Dairy Farmers And Bull Calves

This the last two weeks I've had some "interesting," for lack of a better word, comments on Twitter. I'm not the only one, either, as Heim Dairy's apt put Farmers Are People blog post states.

One of the "facts" that I got hit with was that dairy farmers kill every bull calf that is born. I can't understand why anyone would draw that conclusion. This would be like flushing money down the toilet.

The Case of the Missing Calves

I've written before about how farmers wear many hats. The other day I got to pretend that I was wearing a detective's hat.

It had been a long hot day. The kind where the heat hits you like a ton of bricks when you walk outside. The wind was as dead as a body at the county morgue. I had worked a case all day long and had nothing to show for it except a sweat stained shirt and expenses. Like I said, it had been a long, hot day and I was glad for it to be over. Except it wasn't, but I didn't know that yet.


I was at home and ready for the shower I'd needed since four o'clock this morning when the phone rang. I could let it ring, I wanted to let it ring, but my gut told me to answer, and he's the only one who's never done me wrong. Tommy was the one calling. Now Tommy was a neighbor, a guy you could count on when your chips were down, but the reason of this call was as unexpected as a sucker punch to the stomach. He had seen some of my calves where they didn't belong, or more specifically out in a corn field behind his house. It was a case I couldn't refuse.


Questions ricocheted in my my mind like bullets off a brick wall. What were the calves doing? Why did they get out? And who did it? What did it? There was only one thing to do: investigate.


Back out into the heat I went with an eye to the ground and ear to the sky listening for the sounds of moos. I scoured the corn field for clues and you didn't have to be a gumshoe like me to find one. The calves had been there alright and they didn't care to hide the fact.

From a distance I could hear a small engine coming down the woody hill towards me. Now I wasn't looking for trouble, I was looking for the calves and I didn't come alone. My best friend was right by my side, holstered in fact, and he only knows how to say the same word six times. Turns out my friend didn't have to do any talking because it was Farmer Paul, the owner of the corn field that was riding on the four wheeler I'd heard. He said the calves had gone back across the hill to my hay field.

I gave him my thanks and drove back around to my side of the hill. The calves were there waiting on me like dummies waiting on a ventriloquist. But I only had one thing to make them do: go back to their field and stay there. 

While I led the calves back into their field my mind raced. I now had the where they had been question answered, but the why still remained. I wiped the sweat from my brow, took a swig from my water flask, and gazed up the hill. Somewhere up there the answers would be found. With the sun sinking fast I knew I had to hurry or all the evidence would soon be out of sight.


By the time I reached the top of the hill my dogs were killing me. I hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary and time was running out. Up ahead I finally saw a clue that my blind grandmother wouldn't miss. Let me tell you, dead men tell no tales, but this dead tree had written me a book.

Everything came together like a twenty-five piece puzzle. A tree fell. Calves walked out. It was an open shut case and that is the kind I like.

The Calves Insisted On A Second Breakfast

Corn Popping Up

We have one group of calves in a pasture field that has no fence separating it from a field for crops. We only raise corn in that part of it during the summer as it stays too wet the rest of the year.

The corn had begun to come up and we knew we needed to move the calves before they began munching and stomping it. We drove two trucks to the gate where the calves were and I began to call them and shake a feed bucket to get their attention. When they heard the sounds and calls their ears beckoned and they began to trot in our direction.

The calves easily walked on out into the road and began following me as I drove through the fields toward their new home pasture. Then they stopped. I called, got out of the truck and shook my bucket to get their attention again while the other truck stayed behind them to try and nudge them forward.

As we crossed the hay fields the calves got a new idea. Although they had a bite to eat earlier, it seemed they really needed a second breakfast.

Calves Eating 2cd Breakfast

Like the hobbits, evidently.




With a bit of patience we eventually convinced the calves that there would be more "breakfast" in their new pasture if they would just come on and follow us. They eventually did see reason and are now happily living (and eating!) in their new field.

Calves Are The Future

There's not much better to happen on a dairy farm than having a new heifer calf born.  This one was really good because the cow needed no assistance with the birth and the calf, after the first few wobbly steps, immediately began nursing. With hard work and a little bit of luck this calf will grow up to join the milking herd just like her mother.

Caring for and nurturing calves is one of the most important jobs on a dairy farm. Research shows that how well we raise her will impact her potential milk production.  With that in mind, we will do all we can to help her do her best because calves are the future.

Fencing

Nothing soothes a child's problems quicker than a parent's calm voice.  The trust that has been built up over time between them can solve many problems.  Farmers are a lot like parents with a large family of animals.  This morning my soothing call helped some of my calves out of trouble.

The problem probably began over the weekend with the storms that had rolled through.  A large tree fell on the fence and took out about 25' worth of it, but I didn't find that out until later.  What I saw was five of my young heifers standing out in the road wishing they could find a way back in to the field with their friends.  I called them to the gate and they walked right in behind me.  It was too dark to look for any problems with the fence then, and I didn't have any tools with me anyway.

I sent our farm hand out to check the fence for problems and gave him a bucket of feed in case he needed it to lure the calves in if they had wandered out again.  He found the tree, the downed fence, and two calves that would not listen to reason and come back to where they belonged.  So he called me.

I'm the one who feeds these calves everyday.  They know me and my truck.  When I got to the field all the calves were on the far side of it standing next to the two calves on the other side of the fence.  I drove on back there and called for them.  The calves followed me all the way around and up and down the hills until we got to the gate and the lost ones again walked back in with their friends.  I drove over to the feed boxes and fed them some more to thank them for doing what I asked.

It amazes me how some people believe that farmers do not care for their animals.  I know these calves and count them everyday to make sure they are all present.  I bring them feed daily and medicine if they need it.  If I do my part to raise them to be healthy then they will do their part and provide me with a way to earn a living.