Tasting the world

We all know how babies are about putting things in their mouths.  Jody (yes, I changed the spelling) is no different.  After all, how is a baby going to know what tastes good if she doesn't try new things?  

This baby has tried hay, chewing two strands of it thoroughly.  Unlike older cows, she has to chew; she isn't a ruminant until she is able to chew her cud.  Once she can do that (probably within a couple of weeks), she'll swallow her food without chewing and regurgitate it later for more thorough processing.

  Grass is pretty tasty.  

Gates, not so much, but she gave it several tries.  

Same thing goes for fences.  

I'm sure she'd taste Iris too, if she could get to her.  

Cliff and I built a nice little pen for Jody, and hauled up my last remaining usable calf hutch for shelter.  She's located where I can see her from the kitchen window and also from the window next to my recliner.  

She seems to like her new home just fine.  It's interesting the way baby calves will seek out a hidey-hole; you don't have to force them into a shelter.  They find it on their own.  They feel safe when hidden away from general viewing.  
We constructed the pen out of old hog-panels, giving her plenty of room to run and play.  When she's weaned and big enough to run with the other cows, we'll take the pen down.  


We think Jody must be 3/4 Jersey and 1/4 Holstein; all the 1/2 Holsteins we've ever seen were black-and-white spotted, with perhaps a tinge of brown in the black areas.  She is larger than most purebred Jersey heifers, bigger-boned and coarser; but she has all the coloring of a Jersey.