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.
May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn Kessi
