Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Meet Ninja

Doubtless you've all been waiting with breathless anticipation to learn what we named our new surprise calf. So... meet Ninja.


Of all the wonderful name suggestions you folks supplied, we wanted to wait and see what "fit" this little guy, and somehow Ninja worked. After all, he's black and snuck up on us... right?


Ninja spent the first week in the barn with his mama Shadow. This offered maximum shelter for Ninja and unlimited food for Shadow.


Little Lucy came over to meet the newest herdmate.


But Shadow, still in the hormonally-protective stage, intervened and distracted Ninja away.


Poor Lucy. "Wait, come back! All I want to do is play!"


Now admit it, doesn't he look like a little baby Ninja?





A week went by, and while Ninja didn't know the difference, Shadow was getting cabin fever from being cooped up. Plus the barn was starting to get messy.


But we had to wait until the little guy was old enough to castrate (i.e. testicles descended), and we did that dirty deed yesterday. (For those interested in the technical details, see this post.)

Then we could remove the cattle panels blocking the animals in the barn, close the driveway gate, and let Shadow and Ninja have the run of the yard area. (It's still too muddy to let them down in the woods or feedlot.)




Although he'd spent his first week making little dashes around the inside of the barn, this was Ninja's first opportunity to really stretch his legs, and he galloped here, there, and everywhere... with poor Shadow racing after him, mooing in concern, milk-swollen udder flopping from side to side.


He also spent a lot of time meeting various herdmates through various fences.




Amy was particularly anxious to make Ninja's acquaintance.



(It's moments like these I always try to keep the camera in my pocket.)


Every once in awhile, Ninja stops to fuel up.



Shadow is proving to be an excellent mama, calm and attentive.


And I must say, it's nice to have a baby around the place again.

7 comments:

  1. "he galloped here, there, and everywhere... with poor Shadow racing after him, mooing in concern, milk-swollen udder flopping from side to side."
    This is how our last calf came to be named "Cedric the Terror." We let him and his momma out into the sunshine to graze on some nicer grass in the yard. That little one got a wild hair and took off like a nut; over the yard, down the lane, past the pigpen, across the neighbor's field and was GONE. His momma was so upset! She's an older Jersey and her poor udder was swinging as she tried to keep up. When we finally caught up and put a halter on Cedric, he jerked and fought the whole way home! He's much settled now but come spring when the sun shines, all the cows will jump around, buck and carry on every once in a while - even our old Jersey.
    Enjoy your new little one, Patrice! I love his name. Nice you're getting some milder temps. Two of our does have given birth so far but it's been so bitterly cold out here that they have to be kept under heat lamps until they're a little bigger. Our two smallest were still shivering so our daughter fashioned little goat coats for them. :- )

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  2. I've been lurking your blog for a long time. I really enjoy following the day to activities on your homestead. And being an Idahoan (that used to live in your neck of the woods), I enjoy the scenerie too.

    This may sound like a funny question, but lately, we've been trying to figure out an easy system for managing all our digital pictures. Our computer storage is maxed out. Since you are frequently posting pictures, it occurred to me that you might have a good system! I'd enjoy hearing about it if you have time. Thanks!

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  3. Love this. Is Amy a particularly sweet cow? Seems so from the pictures.

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  4. I second that, Patrice!

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  5. Love those little calves. We had one unexpected blessing in January and named him Sir Prize. Praise God, the rest aren't due until next week.

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  6. We added a new kitten to the mix at our house. We named him Maurice, Destroyer of Universes. We should have named him Kato. He strikes without warning and from around corners and doorframes, leaping 3-4 feet in the air, claws extended, then runs off laughing to hide again.

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