Seeing a man about a cow…

I originally had a whole plan for this week’s blog. After feeling defeated last week at the lack of affordable cattle, I spent most of the week reading up on what we would need for our future sheep, planning Cece’s 5^th birthday party, and contemplating whether or not we should get pigs instead. I was going to write about the pros and cons that I had considered about getting pigs and talk about which breeds I liked best. However, 8hrs ago I saw Brent leaving the driveway with his trailer hitched to the back and I sent him a text asking where he was going, to which he responded, “to see a man about a cow”. Two and a half hours later, he was pulling into the driveway with Buttercup, our new 4-day old calf.

Now in Brent’s defense, we had been talking about getting cows for months as I had previously detailed, and he did in fact mention this morning that he might have a lead on a calf for pick up on Saturday. However, that was the last thing he mentioned before I saw him a few hours later pulling out of the drive. To some this might seem frightening, ill-planned, scary, nerve-wracking or stressful, but for us I have to admit it is kind of par for the course. When we decided to buy our first house, we had a conversation on the Friday of hey we should maybe think about buying a house and we closed on our house on the Tuesday, a mere 4 days later. A few years later, Brent and I had had some brief conversations about how it might be nice to have a pool. We even bought a small above ground pool, then returned it because we decided that it was too small and not worth it. Then I went on a trip back home to BC and I was checking the Visa statement and noticed a large charge from Canadian Tire. I texted Brent to ask about the charge, and his response was simply “POOOOOOL!”. We still have that pool to this day and it remains one of the funniest messages I have ever gotten from him. A year and a half ago, I had been bugging Brent about us needing another golden retriever because I kept seeing cute ones online. Two weeks before Penny’s first birthday, after supper he just said, we have to be at this address at 7pm to pick up our new puppy. Some people thought it was crazy, to add a new puppy when we already had a 3-year-old and a soon to be 1 year old, but we wouldn’t change Brinkley for the world.

Of course, all that said, there was still a little bit of panic in me when Brent informed me that he was on his way to pick up a calf. For starters, we had nothing set up for the calf. We had bought our electric fence material, but we still haven’t taken down our neighbour’s fences that they used when they were renting our land for their horses to graze. Thankfully, Buttercup won’t be out in the fields grazing for another 6 weeks minimum. We also didn’t have any milk replacement, bottles or a pen set up in the barn. I mentioned all this to Brent when he called me on his drive home and he was quite calm about it all. He said he was going to rig up a pen in the barn for her. The good thing about being married to a carpenter is there is always a lot of scrap wood and pallets around which really come in handy. As for the milk replacement, he had already made a call to the livestock supply store down the street from our house and he ended up going to our friends’ house that is right across from the supply store, and they had bottles that they were not going to use. Brent mentioned he had a moment of panic when he was first leaving to pick her up, but that it had changed to excitement to be bringing home the first farm animal to our property.

I did my best to not mention anything to the girls as I wanted it to be a surprise for them when he got back. They knew we were looking for a cow and liked to talk about what it would be like when they got one, but I really wanted to see their reaction when it was finally here. I also didn’t really feel like having them ask me for two hours when Daddy was going to be back with the cow, so I kept it a secret. If you ever ask anyone that knows me whether I can keep a secret, most of them would laugh in your face. I am known for blabbing everything, I simply can’t keep information to myself, but I was determined to make it through the two hours. The problem with keeping it a secret was trying to convince them of the need to hurry and get their boots and coats on once Brent had told me he was just down the road. Trying to get a toddler and a 5-year-old to get out of the house quickly is a feat in itself, but it was worth it to see their reaction to the surprise Daddy had for them.

When Brent first got her out of his trailer, I was shocked at how small she was. He carried her out because she only weighs around 85lbs and is about as tall as Kili. At first, she was a bit hesitant to see the barn and have Kili and Brinkley chasing her around as if she were another puppy to play with, but she eventually got used to her surroundings and soon she was running and kicking up her legs in excitement. That excitement was what lead to my first time being kicked by a cow, thankfully she is still small so it didn’t hurt, but I will be more mindful of it in the future. Cece and Penny were over the moon about their new cow. They helped me put her hay down while Brent made a pen for her by attaching some pallets together and one for a door at the end, securing it to the barn. Then they had plenty of hugs and kisses for her while she snuggled into her hay. They refused to leave her side until Brent got back with the milk replacement and the bottles and then they wanted to help feed her. With both my girls, I was lucky enough to be able to breastfeed them exclusively, which means that I have absolutely zero experience with formula, which is pretty much what this milk replacement is for the calf, although it comes in a much bigger bag. It was a very new experience having to measure out 2.6 L of water then weigh the required powder. At first Brent tried mixing it in the bottle, which proved to be rather impossible, and powder was spilling out. Then we moved onto a large metal bowl and then using a funnel to put it back into the bottle. When we brought it out to Buttercup, she drank it with gusto. The girls each had a turn holding the bottle and I got my chance as well.

The girls were sad to have to leave her, as we went inside to have dinner. They came out with me after to bring a large container of water for her. Again, as this was a spur of the moment purchase, we didn’t have a water trough for her. After some quick googling I discovered that calves have a tendency to knock over their water if it is just in a bowl for them, so I had to ditch my plan of a large salad bowl. I quickly scoured the house looking for something that would be “trough-like” something that I never thought I would be doing. The best thing I could come up with was using one of our old Superstore grocery bins, and I have to say it was very effective. Online it said it had to be something that would be heavy enough not to be easily tipped over, and I can say that once it was filled up with water, it was certainly not easy to carry and therefore I felt confident she wouldn’t be able to tip it over. Of course, I still had to bring it from our house, all the way out to the barn. Going from the house to the barn is not normally a difficult trek, but carrying several litres of water in a bin, while holding Penny’s hand and avoiding giant puddles from the melting ice, made it considerably harder. We will definitely need to find a better permanent solution for Buttercups water needs. Once the water had been carefully placed in her paddock, the girls took the opportunity once more to give her a few more goodnight kisses and hugs, and then they reluctantly came into the house to have a bath as they had been rolling around in the hay with Buttercup.

Going forward, our routine will have to change to incorporate Buttercup’s feeding schedule. Based on her weight, she needs to have 2.6L of milk replacement twice a day and she will start to get food starter within the next couple days for the next 6 weeks until she can hopefully start to be weaned. By the summer, she will be out in the field and grazing on pasture which will come with all kinds of new projects like getting the fencing up, making sure she has easy access to water and building a cow shed for shelter once the winter months hit. There is bound to be so much to learn with her, and I know it will be a lot of work, but she is pretty darn cute.