Jan 29, 2019 3 min read

It’s calving season on the Zoeller farm. We have 11 cows expected to give birth. We discovered it was time for them to start when one of our girls had a stillborn. It’s not common around our place, but it does happen. And it makes us quite sad. The financial ramifications aside, the loss of life is just disheartening.

We thought this baby must be a little premature, based on its size and when we recalled the bull being put in with the cows last year, but in the couple weeks that followed we have had several more calves born. Two of them have been all black, one is red, and one is a ruddy brown. All apparently are heifers.

Sunday afternoon the ruddy one was born inside our birthing shed in the winter feedlot. Moms and babies get 24 to 48 hours inside that pen and away from the others to ensure they have time to get their baby dry, that the baby eats, and if either needs assistance we can access them without upsetting the whole herd.

Before they are released back with the other girls, they are tagged and vaccinated. The tags help us tell them apart when they are similarly colored and before we know their individual features and personality.

That’s one of the benefits to keeping a small herd. All of our cows have been born and raised on our property, and we can see their genetic line and know who their mothers are. Fiona, for example, lost the tips of her ears to frostbite when she was just a baby. Her mother we called “Bangs” because she had such a tuft of hair on her forehead. Fiona carries that same hairy face, and her body adapted to her short ears by growing her ear hair longer to compensate. She is quite a shaggy girl and looks much different than many of her other close-cropped companions.

She’s a good mom, too. She doesn’t like it when we handle her babies, pawing the ground and pretending she’s going to charge us. It can be nerve-racking, but we are comforted knowing that she will respond the same way or more aggressively toward an actual threat. She also nudges her babies into the round bale feeders and nestles them in to the hay that she is eating around.

That will come in handy during the arctic chill expected this week.

Extra care and attention will need to be paid to all animals who live outdoors. Our cows are well insulated against the weather. We put out extra hay for them to lie on, there’s a windbreak built for them, and the birthing shed will be open for anyone who chooses to go inside.

We don’t normally feed grain, but I imagine a few hundred pounds will be dumped into feeders to help the cows make energy. It is our goal to get them all through winter with an excellent body condition score, in good health, and with living calves at their sides.

As they get a little bigger and get to know one another, they will pile together in the hay with one or two cows “baby-sitting.” As spring approaches, they will begin running around the pasture, chasing one another and burning pent-up energy. The absolute best part of the calving season is when all the calves are healthy, sprightly, and happy.

They remind me of the simple joy of just being alive.

Laura Zoeller can be reached at zoeller5@verizon.net.