Calving time at JJB Cattle Company

Baby Hereford Calves

Last weekend I headed up to Iowa to see the Boy. It was awesome to see all the snow melted, and some tiny blades of grass starting to poke up. All the newborn calves around definitely made it seem like spring, despite the chilly weather.

JJB and his bottle calf.

The first project when we arrived was to move the Boy's bucket calf, Fantasy, from the barn to an outside pen. A bucket calf is the term referred to a calf that doesn't have it's mother and have to be fed bottles. Fantasy ended up being a few weeks early, and her mom never came into her milk. So the Boy has been her serrogate mom. However, it was time for Fantasy to join rest of the cow calf pairs. She'll still be given daily bottles, but she'll also eat hay and grain until the grass starts to grow.

Fantasy getting her first bottle in the new pen.

On the left hand side of the picture is a tan metal thing - that's a creep feeder. It has grain for the calves to eat as they want. The red bars, on the right hand side, are high enough to let the calves in, but low enough that the cows can get in. This helps the calves get a head start before all the green grass arrives.

One of the momma's with her baby.

My little joke.

If you look real close you will see that I have drawn the word Simmental (a breed of cattle) into the dust, my breed of choice. The Boy didn't think it was too funny since he is a Hereford fan. Breeds of cattle are kind of like sports team, you pick a side, and cheer real loud.

And if you missed yesterday's post about the "Farmer for a Day" contest, check it out. I am sure someone out there would love a little trip to an Iowa Farm. 

You have read this article cattle / farm / Iowa with the title Calving time at JJB Cattle Company. You can bookmark this page URL https://miavamp22.blogspot.com/2011/03/calving-time-at-jjb-cattle-company.html. Thanks!