Born on the 12th Sept, this is the little lady and her mother the next morning. She was born in the forest and I was struggling to herd her and her mum back to the house paddock when DH waded right in and picked her up ! Flora started bellowing and shaking her head and slinging snot everywhere, reminding us that more people are killed by cows with new calves than by bulls ... DH just told her to pull her head in and set off for the house with Flora in hot pursuit.
About 2/3 of the way the madam realised that the other cattle were already at the hay and charged off ahead, bellowing back over her shoulder as if to say "Hurry up !! Bring my baby faster !!". Not that she's food motivated or anything ...
A little closer. With her big belly button, when I first saw her I thought we had a bull calf !
This is at ten days old, with a lovely red colour happening. In the right light you can see stripes so I hope she'll end up brindle instead of the usual lowline colouring of brown at birth and then going black. As lowlines are polled, which is dominant, I expect her to be polled too.
She's already learned to tie up and to lead, to wear her very own teeny fly veil, have her feet picked up and her ears cleaned out. I brush her every day and try to incorporate a short lesson into each evening.
She's a jersey cross, this is her dad, Hawthorne Grove Zeus. She didn't get any of his fancy colouring, but hopefully she'll carry his excellent udder and temperament genes. Important for a house-cow-to-be. I hope she and I are going to be a great team.
