Confusion in the Barn

It's that time of year when our number of pigs and cattle begins to multiply. It's always exciting when we wake to new babies. We got word that two cows gave birth this morning at my grandparent's farm. We keep some of our herd at his place because Grandpa loves farming and is still a young cowboy at heart.

When we got there Grandpa had the new mommas and their calves in a pen away from the rest of the expecting cows. One calf seemed a little shy and her mother was not being very motherly. In fact, so unmotherly we questioned her maternity. You'd think as somewhat seasoned cow farmers we would know all the marks of a new mother. The signs weren't all there but Grandpa saw her with the calf.  The biggest red flag was she didn't seem to have milk.

We let the poor, unwanted calf go out with the soon-to-be-moms hoping one would claim her. She went from one cow to the next trying to nurse. Not one was interested in her and some were down right mean.  We were starting to wonder if we would have to bottle raise her. Before we decided, Court was determined to find out which cow was orphaning her baby by manually milking each of them to see who had the goods. (They are all previous 4H heifers or that task would have been a little tricky.)

While Court was taking inventory, the real momma stepped forward. It was the same momma as calf number one. Twins!! The thought crossed our minds but Grandpa was sure that big Momma was locked in the pen before almost-orphan Annie was born outside. Grandpa must have overlooked her until later in the day.

It's all good now. Mom and her twin girls are together and doing well.