma and baby.
Doesn’t he have the cutest face!
He is pretty friendly and came right over to me. Of course, then his mom and aunt had to check him over to make sure he was OK. The other cows typically all jump in to watch over the little ones.
Next we had a girl! She looks just like her mom!
We have had another boy and girl since then. We tried to get more pictures of the other bull, but he is having none of it. He is so quick on his feet and runs if we get too close.
All the newborn calves get a full check over to make sure they are healthy. They will also get a tag in their ear so we can keep track of them and have good records. They receive an iodine treatment to keep any infections from occurring where they were attached to mother. Most calves will be standing up within the first 30 minutes and eating within the first hour.
Love the country? Read this great post on Milling Wheat: From Field to Flour.
Occasionally, a mom will reject a calf. At that point you can see if another cow will allow the calf to nurse from her. Some sneaky, hungry calves like to multi mom nurse anyway:) Or if no other momma cow will adopt the calf, he or she will be bottle fed. We have not had to do this for any of our calves other than a 24 hour time period it took for one mom and calf to figure the whole nursing thing out. Cause we mommas know…sometimes figure out nursing is harder than labor!
Little Red and I also had some lessons on crossing the creek since we (between the 3 of us) have to check 2 or 3 times a day on the cows. Most cows are able to handle labor without help, but we have to keep an eye out for any cows/heifers that might be in distress. Also the calves are most vulnerable those first few hours…if you remember the vulture attack from last year (shudder)!
Actually, Little Red already knows how to drive the 4 wheeler. I, on the other hand, still haven’t figured that out…and why worry when the kids always knew how to drive!
I made it across! Thanks Country Boy for thinking this was hilarious and taking a picture of my awkward first attempt! 
Hope you enjoyed this country living post! So did you grow up in country or the city? Tell me below if you liked pics and where you grew up?
You’ll also love these humorous posts, Signs You Live in the Country and A Bride’s Guide to Marrying a Country Boy!
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Look at you on the four-wheeler! I bet that’s a place you never thought you’d be when you were younger;) I love seeing all the new calf pics and hearing the names you chose for the new babies!