Bottle Feeding Baby

Recently, one of our cows surprised us with twins. That hasn’t happened in more than a decade.

At first, the momma fed both calves. Then she began to favor one and ignore the other, walking right past him as if he weren’t there.

We watched for 24 hours, hoping it was just a fluke, but the little fellow wasn’t getting his share of milk. That happens sometimes with twins - the momma cow rejects one of them. Finally, we pulled him from his spot under the shade tree and carried him to the cattle work pen to start bottle-feeding.

Part of me hoped we were wrong. Maybe another cow would turn up the next morning, bawling for her calf. Or maybe the momma would change her mind. But dawn came and no one claimed him. The poor thing was hungry and missing his mother, and there was nothing left to do but step in.

Bottle-feeding isn’t hard, but it’s not exactly pleasant. My job was mixing the powdered milk from the farm store. It smells like a can of Carnation milk gone a little sour, and it has to be blended with hot water. Since the barn is a ways from the house, I made it with the hottest tap water I could so by the time my husband carried it down, it would be close to the 100 degrees the directions required.

The calf caught on quickly, slurping away, but he was lonely. A few times he tried to follow my husband out of the pen, just like he would have followed his mom if she'd been doing her job. 

We had thought about sending him to the stockyard, but instead we found a family with three young boys who were excited to bottle-feed. That seemed like the best outcome. The calf would get plenty of attention, and we’d hand the job off to someone who wanted it.

I like to picture him now, ears scratched, belly full, and growing up with kids who will give him a name and maybe show him off at the agricultural fair. That feels better than watching him stand in the field, waiting for a mother who never came.

Here are some photos of my husband feeding and scratching on the little guy’s ears.