10/06/2026
See this tiny calf and her mom?
Wellā¦this was about two weeks ago when this tiny little heifer calf was about a week old.
SO.LITTLE.
Since our cattle have open pasture to graze, the cows will almost always go hide in the farthest corner they can find when they are about to give birth. And when the grass is tall, itās hard to find their babies.
When we came upon this cow and her calf, the calf was noticeably smaller than normal, so we made sure to keep an eye on her.
A few days went by and the cowās udder was still MASSIVE, and the calf appeared weak. We assumed the calf couldnāt quite figure out how to get milk, as we had also never seen her actually feeding.
If a calf doesnāt get colostrum from the cow right away, its chances of survival are slim, but typically it wonāt last longer than a day or two (from our experience), so this calf making it close to a week at this point was actually hopeful.
For the most part, we are āhands-offā with interfering unless necessary and let nature and mom do their thing, but it wouldnāt be humane to let this calf suffer if it truly needed our help.
So, out with the bottle we went!
The calf was clearly HUNGRY. And knew very well how to suck! And also, we needed to figure out what was going on with the cow as it looked like she had PLENTY of milk to go around!!
The only way to make sure both the cow and calf would have their best chance at getting the help they needed from us would be to have them penned up in the shed.
Chad was able to get the cow in a chute (think a narrow gated area that is just wide enough for her and her horns), and feel her udderā¦sure enough, 3 out of 4 teats didnāt have a drop of milk in them! This poor calf had been TRYING to get milk, but wasnāt able to get nearly enough to thrive.
This is where we HAVE to intervene and feed the calf twice/day with a bottle and boy oh boy is she thriving! Thankfully, mom doesnāt mind and just wants to get back out on the grass with the rest of the herd.
Oh, and did we mention this cow is like 15 years old?! š¤Æ
Unfortunatelyā¦this cow had another pretty small calf last year and a similar thing happened with her udderā¦so this is where hard decisions need to be made. Keeping her and risking another situation like this would not be fair to her or her potential calf. Sometimes this is just where her story ends and the circle of farming goes.
Highlands are known for their excellent maternal instincts and birthing ease, and Thai old girl has given us some amazing animals to keep our herd growing.
Time will tell and we will make the hard decision another day.
For now, stay tuned for another post with more pictures of our sweet Nuggetā¦she sure is a honey! š¤
