Post by corrie on Mar 11, 2019 3:11:21 GMT -5
In September, the Spring grass was great and our foster cow, Romy, was giving a lot of milk. We bought two Angus X calves, Porter (House) and Scotch (Fillet), known as Scottie.
By early January, the grass had gone, and Romy only had enough milk for one calf. Porter had grown better than Scottie, and his personality made him less easy to work with, so I decided to ship Porter off to a spare paddock where we were already keeping two yearling steers.
A couple of weeks ago, it was time for all three steers to return to our property. The first morning after their return, we went into the paddock to get Scottie to bring him to the dairy to feed. Porter ignored us. The second morning, same thing, although later that day, I noticed that Porter seemed to be subdued and was by himself a lot. The third morning when we went to get Scottie, Porter ran to come with us. I was OK with that, as I had decided to put him in with the other herd to see if he'd settle better. When we got to the dairy, Porter ran straight past me and into the stall where Romy was waiting. He latched on and started drinking as if he'd been doing it every morning his whole life.
I let him feed for a very short time, not knowing how suddenly getting milk would affect his digestive system. He had no noticeable problems at all. Porter is now smaller than Scottie, so I'm allowing them both to feed - they are probably only getting a couple of litres each.
Porter is also far easier to handle than he used to be - maybe he has realised that life with milk is far better than the alternative!
By early January, the grass had gone, and Romy only had enough milk for one calf. Porter had grown better than Scottie, and his personality made him less easy to work with, so I decided to ship Porter off to a spare paddock where we were already keeping two yearling steers.
A couple of weeks ago, it was time for all three steers to return to our property. The first morning after their return, we went into the paddock to get Scottie to bring him to the dairy to feed. Porter ignored us. The second morning, same thing, although later that day, I noticed that Porter seemed to be subdued and was by himself a lot. The third morning when we went to get Scottie, Porter ran to come with us. I was OK with that, as I had decided to put him in with the other herd to see if he'd settle better. When we got to the dairy, Porter ran straight past me and into the stall where Romy was waiting. He latched on and started drinking as if he'd been doing it every morning his whole life.
I let him feed for a very short time, not knowing how suddenly getting milk would affect his digestive system. He had no noticeable problems at all. Porter is now smaller than Scottie, so I'm allowing them both to feed - they are probably only getting a couple of litres each.
Porter is also far easier to handle than he used to be - maybe he has realised that life with milk is far better than the alternative!