Update on the "Convincing Process "

UPDATE!!!
It's official.......She LOVES him!!!!!!

 My Farmer and his most loving and loyal companion stepped into the corral with bitch mom yesterday and she went after them.  That is a sure sign that she is convinced.   The calf is hers.  She is truly his protector now.
I am so thankful that she finally has accepted him.  And he is happy too.  You can just tell.  He is a bit more perky.  He is a happy calf because he once again has a momma that loves him.  And momma's happy cuz now she gets to be let out of the corral and back out to pasture with the rest of the herd with her most wonderful baby.  (I took a short video of them and I will try and post it on my Facebook page.)

I told you my Farmer would win.  He is pretty dang good at "convincing".  Yep, life is good now.  Everyone is happy......as we are...Livin' the Life.......the Farm Life that is.

The "Convincing" Process of Grafting a Calf.......

We have had two sets of twins this year. Both mommas took both twins.  (yes, sometimes a momma cow will walk away from one of the twins)  A momma cow can raise twins but it's pretty hard on her, unless she's a milk cow (meaning she has tons of milk, which neither of these cows did). It's also hard on the babies.  Neither will get the nutrition they really need. We've handled twins in different ways in the past, depending on the situation. We've let a momma raise both twins because she seemed to have lots of milk (I sure felt sorry for her by the end of summer. She was skin and bones),  we've supplemented twins with a bottle (which was a pain in the rear end),  and we've taken one twin off and made it a bottle fed baby (real cows milk is always better then the replacer milk).  The ideal situation is to graft one twin on to a different momma, one that has lost her calf. (which I guess really isn't ideal, since that means you lost a calf)  Anyways..... This year we have lost two babies, so we were able to put a twin from each set on a different momma. The first grafting went very smoothly. The new momma accepted her new baby right away. They are doing great. The 2nd grafting is not going as smoothly. We are now into day 6 (or maybe its day 10. These days seem to be running together) and bitch mom still does not like the new baby.  She has "braclets" (they are really called hobbles) on her back legs so she can't kick him. But she sure can head butt him!  (I tried to video it, but, of course, she wouldn't do it while I was recording)  Of the twins, my Farmer picked the bigger, stronger calf to graft on. Good choice. He is more aggressive, so he just keeps going at it no matter how much she butts him.
I have mixed emotions as we are doing this grafting process.  I watched these twins for three weeks. They were always together. Eating, sleeping; they were so cute. Then we split then up. Gave one a new mom that is not nice to him. He went from having a loving, caring momma to having a bitch mom. Poor guy.  His twin and real momma, however, are happy and don't even seem to miss the little guy.

Once the gate was opened, momma and twin leave and don't look back.

Its seems sad and maybe even a bit mean, but in the long run, both calves and cows will be happier and do better. But for now, we still have to work on bitch mom and continue to convince her that she loves her new baby. And she will. LOVE him that is. My Farmer will "convince" her.

My Farmer "convincing" bitch mom and talking on the phone. (Multi tasking)

On the first day of this "convincing" process, my Farmer had to stand inside the corral with a "big stick", mostly to "look intimidating" to bitch mom, while baby ate.  She may have been a tad bit more upset this first day because of her new "bracelets" that my Farmer had just put on her.  (I'm thinking maybe she isn't a leather type girl?  Maybe she wanted studded jewels on her "bracelets".  Who knows.)  Anyways...... She wouldn't let the baby eat unless we were standing in the corral.  (well, I would stand outside, of course)  Baby learned real quick that as soon as his Farmer showed up, it was time to eat.  We don't have to stand inside the corral all the time now.  We just kind of hang around, and when she head butts him, we yell at her and she stops.  Most of the time, anyhow.  All I can say is, she better get a mind adjustment soon though.  This is getting real old, doing it three times a day.
Once we are done with the "convincing" process, and she realizes that he is her calf and she's his loving and caring momma, her whole attitude will change.  Now, she could care less if we are around the baby.  When she decides she Loves him, she will not even let us close to her best ever baby. She will have become his best ever protector! (I'm hoping anyways)  Cuz that's how it is. Ya just gotta get the "convincing" process done. 
And that's what we do.  It's all part of  Livin' the Life, the Farm Life that is......

Baby and Bitch Mom.

UPDATE!!!     My Farmer has taken bitch mom's "bracelets" off!  She still doesn't completely love him yet (shes still in denial), but we're getting close!

Being Sick vs Being Brave

Being sick is never fun. Especially if you are the boss. Lucky for me, I am not the boss. When I'm sick, depending on the time of year, and depending on how sick I am, usually, I am fortunate enough to not have to work. My Farmer handles everything just fine without me. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad. Kind of means he really doesn't need me. But yet I know different. Haha.
So yes, a few days ago, I got the day off. I spent half the day in bed and half the day on the couch, with a little running to the "throne" in between. So much fun. But hey, I got out of farm work, house work, and cooking. So it's classified as a day off. Now my Farmer has it. Since he took care of me and did all the chores himself when I was sick, I am trying to do the same for him. I start out by saying.... no worries, I got this handled. However, as the day goes on, I know the truth......I really  DON'T have this!  I depend on HIM! His job his hard!  Mine is easy. I just follow him around and help if and when needed. I don't like being in charge and doing it all. Luckily he filled the feeders for the steers and heifers yesterday, so that doesn't need done. The wagon's even already loaded with tonights hay for the cows so I'm also happy about that. Its almost like he knew he would be taking the day off. Uhmmmm.
The reason I am blogging right now, is I am trying to get my courage up to go out and doctor two new babies that were born this morning. New mommas scare me, as I have stated numerous times. I was successful at getting the new calf that we put in the corral last night to drink a bottle. Just because I was able to get momma into a different part of the corral and lock her away from the baby. Then I'm brave. There's a gate between us. Yet when it comes to doctoring a baby out in the open field, where the momma literally sniffs or blows snot on your back or in your face, as you are sitting on her baby giving him his shots and putting a tag his ear, I am NOT brave. My job usually is to sit back and laughs and take the pictures as they do this to my Farmer. He just ignores them or swats them away. This is what a brave person does. Again, not me. Well, I suppose I have wasted enough time.  My Farmer is still to sick to move and no one else has appeared out of the blue to go take care of the new calves, so I best get on my brave act and go try. There's a really good chance that momma is gonna be really nice and let me take care of the baby with no issues. More then likely, that's how it will be. However, there are those few mommas who are snotty. If she's one of them, then her baby will just have to wait for their Farmer to do it.  And if he gets sick because she didn't let me give him his vaccinations, then thats her fault not mine.  Cuz I am NOT as BRAVE. But maybe some day. Everyday I do get braver, just a little bit. Cuz that's what happens when you are Livin' the Life, the Farm Life that is.....