05/31/2026
Full disclosure: I’m currently battling some kind of flu-adjacent plague, and apparently my brain has decided this is the perfect time to start crossing wires.
So picture this:
Take one Longhorn mama who is exceptionally talented at hiding babies. Add another mama who apparently had the same idea. Throw in a bull calf, a heifer calf, and a healthy dose of fever-induced confusion, and you've got yourself a ranch mystery.
Petunia had a calf about four days ago. I knew she did because she lost that pregnant look and started doing that classic mama-cow stare into the distance like she was contemplating life choices. After some searching, I found her baby tucked away in the taller weeds. I wasn't feeling great, so I only took a video before leaving him alone. In that video, I very clearly checked under his tail and confirmed: bull calf. Case closed.
Or so I thought.
Yesterday, while doing chores with one of my dearest friends and her son who shows our cattle, I decided to introduce them to Petunia's new baby.
We walk up to a calf... except this calf isn't following Petunia.
It's following Galaxy.
Okay. That's odd.
So I watch a little longer. Then I really look at Galaxy. Then I really look at the calf.
Well, Galaxy is very obviously acting like the mama, and this calf is very obviously a HEIFER.
At this point, my flu-riddled brain starts buffering.
We followed them around for a good twenty minutes while I questioned everything I thought I knew. Had I somehow mistaken a bull calf for a heifer? Was I hallucinating cattle? Was ranch fever finally taking me out?
I didn't have my phone, so naturally I had zero photographic evidence to support my growing identity crisis.
Today I marched back outside determined to solve the mystery once and for all.
And there they were.
Petunia and Galaxy standing side by side next to... TWO calves.
One bull calf. One heifer calf.
Born within a couple days of each other.
Healthy, happy, and absolutely beautiful.
So it turns out I wasn't losing my mind after all. I was just trying to solve a two-calf problem with one-calf information.
Moral of the story: don't overthink it. Trust your gut. You know your mama cows.
Welcome to the family, sweet babies! ❤️
