Calf in August!

 Well farming is nothing short of surprises in a normal season but this year we've had a few, including a recent surprise with a new calf!

"Stormy" was born on August 13 in the middle of a rain storm to a young heifer we didn't know was pregnant. Typically our cattle are let in with the bull in late May, early June and that's when they get bred to have a calf in March or April of the following year. This cow was in with the bull for 2 weeks in November of last year and was bred at that time. 

We wouldn't have even known it was born until Christina noticed it walking around while she was drinking her morning coffee. She alerted me with a quick "What's that?!" and we both looked out the large picture window in the house to see a fresh calf taking it's first steps. Since it was a new mother, she wasn't 100% sure what to do, so we have to keep getting the calf back to it's mother and also bottle feeding it for a few days until it figured out how to get milk from it's mother. We're happy to report that both the mother and calf are healthy and the calf doesn't need help from us. That said, it was a stressful few days making sure the calf stayed alive and well with a new mother that wasn't sure what to do with a new calf. This meant we (but mostly Christina) was in the field most of the day watching where the calf went or looking for it if the mother left her somewhere. 

Since posting about this on social media, we've had some questions I'll try and answer in this blog. The biggest question we get was how did we not notice!? Well, the simple answer is she hid it well with no sign of her udder being swollen and her weight not looking much different than the other cows her age. This year, like last, we have an abundance of hay and pasture feed for the animals so none of the cattle look small by any means. This means, even though we see the cattle every day, we didn't notice much of a difference between her size and the other cattle of the same age. 

So since she was born out of cycle, what will we do with her come wintertime? Normally we ween the cattle of the mothers milk after 8 months or so but since she can't be weened off until March of next year, she'll have to stay with her mother during the winter. 

After losing a calf earlier this year, this surprise, although stressful at first, is a nice addition to the farm this summer.