Most of my cattle have been gifted to me in one way or
another. From meeting the right farmer who’s willing to give me bottle calves
to our friend who has a 200+ head operation that gives me cattle that are a bit
sicklier, to “hunting” a heifer on the neighbors land, they haven’t cost me
more than the fuel, food, and medical treatment I have put into them.
And when it comes to transporting them home,
I am the most unconventional farmher (or even farmer) around. Out of all of six
of them who have come home only two have be in our stock trailer. Not because
it’s not in working condition, but because my little Honda has proven its worth
over and over again.
Let’s start with my first arrival and how she
came to live at our farm.
Butters came to live with us from our
neighbors land. She has been running rogue over there for going on a year with
no one claiming her, no markings of belonging to any local farmers and no one
really feeding her. She survived solely off the grass in the field and the very
low pond for her water. Best guess at the time we picked her up was about a
year old based on her size. We were pretty sure she was never going to grow to
her full size, but she has proven us wrong.
While she’s a bit of a mama’s girl and is
just now letting the kids and Paul handle her, she hasn’t shown any side of
being mean to humans yet. She did come home in the stock trailer because she
was too wild to safely transport in the bed of our truck or the back of the
Honda. Our best guess is she’s a Charolais cross who may have lost her mom to
death or separation. Either way, she is probably the biggest pride and joy I have
outside of my own human children. She’s spoiled with love, grain and brushing.
Benny (the Bull) came to live with us from
our friends Doug and Judy. He was a bottle calf they had on their farm that his
mom never took to him for some reason. His dam is a nuts of a Santa
Gertrudis/Charolais cross and his sire is a Brahman. He originated the CRV
becoming affectionately known as the Calf Relocation Vehicle. I traded him for
a Pyrenees puppy I bought from a friend. (I had originally bought the puppy for
Dough and Judy, but instead of getting my money back I accepted a bull calf.)
We have been around Benny since he was a couple days old and so far at a year
and a half later, he seems to have maintained his great disposition.
He is still a bull, with all plans of keeping
him a bull unless he becomes dangerous to humans. So far it seems thought that
he is just going to be a friendly bull for life. I credit this to us running a
mixed herd, only having a few heifers, and being hot-wire trained. He doesn’t
feel the need to push on a fence when it shocks the shit out of him instead of
him snapping it!
Two Licks came to us from Doug’s parents. She
is a Charolais/Brahman cross that we aren’t exactly sure who her dam and sire
are. She was probably a week or so out from death when she came to our farm due
to weather conditions, mom kicking her off the teat early and the overall
situation is was in. She came home in the stock trailer for safety of us. She
was small enough to fit in the CRV, but was as wild as a March hare. When we
lured her into the stock trailer I was reaching over the front of the stock
trailer to pet her and she kicked the metal wall so hard it left a tiny dent.
She earned her name from her straight
infatuation with grain. She didn’t give “Two Licks about anything other than
grain” and it was pretty evident that it was what had kept her alive. She was
very proficient at holding her own with the other cattle in her previous herd.
The three calves who have come to the farm
are down to two. They were also born in the dead of winter and it was extremely
hard on them. They were gifted to me from a local farmer who gives me his
bottle calves to help me start my growing little cattle operation. They
are/were beefmaster and I know nothing about their initial history except
their dams refused to feed them. They all three came home in the CRV, with the
first two bull calves coming together.
The two bull calves came together and then
Lucky Start came later. She will be staying while Mr. Moo, the surviving bull
calf will be sold as a bull. Blackie as N called him, died at 14 days old and
we were all really bummed about it because he had the best personality.
With any luck, I’ll be converting an area of
the farm that’s a small paddock for calves this fall. Our land isn’t big enough
for me to hold a large herd, but I love working with cattle. Bottle calves give
me the opportunity to raise quality bulls and heifers to sell back locally to
farmers, knowing that they have basic handling skills trained into them
already. Currently, I have a partnership with two local farmers to raise bottle
calves or rehab cattle whose health isn’t in the best state. I’m also getting
ready to send out a blood test on Butters because we believe Benny finally got
the job done and we may have our first calf born next year!
Exciting times are happening around our
little Misfit Acre and we’d love to hear your favorite tips on working with
cattle! Please share in the comments below or on our posts on Instagram and
don’t forget to grow wild, get out in nature and connect to your roots!
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