Bottle Feeding Fun

Meet the Calves on Friday or Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

These nine lovely calves will steal your heart.

Sign up here for Cow Camp

Seven calves were due this spring. Four were born, and now I'm waiting for the last three. Each cow typically gives birth to a single baby nine months after the mother has been with the bull. Occasionally, twins are born, but twins are not what I prefer.

Giving birth to one calf is stressful for the cow, but giving birth to two is dangerous. The calves need to take turns arriving and could get stuck during birth. Even if both make it to the world alive, the mother cow can get confused and might accept one calf while ignoring the other. Also, when a male and a female are twins, the female will be sterile, a condition known as "freemartinism."

Cow Labor

The cows on our farm usually give birth in the field, and I check them twice a day. Spotting a cow in labor indicates a birth soon and calls for closer vigilance. Calves usually arrive about 15-30 minutes after labor starts. Any longer, and we move the mother into the holding pen to observe progress and call the vet, if necessary. 

After birth, mom and baby stay in the Holding Pen to bond, and we verify that the calf is nursing. A few years ago, a mother's teats were too large for her weak bull calf. He couldn't nurse, so we had to tube-feed him until he was strong enough to suckle on his own. Even then, the baby needed a helping hand for a few days. We named that one' Flash' because he could have left us …in a flash.

Bottle-Fed Calves

We recently received nine calves in one day. I bought the calves from Grey Barn, a dairy farm on Martha's Vineyard. The calves were taken from their moms shortly after birth so Grey Barn staff could milk the cows. I brought these adorable bottle-fed calves home for our summer campers to train.

Each camper at our "Cow Camp" gets a calf to train, cuddle, and feed. If you know of a child 8 to 14 who loves animals, sign them up for a week of fun with calves, sheep, rabbits, bunnies, and a donkey. Sessions are July 8- 12, and July July 22-26 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Sign up here for Cow Camp!

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Carole Soule is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm, where she raises and sells beef, pork, eggs, and other local products. She can be reached at carole@soulecoaching.com. Carole also coaches humans, helping them achieve the impossible a little at a time.