Not One But Two-Calves that is!

Hippie called later that day to check on the calf and I said it was nursing and all looked fine. The next day, the same neighbor gal walking her dog saw the calf again in the SAME spot it was before. This time there were buzzards eyeing the afterbirth and maybe the calf from the tree on the hill above. Hippie again came along and this time called me to get down there (the house is a ½ mile away on a hill) right away because this calf was NOT with its mother. He would wait.

OMG, there they were in the old logging road connector where the cows rarely go and it was a large, pure black, curled-up-asleep bull calf who wasn’t even startled upon awakening. BESS must have had twins, but far apart, and bonded with the second smaller one. Our later internet search says this is not uncommon. But first, Jeff carried the calf on his shoulders to the barn.  Now how to get the mother to the barn? We called all the cows to the barn and fed them so some sweet feed and she reluctantly left her favored calf. As soon as she entered the field with the barn and we locked the gate she knew she was duped and charged the fence to get to her baby. She had it well hidden, but Jeff was able to find it and carry that one to the barn, too. She followed.

Now to separate the others out and leave her in the barn with her two calves so she would HAVE to nurse them both.