By now all the Valentine’s Day candy has been ate, the
flowers have died and life is back to the grind. Another holiday down and I could
not be more thankful. I am not one of those big holiday people. I do not enjoy Valentine's Day at all. Even though I have one, my heart goes out to those that do
not and I can remember when I was that single girl and hated the holiday even
more. Luckily for me, the whole love thing grows in my heart every time a new
calf is born cause who can’t resist the sweet face of a little baby calf? It just
got me thinking about the change that came that first Valentine’s Day with my
hubs. The one where I asked that we do not celebrate it cause shouldn’t we
celebrate our love every day? Yeah. I asked him to keep it pretty simple. So we did and still do very minimal celebrating goes on for the love day but we still show it every day and take the time to go out on "dates" when we can.
Now....
This is my love. Finding a new baby calf early in the morning and showering it with love and care. Meet Miss Little Red (for now, until I think of a good name anyway)
I found her not long after she had been born, her momma #19 did a good job and cleaned her up for the most part but had her in a bad spot. She was shivering cold and needed dried off a bit more. So for the first time in over a year (usually hubs or dad are around for this part, but it was just me this morning) I picked her up and carried her into our bulk tank room. There I placed her in front of the heater and on some used feed sacks so the concrete wouldn't be so cold. I took some towels and rubbed her down and used a hair dryer to warm her up and dry her off. She was a good calf and just laid there for me after having bawled as I carried her causing every cow to become momma cow and follow me up to the barn bawling back... Quite the chatter this morning!
Finally she was cleaned up for the most part and by then my dad had showed up to help me with the milking. I placed a calf coat on her and went back to milking. I milked her momma to get her that nice good colostrum that every baby needs. She was a happy camper for sure and I was happy for her but had to go on and finish my chores instead of just sitting there and playing with her all morning. Work must be finished and my other R&Ws would probably get pretty jealous of me not paying attention to them.
My dad and I were thrilled to see she was a Red and White Holstein. We purchased a R&W bull last spring and hoped we would get some out of him even though we don't have many R&W cows. Well #19 is not a R&W, she is black and white so we were beyond thrilled to see Little Red. I, however, do not like Red Bull. He is a typical Holstein bull. If you have never been warned here it is, stay clear of Holstein bulls as much as possible. I don't know why but they get pretty feisty and are not so friendly after a while. Now that is not true of all Holstein bulls, we have had bulls that we can pet and our just little sweeties. Red Bull and I have a day to day relationship. Some days he just watches me and leaves me alone to get the cows in and other days he is kicking up dirt, hollering and following me or stirring up the cows and being a pain in the bull. My dad usually gets to get the cows in on those days cause he just doesn't mess with the man in charge. Men. Hmmph.
Unfortunately, dealing with cold calves and feisty bulls are just part of the job description. A job I wouldn't change for anything. Just sometimes you wish others could understand all that goes into being any type of farmer and how big our hearts are full of love.
My love for my cows and job goes on twice a day every day.
My cows see love every time they are milked, fed or just go out to check
on them. My favorite part of the day is petting my cows Annabel and Pineapple.
They are my red and whites, my prize and joy, and now this sweet little girl... Even though she looks too much like the bull!
Until next time,
The Milkmaid
P.S. - no sweet resolution update 50 days strong! 100 more to go!
