Our Little Baby Calf

We have been calving since the first week of March. Since about that same time, Ruby has been a baby calf.

All.Day.Every.Day. She almost never breaks character. When she wakes up in the morning, the first thing that we do is put her calf ears in.

(After baby calves nurse, sometimes their tongue sticks out.)

(Calf Ears we put in every morning…sometimes they are straight, sometimes not.)

We joke around and say that she’s Clovis.

She hangs out in her “hay straw” most of the day.

(hay straw…sleeping bag, blanket and an old body pillow)

She “moos” at me or other people. We have many talks about how it’s not appropriate to “moo” at others, especially at the library. However, the librarian now remembers to say “Hello, Baby Calf” to her now.

(Mooing at the photographer while tagging real baby calves with Papa Bear)

She will say that her name is Baby Calf Number 6. All because an orphan calf, number six that week, was making a rukus while we visited the vet barn one day. Number Six was getting a new mama but wanted us to bottle feed it instead. He was pretty upset about it. Ruby then decided she would become number 6.

When Matt comes home from lunch, she usually meets him at the door with “Tag this baby calf, please.” Or she’ll ask to be put back in the “fence” of our living room.

(Papa Bear tagging, spraying our baby calf in the hay straw during lunch.)

Sometimes Mama Cow (Me) has to chase the coyotes (Wooster) or grizzly bears (Wooster) away from her baby calf. Mama Cows are good at that. Not that we have grizzlies around here, but just in case.

She will usually tell you that she is a Black Angus baby calf.

She will also be doing something then say “baby calves don’t really climb fences” or “baby calves don’t really eat spaghetti”.

(overlooking a group of mama and babies in a corral)

She’s a fun baby calf to have around. I’d rather have a baby calf all day than a log truck anyway. J