Saturday, May 2, 2009

Tiny Surprise

Wednesday evening, I found a surprise while doing chores. We had a heifer freshen in the shed. We didn't think we had any pregnant heifers left on the farm after our auction in March. We are a little embarrassed missing her. Her baby is a heifer, but very small. She is about 30-40 lbs, she was born premature. An average Holstein newborn is about 70-100 lbs. Yesterday my Dad found a home for the mother on a local dairy farm, and today the baby went to my brother's house. My parents thought it would be neat for them to have a calf to care for, as she needs a lot of extra care right now because she was so premature. The girls are excited. Their house is also near my parents' house, so there will always be someone near to take care of the baby. During the week, our work schedules will not allow for the proper care for the new one. The odds of survival is against her, but these past few days she has been eating well. We hope she will pull through.
Today we finished staining the bistro set that we completed a few weeks ago.

3 comments:

Red Clover said...

Is it hard for you to separate the mother and calf so soon? Or, is it just part of the business?

Zachary and Jennifer said...

It usually the routine on a dairy farm. The mother is a dairy cow and she is built to produce a lot of milk and with her tiny calf, there is no way the little one could eat enough from her to keep the mother in good health, her health would be in jeopardy without proper milking.

Welcome To Wilmoth Farms said...

Saying some prayers your little one makes it through! You sure can tell how premie she is! But hey..determination goes a long way! Make sure they love on her...they can get so depressed when little or if het sick and I swear it has brought some of ours around the bend! Keep us updated!