Sometimes, we end up with an orphan calf due to circumstances beyond our control, or in spite of our best efforts. “Calfy” became such an orphan after he was born in May 2009. His mama was a Black Galloway cow bred to a yak bull. We became his substitute mama and immediately fed him colostrum to give him the same chance as any other calf would have. Colostrum is the first milk a cow produces which is full of goodies to help a calf ward off infection. After that, we fed him milk replacer on a regular schedule and eventually weaned him off milk and onto grass and hay. Many of our friends and family’s kids who came to visit had the chance to bottle feed a calf for the first time!
As Calfy needed to be close to the protection of the barn, we let him have a fair bit of freedom. He was much tamer than a regular calf because we handled him on a daily basis and he followed us around while we did the rest of our chores. He enjoyed hanging out with the big kids when we weren’t there.
Can you spot him lying in the hay?
There he is!
Then Calfy grew....
And grew...
And grew!
He enjoyed hanging out with other kids his age on the lush green pasture last summer. That's Calfy on the left.
Then he came back home for the winter.
He’s getting to be a big kid now and a bit stand-off-ish,
but he’s still tamer than the rest...
...and quite curious.
Calfy is adorable! Or was adorable? And now he's kind of intimidating? Next time I come to Pincher Creek, I would like to meet a yak in person.
ReplyDeleteCalfy still "is", for now anyway ;-) We'd love to introduce you to a yak, on your plate or out in the pasture!
ReplyDelete