Today I saw THE cutest baby calves!!! (No, sadly they weren't mine...)
May I add that this sighting occurred after a (literally) F-U-L-L day during which I spent most of the morning in a ceiling with MANY *large and small* snake skins... so I'd been feeling kind of traumatized...
As Dad and I were waiting at a set of traffic lights, on our way to the Feed Barn for chookie food, a car towing a trailer drove past with 2 little baby calves in it... Awwww :D
Lo and behold, they turned in to the Feed Barn too! So I was able to get another sneak-peak, and discovered that there, were in fact, FOUR little baby calves in the trailer :) Two of them were laying down :) Awww....SO cute!!! :D
So, my thoughts are this:
1) I shouldnt be spending my day's in the ceiling in the company of snake skins *shudder*
and:
2) I really, really need to get my dear Husband to buy me some more baby calves - but not until after we've gotten back from our CRUISE!! LOL! :D
Haha - has Michael read this yet? I think he told me that you still have Patrick and Emily? I think more baby calves are a great idea :) You have a mother's heart Bec.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind snakes too much but I got a shudder reading about your morning! Ugh. You'd be wondering what was slithering up on you!
I'm excited for you about the cruise! No snake skins, hot ceilings or traffic lights for a week!! :)
xoxo
They sound so cute! Maybe Mick will see what he can do...when you're back from your CRUISE!!!! :D :D :D
ReplyDeletexo
Yeah, the plan is to keep Patrick for twelve months then hock him off - ungrateful toad that he is...now when I call him, his eye doesnt even turn towards me!!
ReplyDeleteThe worst part about the ceiling was that I didnt have a torch with me, so I really DIDNT know what was slithering up on me!!
We were planning on going to the calf sales together next week, once Michael has finished Summer Semester, but now we're just going to hold off for another couple of weeks, because it would be too hard to get baby-sitters for the 7 days that we'll be away (on our CRUISE!!) LOL! :)
If we leave it much later than that, the new babies wont grow as well, or as fast, so we'd have to leave it until next summer...
Thanks for the well wishes!! :)
Bec, are you saying that new calves don't grow as well in the colder weather? Why would that be? Presumably they do catch up, or I would expect to see pygmy cows in northern Europe and giant ones in tropical climes :) I'm always learning new things from your Blog.. You are like an online course in country living :)
ReplyDeleteHow many days is it until you leave on your CRUISE!!!? (I'm trying to think what in my life right now deserves to go into capitals.. If we SELL THE HOUSE!! that could go into capitals I think, but until then.. :) I hope you have such a great time!
xoxo
That will be GREAT when you sell the house!! LOL! :)
ReplyDeleteOnly 10 days til we leave on our CRUISE, and I cant WAIT!! :)
Baby calves will grow much faster during the spring/summer months when compared to calves bought and reared in autumn/ winter.
Calves do, however do something which is called 'Compensatory Gain', which basically means that if you take a winter born hand reared calf and compare it with a winter born naturally reared calf and compare them against each other at the 18 month old mark, you most likely wouldnt be able to tell them apart. However, as we can make more money by buying the calves in Summer, and growing them quickly and selling them earlier than the 18 month mark, we desire to hand rear calves during the warmer months, as it turns a better profit for us...did I explain that well enough?
We missed the boat for selling Patrick (as he had a little cough, so wouldnt have fetched a very good price) so now we're stuck with him for the next 12 or so months before we can get a good price-range-for-age again :)
Ah, ok, that all makes sense - to 'grow' them quickly for a fast turn-a-round. But I still wonder why they grow faster in summer than they do in winter, if they are being hand reared and fed that is.. It makes sense to me that the pasture in summer is more lush and abundant, but if they are being hand-fed anyway, why is there a difference in their growth with the seasons?
ReplyDeleteHere is another question that will 'out' my ignorance even more: Are baby lambs/calves, etc. mostly just born during the Spring season, or are they born all year round?
(I've really got to hand it to Patrick with that *cough* *cough* :) Still, it bought him another 12 months or so.. Nice for Emily to have a friend too :)
(ps Am I allowed to write 'lamb' on your Blog site? :) Lamb, lamb, lamb! lol)