Monday, April 09, 2018

Grannyed Up

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As a few people have probably mentioned, winter and spring north of the Mason-Dixon line have kinda sucked. But finally, the latest storm is gone. The sun is shining. It's forty degrees and the wind is virtually nonexistent. You would think we'd be done dragging newborns into the barn for a while, but alas...



There is a thing with cows that we call grannying. It's when a cow that's just given birth (Cow A) is too close to a cow that's in labor (Cow B). Cow B's maternal instincts are already red-lined, and she gets confused and latches onto Cow A's baby. Nine times out of ten, she'll go ahead and have her own calf and just walk away from it to go try to steal Calf A. This is one of many reasons that calving in close confines is much less desirable than out in the wide open field, weather permitting.

But since weather has not permitted, we've got to drag Calf A into the barn and lock him and his mother up, then chase Cow B over to the other barn where she can't see or smell them anymore so she'll claim her own kid when it's born.

Yeah. The good times just never end.

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