I have mentioned on this blog that I had contacted some people about buying a calf to raise alongside Clyde. I called them a second time to see what happened, and the lady told me that the dairy from whom they buy their calves had not called them as yet.
Friday I got a call asking if I still wanted a calf, because now they could get some. I explained that my plan had been to put the calf on my cow alongside her own, and she could raise them like twins.
At this point, Clyde would be double the size of a newborn calf and would crowd it out until it starved.
"I'm sorry," I told her, "I just don't need a calf at this time."
"Would you be interested in one next spring, perhaps February or March?" she asked.
I mulled it over quickly. February and March we probably won't be going on any motorcycle trips. I wouldn't try to put a calf on Bonnie at that late date, but I could raise one on the bottle with milk replacer. Or, I could try weaning Clyde and sneak a new calf on Bonnie.
I told the lady I'd be interested in a calf in early spring. She said she'd call.
We'll see what happens.
Cliff and I just had a discussion about nursing homes. Not a pleasant discussion, believe me, although we were laughing a lot; sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. My mother got to the point that she felt she wanted and needed to be waited on and watched out for, and she put herself in a rest home. It worked well for her until she got to the point that she couldn't do anything for herself; then it wasn't so good.
Nobody actually mistreated her. It's just that nursing homes do not have the staff to tend to bedfast patients constantly.
If we're mentally able, Cliff and I agree we'll take care of one another. I have told him, though, that if Alzheimer's should set in, to please place me in a home. The time would come where I wouldn't know the difference anyhow.
Barring that, if things get bad enough, there's housing for old folks, apartments where we would still have our privacy and could lock our doors. I could do that all right, I believe. I would still have the freedom to get out and walk around the block if that's what I wanted to do. I'm don't know how I'd do with a nursing home where I couldn't lock my door and shut people out.
But we all do what we must.
I've often told Cliff I'm going to live with my oldest granddaughter if something happens to him. She asks very little of me and is easy to get along with.
Cliff said, "You'd have to move her mother out first."
Well yes, there's that. Amber is a momma's baby; I couldn't ask her to kick out my ex-daughter-in-law (who has multiple sclerosis) just so I could move in.
OK, so it's senior housing. That's fine.
If something happens to me, my daughter says Cliff can live with them. She's said the same about her mother-in-law, so I always tell Cliff I hope he and Linda have fun in my absence.
We laugh, to keep from crying.
Oh, and by the way: my husband approves this message.
Showing posts with label bobby calves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bobby calves. Show all posts
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Stuff about cows
A reader asked me to explain what a bobby calf is; I will, but I will lead up to it.
Dairies exist to produce all the milk they can. In order for a cow to give milk, she has to have a baby. Ideally, when she calves, the calf will be left with her for three days, or at least fed colostrum from her or other cows that have just had calves. After three days, the cow joins the milking string, never to see her baby again. Two or three months following, she will be bred. Six to eight weeks before the next calf is born, she will be "turned dry", or "dried up", as my parents would say. When the dairyman stops milking, she stops producing and puts her energy toward growing the fetus.
If the cow has a heifer (female) calf, the dairy will probably keep her and raise her as a replacement. At the age of two or thereabouts, she will have her first calf and go to work producing milk, and the cycle goes on.
Half of calves born are bull calves, although with artificial insemination, is it possible to buy sexed semen, which produces 80% heifer calves.
Dairies have no use for the bull calves, so they are usually kept for three days and then sold. In my part of the country, these little bulls are called "bobby" calves. I've read that in other areas they are referred to as "bummer" calves.
What good are they to anyone else, you ask? Well, they make fine beef if you raise them past a year old. I'm sure many of them end up as veal, too. For a few years I had several milk cows and no use for all that milk (I do love to milk cows, it's a fact), so a nearby dairyman sold me all his Holstein and Brown Swiss bull calves. I'd milk the cows, put the milk in calf nursing bottles, and feed all my babies. It's possible to wean calves at six weeks, but I found they do better if they can have milk for three months. Once weaned, I'd feed them a mix of grains for a month or so and then turn them out to pasture. We usually hauled them to the sale barn around the age of six months, and I made a pretty good profit with this enterprise.
On to another cow subject, butter. I posted a picture of my pretty butter on Facebook yesterday evening, and a friend asked if that was the natural color of the butter. Indeed it is. When cows are on pasture, as opposed to eating hay, their butter is more yellow. Also, Jerseys and Guernseys don't convert carotene to vitamin A very efficiently; so their butter is especially yellow.
Dairies exist to produce all the milk they can. In order for a cow to give milk, she has to have a baby. Ideally, when she calves, the calf will be left with her for three days, or at least fed colostrum from her or other cows that have just had calves. After three days, the cow joins the milking string, never to see her baby again. Two or three months following, she will be bred. Six to eight weeks before the next calf is born, she will be "turned dry", or "dried up", as my parents would say. When the dairyman stops milking, she stops producing and puts her energy toward growing the fetus.
If the cow has a heifer (female) calf, the dairy will probably keep her and raise her as a replacement. At the age of two or thereabouts, she will have her first calf and go to work producing milk, and the cycle goes on.
Half of calves born are bull calves, although with artificial insemination, is it possible to buy sexed semen, which produces 80% heifer calves.
Dairies have no use for the bull calves, so they are usually kept for three days and then sold. In my part of the country, these little bulls are called "bobby" calves. I've read that in other areas they are referred to as "bummer" calves.
What good are they to anyone else, you ask? Well, they make fine beef if you raise them past a year old. I'm sure many of them end up as veal, too. For a few years I had several milk cows and no use for all that milk (I do love to milk cows, it's a fact), so a nearby dairyman sold me all his Holstein and Brown Swiss bull calves. I'd milk the cows, put the milk in calf nursing bottles, and feed all my babies. It's possible to wean calves at six weeks, but I found they do better if they can have milk for three months. Once weaned, I'd feed them a mix of grains for a month or so and then turn them out to pasture. We usually hauled them to the sale barn around the age of six months, and I made a pretty good profit with this enterprise.
I raised the calves in individual hutches, shown behind me here; the kids are my two oldest grandchildren, Arick and Amber.
On to another cow subject, butter. I posted a picture of my pretty butter on Facebook yesterday evening, and a friend asked if that was the natural color of the butter. Indeed it is. When cows are on pasture, as opposed to eating hay, their butter is more yellow. Also, Jerseys and Guernseys don't convert carotene to vitamin A very efficiently; so their butter is especially yellow.
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