Tough Decisions On The Homestead

When I moved to the homestead, I didn’t realize how many tough decisions I would have to make. I never thought I would have to decide whether or not I should keep a baby calf?

My mama milk cow, Moo, recently had TWINS! Yes, twins. I got extremely lucky and was blessed with female twins. Male/female twins are not desired because 90% of the time, the female will be sterile due to the development in the womb. That isn’t the case with female twins, though.

After spending a plethora of time with mama and her babies, I started to see personalities develop. One twin, the smaller one, was calm, mild-mannered and took a lot after her mama. The other twin, the larger one, was rowdy, ornery, and was stealing all the milk! Ugh, I was ready for one baby, but two?! Especially one that was such punk?!

The reason I got Mama Moo was to have my own milk cow. Well, milk-sharing with one baby is a piece of cake, but sharing with two babies was beginning to become quite the feat. I would separate the babies and mama at night, so I could collect the milk in the mornings and they could be with mama all day. Well, mama began to get extremely upset during milking because she wanted to be giving milk to her babies, too. I began to milk her at the same time as her babies nursing, but trying to milk with two calves butting the udder and fighting over it was not fun at all. My milk cow summertime daydream experience was slowly slipping through my fingers.

I began to ponder my time and how much was being consumed due to having two calves on the homestead with one of them running the show. After careful consideration, I decided to sell the ornery calf. This is normal in the realm of cattle—calves are sold off. Oftentimes, mama cows don’t get to spend any time with their babies, and I had kept mama Moo and her calves together as long as possible. I didn’t want to completely break her heart, so I decided to keep the smaller, sweet-mannered calf on the homestead.

I found an AMAZING home for the ornery calf, and they love her! The morning of the exchange, I had to get the calf into a halter for the transfer, and I landed in a cow pie amidst the struggle. Ew! My family thought it was funny that I had to rodeo in the calf then pretend everything was calm.

Apparently, some separation from her mama did her good as well. She went to another homestead family who will be raising her as a milk cow. I get occasional photos and videos and she is loving the life being bottle fed and getting all of the attention! She truly is a beautiful calf.

Mama Moo wasn’t around when the transfer happened—she was in the back field grazing away. I found it interesting that even returning to the back of the barn where she couldn’t see her babies, she knew the one was gone and cried out for her. After a few days passed, she was back to her happy self and loving on her other baby.

Hope I don’t have to make anymore tough decisions like this in the near future!

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