You might recall a few issues back we asked the question, “How do you keep an orphaned bottle calf alive?” in our “What Do You Say” section, found on the first page of Farm Help. I will go ahead and admit, that was a very self-serving question, but I had a feeling I wasn’t the only one trying to keep a bottle calf alive right then. My boyfriend had a baby calf whose momma wouldn’t take it. And to make matters worse, the calf's front leg got broken while he was being pulled. He was walking around with a pvc pipe “cast,” orphaned, but despite a bruised nose and swollen head, he sure was ready to live. He was a red calf, so appropriately, we named him Red.
One night it was supposed to get really, really cold. So I went out to the farm, and decided to rescue Red. I thought a much better place for him was in my laundry room. I left him outside in my backyard for a few days, bringing him in at night. He “mooed” when he got hungry, but otherwise he was an amicable city calf. I did worry about what city codes I was certainly breaking, but even my neighbors were enthusiastic about Red and his cute, big ears, and broken leg splinted with PVC.
Nonetheless, Red did have to go back to the farm – specifically before he got too big for a pickup truck ride. We got him a little calf hut from my dad, and Red’s been doing pretty swell ever since. We’re nearing the day when Red will have his splint taken off, and we’ll see if we got the broken leg set. He’s been bottle fed twice daily, and he’s really starting to like feed, too. There’s a lot of joy, and yet so much to be learned with the actual, hands-on part of farming. As would be true to many of your own calving situations, Red was one success story of quite a few calves that didn’t make it this year. Nobody said we should sign up for this farming lifestyle because it was easy, though.
Enjoy spring and take time to watch those baby calves, sheep, goats and foals run and play.
God Bless,
