We could use extra thoughts of encouragement sent our way...
We've had a fairly rough week here on the farm with Dixie's calf. Originally, we had decided to call him Harry because he has a bit of his father's "escape artist" gene. But it's clear to us that Dumbo would be a much more appropriate name for him. So, Dixie's Dumbo it is.
The little guy isn't very "bright", is quite confused about where to find a meal on his mama, and he just wasn't getting any milk... which is quite ironic, as it would seem that Dixie is capable of producing more milk than all of our other cows combined! He has the right idea about nursing, but has no idea where to find a meal on Dixie. Seems his preference is the frontend, when he really needs to be at the backend!
It was Sunday when Alan and I got Dixie and Dumbo moved out of the big pasture and into the barnyard. Dixie isn't the friendliest cow. She was full grown when we got her, and she didn't get a lot of human interaction with her previous owners. She also has long horns, so we're very cautious around her -- especially when she's hormonal and protecting her baby! All of this combined with a baby who needs extra human interaction and guidance finding a meal makes for several challenges.
Because we really want him to be fed by his mother, getting him to nurse on Dixie is our primary goal. But we can't just sidle on up to Dixie, grab hold, and show him where to nurse. Instead, we need to get her into a safe place (for us, and her) -- that place is ALWAYS the cattle chute. The chute has a head-gate to keep the cow facing forward, and held in place, safely and securely. And the chute allows us to work around the cow safely. The side panels on the chute are able to be squeezed against the body of the cow, to help keep her still. Thankfully, the chute also has panels along the bottom that can be removed to allow easy access to the legs and udder.
Getting Dixie into the chute isn't the easiest thing to do. First, we lock up the goats so they're out of the way. Then, when Dixie is a good distance away from her baby, I pick him up and carry him through the gated goat yard towards the chute. Dixie follows me & her baby, and Alan follows her, shutting gates behind her as we make our way to the smaller fenced areas near the chute. As luck would have it, during this time the little bugger always decides to relieve himself ... down the front of my shirt and pants ... lovely. It takes a bit more encouragement to get Dixie into the chute, but once we do, it's meal time!
The first couple of times we presented her to him, he wasn't too sure about nursing and it took a LOT of encouragement to get him started (and thanks to Dixie's impeccable timing on peeing and pooping -- as you can see by the poo on the chute-- the time spent encouraging him to nurse was not very pleasant for ME!). We filled a baby bottle with her milk and fed him, giving him a good taste of milk, and then put milk on her teats to encourage him to nurse directly from her. Eventually he caught on and ate and ate and ATE!
Unfortunately, he still hasn't realized that he can nurse off of Dixie when she's not in the chute. When he gets hungry, he goes to the chute looking for food instead of to Dixie. But we're hoping that the more times he eats, and the stronger he gets, he'll figure things out. Until then, we'll be putting Dixie in the chute and assisting with meals... and apparently, we'll be changing clothes often, and showering multiple times a day.
He's a good eater when he finally latches on... now, if we could only get him to figure out where his snack bar is 24/7! Wish us LUCK!
Sort of off topic .... this is a photo of the sticker on the side panel of the chute. See how the sticker and the panel around it are scraped up? Well..... I wondered why Betty had what looked like white and green paint on her horns. Alan said that just about every morning when he lets the goats into the barnyard, Betty trots over and headbutts the sticker on the chute. I'd like to know just what she's thinking... has the chute done her wrong? That crazy, BAAAAAD Boxcar Betty!
