1240 – September 11, 2011
1240 – September 11, 2012
I was a little concerned Monday morning when I made my rounds of the first-calf heifers, 1240 leaving her brand-new Wagyu X calf right where she’d had it to be with the rest of the heifers. Tuesday morning I found her in the same place with four other concerned cows, the calf having just escaped a coyote less than an hour before, but without the end of his tail.
Our selection process for replacement heifers requires fertility that is established by the Wagyu bulls when the heifers are yearlings. If they are bred and can have the calf, we note the good and mediocre mothers as they raise their calves. As this calf is just now getting its breakfast in the photo, 1240 apparently had left it in the same place, scent of afterbirth upon the grass, to graze and socialize. As the cows were still surrounding the pair when I arrived, the coyote hadn’t been gone long. 1240 gets poor marks for judgment. Whether she redeems herself as a mother depends on whether she’s learned to be more attentive to her calf. Just like humans, the ability to have a calf doesn’t necessarily mean that she’ll be a good mother.
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