Our babies are all grown up! Well, at least as grown up as we get to see them. Our calf babies were born in January through March of this year, and we got to see them grow up until early in November. Our cattle farm is a cow-calf farm, which means that we keep our adult cows, they get to have babies every year, and when the babies are around 8-10 months old we sell them. We wean the calves from their mothers when they are 4-6 months old (then they are called weanlings). When they are a year old, they are called yearlings.
This is Hank back in April. He was only about 3 months old then, but he was always our biggest calf.
Last weekend, my Farm Bureau district had our annual summer picnic at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville. This was the first time I have been do this zoo, even though we only live about 30 minutes away!
It was another crazy hot day (because those are so rare right now), and lots of the animals were hiding. I can’t blame them.
Part of the zoo is climate controlled. It is called Amazonia, and (you guessed it) it’s an Amazon rain forest. Well, sort of. Though it did actually rain on us while we were in there!
The first thing we saw in Amazonia was the black howler monkey. He was in a tizzy about something. I have no idea what he was trying to say, but he sure had something on his mind! (Sort of like Martin in the mornings. And the afternoons. And the evenings…)
Amazonia definitely had the most active animals for the day. We also saw some monkeys with cute faces, right around lunch time.
Hanging out with the capybaras was a tapir. Tapirs have a common ancestor to horses. I think they look more like pigs than horses. Evolution, you are a strange thing!
These are some cow-relatives from Africa with curly horns. Meet Mr. and Mrs. Curly.
Welfare has always been a part of the arenas of animal health and food safety, but it is taking more of a prominent spot now. BOAH was recently tasked with creating basic guidelines for animal welfare (specifically for livestock and poultry). Indiana is being very proactive by establishing guidelines for basic “standards of care” for our farm animals.
After lunch and Dr. Marsh’s talk, I had to get back to Princeton to get ready for that night’s performance of “The King and I.” On the way out, I checked on the jaguar again.
She was still sleeping.
Our county fair wrapped up on Saturday. Hubby Doc just loves the fair. He is on the fair board, and takes a week of vacation so he can work at the fair all week.
I do not have the same love for the fair. I didn’t grow up around it, I was never in 4-H, and frankly, most of the time I just don’t get it.
This year, I took the plunge and volunteered to be one of the photographers for the many events at the fair. I was hot and sweaty all week (and tired!), but I got some great photos!
Now, I didn’t get around to all the events (we have a lot going on!), but here’s the highlights of the ones I did get…
This was the second year we had an adult pedal tractor pull. Here is Hubby Doc competing. 
Of course, lots and lots of animals. Some goats hanging out waiting their turns…
We also had some dog agility classes this year. There was agility for big dogs…
And for little dogs…
Next year, I want to start a cat agility class. I will enter Martin.
Or maybe not…
We had some go-kart racing.
We played volleyball in the mud (and by “we,” I most certainly do not mean “me.”)
Here’s a special feature – a joint post with my other Real Farmwives of America & Friends!
This time of year, the cows and calves are all turned out on the pasture together.
On the left is one of our still-pregnant cows (she should be having that baby any day now!). Charlie’s mom is in the middle. She had a skin infection after her C-section, and is pretty skinny since she is trying to nurse a growing baby and recover from her surgery at the same time. Charlie is on the right. He’s still getting bottle-fed twice a day, and is doing great! Once we get him on more of a solid food diet, his momma will put weight back on and be back to fat and sassy!
The calves love to run and play in groups.
Although sometimes there’s a very fun stick that can only entertain one at a time.
Happy Spring!
Charlie was the bull calf who was born by C-section on our farm.
(You can read more about this in my guest post on Heather’s Three Kids and Lots of Pigs.)
This is her first baby, and she is still a young cow. Sometimes, first-calf heifers don’t make enough milk for their babies. We need to make sure to keep an eye on the calves from these mommas.
After we turned Charlie and his mom out with the rest of the herd, Hubby Doc noticed something strange.
Charlie was trying to nurse from cows that aren’t his momma! Those mommas, and their babies, weren’t too happy about that.
But it wasn’t Charlie’s fault. His momma is a new momma, and she is spending a lot of energy trying to heal from her C-section, and she wasn’t making enough milk for Charlie.
Poor Charlie.
So we brought them both back into the barn, and started bottle-feeding Charlie.
Charlie is getting fed 2 quarts of milk replacer twice a day.
When we check on him between feedings, he is still trying to nurse from mom. We know we are striking a good balance with his feedings because he is gaining weight, but he is still trying to nurse from mom.
Hopefully, as momma has a chance to heal more from her C-section, her milk production will increase and we will be able to stop bottle-feeding Charlie. If not, we will keep bottle or bucket feeding him until he is ready to be weaned and transitioned to solid food (3-4 months). 
I can pinpoint my favorite moment of all time.
It was when I turned in my pager at the end of my residency.
I was thrilled to be finished with my on-call time. True, I was still in the beginning of my PhD research. I had lots of long days and late nights ahead of me. Put planned long days and late nights.
No more 2 am phone calls with cows in labor or colicky horses! Hooray!
Then I got married.
To a veterinarian.
To a large animal vet.
Who takes emergency calls.
(In case you forgot, my residency was in large animal medicine.)
Can you guess what this means? It means that I often get asked to help with emergencies. Small and large.
Hm. I meant small animal and large animal emergencies. But I suppose there are also emergencies that are small or large as well. I help with them all!
One night I helped with a Labrador puppy who was playing too rough with siblings and got his eyes proptosed. (Kind of gross. It was before I was blogging, and have no photo. Know what a pug looks like all the time – kind of surprised? It’s like that, but more pronounced.)
I have helped with a few emergency C-sections on dogs.
I have helped with an emergency C-section on our own cows, and emergency care of our sick calves.
Last night I helped with a Pygmy goat C-section. On the tailgate of the vet truck. At 10:00pm. (At least it wasn’t 2:00 am!)
Although I do not have a pager, I still have a husband!
Bring on the emergencies!!
Before midnight, please.
