Cattle have been a part of our long-term plan but not in the farm plan for this year. However, when opportunity knocks (or, in this case, texts), sometimes you've just got to go for it.
ThreeFive was born on our friend Julie's farm on Tuesday. By Thursday, it was apparent that he was a twin whose momma wasn't going to be able to feed both little ones. Julie, one of the biggest animal lovers I know, realized ThreeFive needed a new arrangement. He would need to be bottle fed, and she thought of us! We picked him up Friday evening during the surprise snowfall.
What a cutie!
We bottle-fed Oreo a couple years back, but cows are completely uncharted territory for me. John, though, raised bottle calves growing up and is excited about sharing this with our kiddos.
So far, ThreeFive seems to be doing great. He eats well and frolics around in the field.
Though he's named for his ear tag, I think it's going to have to come out. Zander finds it entirely too interesting.
The goats are pretty unsure about all of this. The long-term plan will be for ThreeFive to pasture with the goats. Our reading suggests that this can be a great arrangement -- combining grass-grazers with weed-browsers. But, we don't really trust our overly cautious expectant mommas around him just yet, so we're giving him his own space.
It's been VERY cold since we brought ThreeFive home, so the kids haven't been in on every feeding. But they're greatly enjoying all this. Bottle-feeding is a big responsibility that ties you to the farm. But, running a dairy operation that requires us to be here at milking time twice a day makes us well-suited for this additional job. So far, we're really enjoying the little guy, and he seems to be settling in well.
This is what we get if Girl 2 knows the camera is on her. She's such an adorable mess!