Commentary: That's country life

Well, even mothers of four-legged babies can feel that way. 

My baby boys are growing up. The two-bottle calves get two bottles a day now, not three, and I have stuffed feed pellets into their mouths until my hand is sore. 

Bottle calves always start off sucking the feed at first but then begin eating it properly. 

I think I’m a first-class expert at dodging those sharp little back teeth! 

Now, Bumble, a week older than Bramble, made me a proud parent this last week. He began licking feed from my hand, I would lower it into the trough and he would eat it as long as my hand remained beside his nose. But then the light bulb clicked on and he now tucks into his feed as if he hadn’t just had a bottle. Man, those little jaws are grinding away! 

I’m happy, but at the same time, the tiny calf that I sat with, supporting across my knees because he couldn’t stand, is gone. My “baby” that shouldn’t even have been alive when finally born, is a two-month-old, very strong calf about to be weaned pretty quickly.

Now, Bramble is that seven-day younger little bull. 

That’s the second calf rejected by its heifer mama. 

And Bramble is, according to my husband “just plain stupid”.

This is because Bramble finishes his bottle and immediately latches onto his brother’s ear, sucking away. I free the slick, slobbered ear and he gobbles feed from my hand. He’s pretty much eating it correctly. But lower his head to the through (where Bumble is munching happily) and he grabs an ear again. Twice a day I stuff him full by hand but I can’t get him to eat from the trough. If Bumble’s ear is out of range a goat’s ear works too. It’s a wonder he doesn’t have a hairball.

I’m beginning to have visions of him at 1,000 pounds still having to be hand fed. 

Now, that’s just a joke, please don’t take me seriously.

I know that the lightbulb is going to click, and my second calf will take that step from babyhood to eating from a trough.

And I’ll be very happy, pouring a bucket of feed in there will be a lot easier than patiently having my hand slobbered on. For those that don’t know, there is no substance slicker than calf slobber known to man. I spend a lot of time washing my hands. 

So Thomas calls him stupid and I say just be patient.

Either way these babies are growing fast and so are the eight Pygmy/dwarf kids. We are going to be very sad in a month when we have to sell them. 

But that’s country life.

And oh, by the way, if anyone wants to hire me to give heifers maternity lessons, I’m available. A number of people have asked if the other heifers had listened to me. Yes, they did! All my evening lectures on how to clean, bond and feed a newborn worked. These heifers are exemplary new mothers.  My rates are very reasonable.  

Nanalee Nichols is a former newspaper owner and a resident of Deport.