Bottle Calves....4 years old

 

Do you remember these two little guys?

Marv.....1 day old

Vern.....2 months old

In 2017 we raised Vern and Marv on bottles

Bottle Babies.....Marv and Vern

Vern is a beef calf rejected by his mother

Marv is a bull calf from the dairy

2017.......Vern and Marv.....8 months old

Just weaned from the bottle

( I think weaning was harder on me 

than it was them!)

2018.....Marv and Vern 18 months old

2019......2 years old:

Vernie loves the new baby calves,

helping the mamas lick them clean.

Big Marv also loves the new baby calves

born every Spring.

2021.......4 years old

Big Marv and Vernie turn 4 years this Spring.

They weigh in at 1500 pounds.

Big Marv is so tall, he towers above our mama cows.

They are sweet and gentle and absolutely adore one another

and are never apart.

I visit with them daily when we check on

the cows and calves.

Just this morning Vernie had his entire head inside the pick up visiting with me.  He licked everything he could reach in the cab!

They are a lot of FUN!

Enjoy the Video of the Bottle Calves:

Enlarge by clicking icon in bottom right corner of video

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Bottle Calves.....Update

Our journey with the bottle calves began last

March during calving season...

Here we are 9 months later.

The calves are weaned off the bottle 

and now weigh 500 lbs.

Today was their first day of freedom.

We turned them out in the field with

the rest of the herd:

I think it was harder on me than it was on them.

The orphaned calf number 25 is on the left.

The dairy calf is on the right.

They will graze on 50 acres here at home.

Here they are meeting up with 

some of the other weaned calves...

The dairy calf is on the left with the white tail,

he was afraid of the other calves.

They grazed along the river bank most of the day.

I very well expected the bottle calves to join up

with the rest of the calf herd and well, 

behave like cattle...

By 4pm they were back to the barn bawling 

to come back in!

Yes, of course, I let them in 

and fed them grain and hay.

I guess freedom wasn't all 

they thought it would be!

It has been a week now,

they come back to the barn each night.

Maybe one night they will stay out with the herd

and they won't come back to the barn?

Being a cow mama isn't always easy for me.

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Bottle Calves....New Pasture

The bottle calves are growing...

Number 25 is the twin orphan calf - 8 months

The dairy calf on the left is 6 months

They need more room to graze...

They enjoy sniffing and licking the camera!

Today we built an electric fence and

created a new enclosure for them...

they LOVE it!

When we turned them out into their new pasture, they ran, jumped and chased each other.

You can watch them in the videos below:

Bottle Calves Run and Jump from LuAnn Kessi on Vimeo.

Bottle Calves chasing each other from LuAnn Kessi on Vimeo.

Bottle Calf sucking my fingers from LuAnn Kessi on Vimeo.

A couple hours of fence building

made such a delightful impact on their lives.

They have room to run and stretch their legs,

and so much more grass to munch!

They will be weaned off the bottle this month

and I am having a bit of separation anxiety...

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Farming.....Tractor Work and Bottle Calves

I spent the weekend getting my

Farm Chores done...

No gentle hum of a sewing machine...

Just the ROAR of a tractor!

I am mowing the pastures here @ home...

I am mowing the weeds down before they

can go to seed and spread.

Straight ahead is our little red barn

and beyond that is our house.

We have one of the trailers hooked up,

we are shipping out yearling cattle tomorrow.

The cowboy built this barn in 1989.

Our children spent their childhood 

playing in here.

It has been shelter for our horses over the years.

I have raised hundreds of bottle calves in here.

Now it is home to our two bottles babies...

The cowboy put up electric fence today

and made the bottle calves a little pasture from

a section of our yard, just outside the barn.

They love it!

There was lots of running and bucking!

They especially love their new rubbing tree!

Now that the work is all done,

I am gone sewing today with my local

quilt group @ the Quilt Palace.

CLICK BELOW to view the bottle calves

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Bottle Calves....Update

Remember these little bottle calves ?

We raised them on a bottle 2 summers ago...

orphan calf...number 25

Vern

Bull Calf....from the dairy

Big Marv

Here they are the first day they met...May 2017

December 2017.....Weaned off the bottle

and ready to be put with the rest of the calf herd

Big Marv....eating hay fed from the hay wagon

January 2018

Vern and Big Marv learn to eat

with the rest of the calf herd

December 2018

Big Marv and Vern

Here they are eating with the cow herd

they are on the far right...

They will be 2 years this spring:

Bottle Calves.....Big Marv and Vern

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi