Before getting Buttercup, my experience/exposure to cows was limited to seeing them when driving, adorable Instagram reels of mini cows frolicking around their yards, and visiting a baby cow at the petting zoo in our area. Despite having done research beforehand, there were still quite a few things to learn when we brought her home. Now, almost a month into cow ownership, I have learned a few things that I would like to share for any other novice cowgirls.
- Bottle-feeding is overrated.
Ever since we started discussing getting farm animals when we bought the property 2.5 years ago, I had this vision in my mind of how amazing it would be to bottle-feed a cow or sheep. I had seen many such adorable videos of the bonding happening between the owner and their pet. I thought it looked idyllic. So, when we started looking for animals I told Brent in no uncertain terms, that I wanted it to be young enough that I would have the chance to bottle feed it. Buttercup came to us at only 4 days old, and Brent and the girls gave her, her first bottle with me only getting the chance to help at the very end. Not to worry I thought, I would get to do the next feeding solo. The next morning, I got up and mixed the bottle and had that experience of solo feeding and it was a very sweet moment. However, the sweetness wears off very quickly when you are having to mix the formula, which is multiple litres, twice a day and then clean all the bottles and mixing equipment in between each feed. The other aspect that helps the sweetness wear off quickly, is once the calf starts to realise that you are the one that brings the food and therefore tries to get milk from you every time you enter the barn. She has licked and chewed pretty much every article of clothing I have worn in the barn and seemed particularly fond of my Uggs (yes, I know, not appropriate barn shoes, the search for good cowboy boots continues). As she got older and more confident in her surroundings, she would start nudging looking for more milk. At the beginning it wasn’t a big deal, I thought her little nudges were cute, but as she has started packing on the pounds and getting taller, it has become more of a nuisance.
Another aspect of bottle feeding for which I was unprepared, was the amount of froth and drool that it would create on her very large snout. The process of sucking on the bottle, or chewing it as she seemed to prefer, creates an amount of froth and drool I didn’t know was even possible. I am not unaccustomed to slobber as our goldens’ will drool when playing fetch or even my girls when they were babies, major drool queens. None of that prepared me though for the cow drool. It’s not like I can put a bib on her, so feeding quickly became a very messy affair. Whatever I was wearing to go feed her, would have to be washed right after. The need for overalls has never been as apparent for me as it is now that I am cleaning my clothes after going in the barn. All of this made me long for when I would no longer have to bottle feed her, which thankfully happened this week.
2. Bottle calves don’t just inherently know how to drink from a bucket.
I finally got the nerve up yesterday to try giving her the milk replacement in a bowl instead of bottles. The milk replacer bag said that she should be bottle fed for her first 14 days and then use the milk replacer for at least 28 days total before weaning. We were getting close to the 28 days, and I still was using the bottles, so I decided, enough with the drool and bottle washing let’s put it in a bowl. I honestly assumed this would make her happier as she could get it more easily. So blissfully ignorant I walked over to the barn feeling very pleased that the trouble with bottles was over, I opened up the gate to an eager Buttercup and set the bowl down. Well, she was not delighted at all. In fact, she got frustrated thinking I must be holding out on her and immediately started to nudge/ram me in what seemed like an attempt to get me to give up the bottles that I clearly must have been hiding in my coat. So, I tried showing her the bowl again, she sniffed it and then came back to me again looking for her bottles. Frustrated, as was she, I put my hand in the replacer and brought it up to her nose, she simply mooed at me like I was some sort of terrible traitor who had given her milk away. This continued for some time resulting in me getting milk replacer all over my arm, which made it very sticky, and trying my best not to get Buttercup to step in the bowl. Finally, I got her to put her nose into the bowl, at which point she hoovered the whole 3.2 L in less than 2 minutes. We had success! Clearly everything was going to be easier going forward, or so I thought until the feeding this morning. Confident that she knew how to drink out of the bowl as I had witnessed her guzzle the whole thing the night before, I brought Penny along with me. We learned a valuable lesson that if we sit in the chair where I used to feed Buttercup with a bottle, she will abandon the bowl, thinking I have bottles to give, and proceed to search for them. This resulted in me trying to get her back over to the bowl while Penny said “it okay Buttertup pie-pie” as Buttercup knocked her bowl over spilling half of it. I am very proud of myself for not swearing in front of Penny in that moment. Thankfully the evening feed went much smoother, and we learned a valuable lesson: don’t sit in the bottle-feeding chair when Buttercup is drinking from her bowl.
