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Got milk? S'Mora with a milk mustache.

In the article, “New Calves,” I explained why we at Cross Creek Cattle Company prefer a winter calving season.  One year we almost lost a calf to fire ants when it was born in the summer.  The calf was born to a first year heifer, which means this was the cow’s first calf.  The heifer had a hard labor.

Through the birthing process, the calf’s leg was injured, which made it difficult for the calf to stand, walk, or nurse.  We found it cleaned up in the woods a few hours old.  The new mother had abandoned it.  The calf had fire ants all over her face and body.  They were feasting on her poor, injured body.

My husband got several bites trying to rescue the calf.  We had to spray her down with a water hose to get the ants off of her.  We took her home and gave her Benadryl.  We bottle-fed her with store-bought colostrum and later milk.  We raised her in our backyard.  This is not ideal, but we take care of our cattle.

We named her S’Mora because she always wanted some more milk.  S’Mora lived in our backyard for a year.  We helped her learn to walk on her permanently injured leg.  Eventually, she moved around very well.  She did not like it when we turned her out with the herd.  She thought she was a member of our family.  She even broke my dining room window by kicking it because she was mad that she could not go everywhere with us.

We have very docile cattle in our fields.  S’Mora began being a pest.  We could not go out into the pasture without her trying to head butt one of us.  She even jumped up on Lane and knocked him over.  His heart broke when he made the decision to sell her.  We could not have her hurting one of our children by being too affectionate and playful.  She just did not understand that she was a cow.

Bottle-feeding a calf is no small task.  It takes a lot of time to care and nurture the animal.  At Cross Creek Cattle Company we prefer to have the mama cows take care of the baby calves as nature intended.  However, we are not afraid to devote the time needed to raise a calf ourselves.  So for us, winter calf seasons are the best choice.

It is calving season on Cross Creek Cattle Company.  Through many years of experience, we prefer to have our calves born in the winter.  First of all in our area, winters are generally mild.  Even this year with its many nights of hard freezes and two days of snow, it is still a relatively mild winter compared with other regions of the United States.

When a calf is born in the coolness of our winter weather, its mother cleans it up quickly.  The calf is very anxious to warm itself; therefore, it nurses vigorously.  One of the most important things for a calf to do is nurse within the first four hours of its birth.  The first milk is not milk just like in humans.  It is colostrum; however, a calf will die quickly of illness if it does not receive enough colostrum at the onset of its life.

Colostrum is full of antibodies that prove critical to the calf’s health and well-being.  Unfortunately without it, the calf will die.  In humans, colostrum is important, but it is not a matter of life and death.

Temperatures soar in the summer to well above 100 degrees.  When a calf is born in the summer, the temperature is usually very similar to the temperature in the womb.  On extremely hot days, newborn calves grow listless.  They do not feel the urge to get up and begin nursing.  It is just too hot.  When this happens, we try to intervene.  We tube the calf with store-bought colostrum.  If possible, we milk its mother and tube it that colostrum.  We do what we can, but we prefer the winter when less intervention is needed.

Another reason that we prefer to have calving season in the winter is because fire ants are not a problem.  In the heat of the summer, fire ants build mounds along the surface of the ground.  The tunnels underground reach far and wide under the soil housing millions of ants.  Usually the summer is our driest season.  Therefore, ants will be searching for water and food all along the ground.

When fire ants bite you, it hurts.  A tiny amount of poison irritates your skin.  If you are allergic, it can be life-threatening.  If you are not allergic, too many bites can make you sick or kill you without proper medical attention.  Unfortunately, fire ants have been known to kill calves.  We have not lost a calf to fire ants, but neighboring ranches have.

Soon, I will tell you about the one time we almost lost a calf to fire ants.  Today, I thought I would leave you with pictures of some of our calves.  So far we have had more heifers than bulls.  I just love how cute baby calves are.

A cow and her calf sunning on a warm, February day.

Another cow and calf pair.

A small group of calves.