Post by cowpatti on Dec 14, 2004 22:53:22 GMT -5
I have been wanting to get a couple of calves while the price is so low, but everyone kept telling me how much work is involved with feeding them and keeping them waqrm-it gets mighty cold up north in winter. Well, i went to the auction with a friend on monday, just to keep her company.she was selling some goats. Wouldn't you know it, theres at least 150 young calves going through(before her goats) and they were soooo cheap that i just couldn't resist. We came home with two bull calves, very young-2 to 4 days old. When we brought them in the barn, Rougette(my dairy cow) went crazy trying to get to them. We weren't sure why but decided to find out. We tied her at her milking station and brought in the smallest calf- she immediately turned so he could get to her udders. That went so well that we tried with the second calf, same thing. They both got a belly full of warm milk before we put them into their pen for the night. This morning we just let them in with her. She nursed them both and when we left, all three were getting aquainted. When we went back to check on them, momma was lieing down napping and both babies were cuddled up between her legs. Doesn't get much better than that!
The thing is, people keep telling me that this is very unusual and that a momma will not often accept a baby that isn't hers. Is this true? The other question is--What about my milk? I was thinking that maybe we should give her a couple of days to get up to full stream before we take any, but my friend thinks that she won't be able to feed them and still have enough for us. Also, how will i know if they are getting enough, and should i be feeding them anything besides hay like Rougette?
My husband says I always jump in before I check these things out, I guess he's right . Please help.
The thing is, people keep telling me that this is very unusual and that a momma will not often accept a baby that isn't hers. Is this true? The other question is--What about my milk? I was thinking that maybe we should give her a couple of days to get up to full stream before we take any, but my friend thinks that she won't be able to feed them and still have enough for us. Also, how will i know if they are getting enough, and should i be feeding them anything besides hay like Rougette?
My husband says I always jump in before I check these things out, I guess he's right . Please help.