3. Just because your calf doesn’t moo the first few days, doesn’t mean it will be a quiet cow.
When we first brought Buttercup home, I was stunned by how quiet she was. I had expected her to moo when she was being taken off the back of Brent’s truck, or to make a sound when she first checked out her surroundings. I waited to hear her when we put her in her pen for the night and closed the barn door, but there was nothing. The first few days the only sound was the faintest little moo, that almost sounded like a little pig oink. How adorable, I thought, we have the most well-tempered, silent cow around. The last couple weeks though, she has been letting her personality show and that includes her big girl moo. The first time she did it, I was honestly pretty proud. I told her she was a good girl, gave her a nice chin scratch and went about my business. However, now she moos, and loudly, the second we leave her sight. She has gone full on cow diva. We (Brent) installed a chain link fence on the inside of the barn door so that we would be able to leave one barn door open so she could look outside and enjoy the sun while still being safely secured in the barn. She isn’t big enough yet to be left alone in the field, particularly at night with coyotes around. The problem with having the barn door open, is that she expects us to stay right there and wants us to continually feed her grass. The girls started feeding her grass through the fence and thought it was the most fun activity ever. Buttercup agreed, and she loved eating from the girls’ hands. The problem becomes the second we must go inside, or we decide to go play, she now lets us know that she is displeased by mooing very loudly. Now, when it is me, she moos once, realises it doesn’t work, and then goes and lays down in her nice hay bed. The issue is that Penny has a real soft spot for Buttercup, and the second she hears her moo, Penny goes rushing back to the fence. She tells me we can’t go inside because Buttercup is sad, and it is very hard saying no to Penny.
4. Just because your calf is calm when you bring it home, doesn’t mean it will stay that way.
Again, when we brought Buttercup home, she was calm, even a little timid. She sort of slowly walked around the barn. When the dogs ran around in there, she showed us a little spunk and kicked up her back legs. As the days went on, she got more comfortable with us and with the dogs. She started ripping around the barn, kicking dust up, getting on top of things. She started nudging me more and more knowing that I was the one who brought the food and who would give her the good neck scratches. The more she grows though, the less she seems to be aware of her size and strength. She got me with her leg on the second day we had her when she kicked up her back legs in excitement, and I barely felt it. She was only 85lbs. She is probably pushing 110-120lbs now and when she steps on you, you feel it! This is why I need to find better barn shoes than my Uggs, and I am looking into steel toed cowboy boots, which I discovered is actually a thing! Today she got so excited and wanted to be out with us in the yard where all the fresh grass is that she tried jumping against the gate to open it. She didn’t manage to open it, but her hefty weight did shift the locking mechanism and Brent had to adjust it. He decided today was the day that we needed to build her a little outdoor space that she could enjoy until she was big enough to be in the back field. This is yet another reason why it is handy being married to a carpenter. In about 10 minutes he had built a little cow run along the side of the barn that she can access through a little door. She was thrilled to be outside and able to graze on grass at her own leisure, rather than being reliant on the girls and I bringing fistfuls of it through the fence. Her excitement and playfulness however, manifested in a weird new demonstration of energy. The dogs often go in the barn and Brinkley decided to check out her new outdoor space, at which point, I kid you not, Buttercup tried to mount Brinkley. Brinkley didn’t seem to understand what was happening and honestly Brent and I were surprised too. So surprised that I made Brent double check that Buttercup was in fact a girl. After firmly establishing that yes, she was a heifer and not a bull, something that we realised should have been obvious without checking simply from the fact that we have seen her pee, we were at a loss for what she was doing. A quick Google search revealed that, just like puppies, calves are extremely playful. Not having other calves around to play with, she sees Brinkley as her friend and playmate and was essentially trying to roughhouse with him. As cute as this is, I quickly realised I will need to learn how to train her because as she grows, she will quickly be able to squash Brinkley if she continues this kind of playing.
5. Calves are more work than you expect, but definitely worth it.
To say I was naïve before raising a calf, would be an understatement. I truly thought that cows were calm slow moving, gentle giants. I thought feeding a baby cow would be simple and possibly even therapeutic. I did not expect to have to learn so many things on the fly. The sheer amount of milk replacer she needs every day was an eye-opener. Having the properly wash the bottles to remove all the residue otherwise it quickly stinks up the kitchen, was an important lesson early on. The work of having to clean out the stall, carry fresh water to the barn in a large enough bucket that she can’t tip it over, has been exhausting some days, particularly when the girls haven’t slept well the night before. I have learned how strong even a once month-old calf can be and have been licked and chewed more than I ever thought possible from an animal. Still, I would get a calf again in a heartbeat, especially now that Buttercup is drinking from a bowl. The work is hard and time consuming sometimes, but soon she will be out in the field grazing through acres of grass, free as can be, and these first few weeks will have been worth it. If nothing else, seeing Cece and Penny have this bond with their first cow, makes it all worth it, although it might make eventually eating her a bit more difficult.
The Hopeful Homesteader 
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