Soule: More Drama on the Farm

Four more calves were born last week. I’m always thrilled when a calf is born, especially when it stands and nurses on its own. When a calf is born, I like to bring the mother and baby to the safety of the holding pen so that the pair can bond without the interference of the herd, and I can give the mom grain and extra alfalfa cubes to fuel her recovery and milk production. More importantly, the pair is safe from the coyotes who live just one forest over, and if necessary, I can help the calf find its mom’s teats. Except for two of the six, the little ones found their mother’s dairy bar without help.

Most times, the mother cow moves willingly to the holding pen. Sometimes not, as I found out when I discovered Laney, a first-time mother, and her adorable white calf in the field next to coyote country. At first, Laney didn’t mind if we touched her calf, and with three helpers, we started moving the pair to the holding pen.

Sometimes it works to carry the calf while Mom follows behind, so I asked farm worker Matt to pick up the baby. While you’d think a mom would know that a human is carrying her calf, most cows, Laney included, get confused when their calf is lifted off the ground. When Matt picked up the calf, Laney thought her calf had “disappeared” and frantically searched, “finding” it after Matt put it down. Usually, after two or three tries, the mom learns to follow the human carrying the calf.

Instead, Laney decided that Matt was trying to steal her calf. When Matt bent to lift the calf again, Laney threatened him by shaking her horns and stepping forward. We gave up the carrying idea, and instead, I encouraged the calf toward the holding pen as Laney walked beside. We made it to the entrance when Bugsy the cow and Ferdinand the bull came by to eat the grain we had put out for Laney.

Laney must have felt cornered and threatened with so many people (four of us) and cattle (three of them), and as I tried to move Ferdinand away, she jabbed me with a horn. I hurried away, lucky that she hit me where I have ample padding – my butt. It didn’t break the skin, but it didn’t tickle either.

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Carole Soule is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm in Loudon, N.H., where she raises and sells beef and other local products. She can be reached at carolesoule60@gmail.com.