Sunday, August 21, 2011

One Sad Necessity

Little Dorrit lost her voice this morning...

I can't imagine anything more sad than a calf going hoarse from mooing after being separated from it's mom...

...except maybe a mama cow who looks like she's crying while she moos back.

Sad necessity... baby was tearing up mama's teats with her sharp teeth and was growing far too tall to reach the low udder to drink. She'll be happier on the bottle until we wean her in a few months.

4 comments:

Christi said...

Aww, poor girls :(

Throwback at Trapper Creek said...

If the teats are split lengthwise it is a vitamin/mineral deficiency. If they are split horizontal it could be the calf, but that isn't likely, they don't chew the teats and if they do, the cows don't usually allow it.

Julia H. said...

Aww, that's sad, Emily. :(

Heart's Homestead said...

Thanks, Nita. Good to know about the vitamin/mineral deficiency. This time around the scrapes on her teats were definitely caused by the calf's teeth. They went lengthwise on the two back teats exactly where the calf always nursed, and healed soon after taking the calf away.

The calf just got her voice back yesterday... I was thinking she had permanently injured her voice box... I know a lot of people who'd be willing to pay for a cow that can't moo, lol!