Happy Monday!

It’s Monday afternoon, about 4:00PM, and the sun finally came out! Temperatures got above freezing this afternoon so the snow is starting to melt off.  It’s been a busy morning at the ranch. We tagged baby calves (an ear tag that allows us to identify each calf, every calf is assigned a specific number), doctored a sick baby, and had two more calves born! The baby calves have spent the day snuggled down in the hay to stay warm; I reached down to pet one this afternoon and it’s coat felt pretty cozy!

Anytime we have new baby calves it’s critical that the mother gets them licked off so their hair coat will dry and the baby begins nursing right away.  The first milk the baby drinks following birth is full of many essential nutrients to help the calf get off to a good start and stay healthy.  At our ranch, as soon as a calf is born, we move the baby and it’s mama to their own pen for at least 12 hours to ensure the calf stays warm in hay, the calf nurses, and the cow and calf bond.

Dad moving the cow and calf to their own pen…

Dad carrying the baby to a warm pile of hay…

The cow and calf arrive to the pen they will stay in for the next few hours.

This is a picture of the second calf that was born today.  This was taken a few minutes after birth; you can see the calf is still wet and the mama is licking it off.

Getting to know one another…

The calf that was born yesterday… The red ear tag tells us information about it’s mother and the white one tells us information about it’s father. You can see that both tags have the same large number; that is the calf’s “identity”.