Esmerelda has calved. Early yesterday afternoon, a large inky-black heifer calf landed on the grass in the cow paddock. She has white socks on her two back hooves, a bit of white on her belly, and the tiniest tip of white on her tail. She is already almost as big as Rosie’s calf, even though he’s two weeks older. In no time, she was tottering around on her gangly calf legs. Esmerelda looks very satisfied with her offspring, and has been licking and feeding the calf.
Esmerelda and her newborn heifer calf
Rosie’s calf, young Herman Beefsteak, seems curious about the new arrival. Perhaps he’s wondering if this new calf will be a good playmate. We can’t wait to see if the two of them will play together in the paddock.
Now only Coco is left to calve. Her udder is already full of colostrum, so we think that the last calf will soon be on its way.
Congrats! I love Herman Beefsteak’s name…I can guess his destination.
Are you going to use this new heifer to continue building the herd? How big are you hoping to get?
Hi Rich,
We already have all the cows we can keep on our place, so there are no plans to build the herd. We only have 5 acres here — not all of it in grazing — and are lucky to have access to a few more acres of grazing land over at a neighbour’s place. We bred all our cows to an Angus bull (meat breed). . . so I guess this young heifer should be known to all as “Henrietta Brisket.” We’ll probably keep just one of the calves to raise for our own freezer. The others will be sold. Given their breeding, they are quite surely all destined for the same fate! With our needs, and the size of our place, we’d only ever want to have a couple of milking/breeding cows and a couple of their offspring to fatten for the table.
Thanks for the congratulations.
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca,
I’ve been meaning to ask how you are doing with your pregnancy? Are you planning to have a home birth? I haven’t seen any latest pics posted of you so I don’t know if you’re showing yet. I hope you’re taking it easy.
~Cindy
One large cow produces a LOT of meat.
If the cows over the fence are any indication, the three will all definitely play together. Those young’uns kick up their heels and run around all the time until they get a bit older and more stately.
Awesome news guys! IL told me to take a look. I love cows; once on a farm in Balclutha (sth island) I fell asleep with a cow under a tree, it is a memory I always remember! Love the names have you got any ideas for the next baby calf?
Thanks for all the comments!
@Nicole: We are still waiting for them to start playing. Herman Beefsteak is ready for the games to start, but young Henrietta is still more interested in mummy’s udder than anything else.
@Sonya: Glad you like the cows — and the names. Not sure what we’ll call the next one yet. Any suggestions??
@Cindy: We will most likely have the baby in Kaitaia, where the midwives have a nice pool for water-births, and someone does the laundry for you! We are yet to make a final decision on that, though, so will see how things work out as November approaches. I’m 24 weeks pregnant now, and certainly have a bit of a belly. Perhaps Coco and I should feature together in the next cow paddock post. I’ve already started suggesting catchy photo captions to Kevin: “Pregnant Creatures in the Evening Light” . . . So stay tuned!
Best wishes to you all.
Rebecca