Its reassuring to be in the dark with such good company. :D I took for granted my idea of how they were marked was simply due to the calving process but I now think it is more complicated than that after my ideas were shattered Monday. Monday, I happened on a cow that had just calved a black face next to a board fence. I documented the birth. Next day, a heifer calved a baldie in the same location and the other cow and her calf as well as several others had set up a nursery. Anyhow, the heifer was standing over her calf and cleaning it so I left them be. Came back that afternoon only to find the calf laying there shivering and only partially cleaned. I drove thru the calving lot and found the heifer following the cow and her calf around and trying to herd the calf away from the cow. They tusselled on a few occasions. Anyhow, I cut the heifer out and put her in a closed pen along with her calf and left her there for two days. She was livid and all but tore out of the pen and would have nothing to do with her calf. I also tried putting a nurse cow in the pen but to no avail.
Though I don't have any answers, I did make some observations which may have something to do with marking. First, they calved in the same spot and it is highly likely that some of the afterbirth from the cow was still on the ground or at least some fluids were. Also, when the calf bawled, the heifer would come to the calf but after one sniff would walk off. The calf also seemed to know who his ma was as he would follow her and try to nurse only to be kicked off once she got a whiff of him.
Other than that, I'm left with more questions. Since I calve on a closed season, its impossible to observe each birth but I'm wondering if this doesn't happen more often than I realize. Could this be the reason I sometimes - rarely - find a calf tucked off to the side with no one claiming it? Could this also be the reason I sometimes - rarely - find a dead calf lying in the weeds that has been cleaned up and lying as though it were simply sleeping? I truly don't know but it does spark my interest. I have always been of the opinion these calves were flawed in some way and this was nature's way of culling them. But in this instance, there is nothing observably wrong with the orphan other than his ma is sorry.
As for marking the calf, it would seem that it is based on both sound and smell but the overiding factor being smell. I also wonder if the smell part is not controlled by a certain part of the afterbirth. But I don't know. All I do know is I now have Trouble on the farm cause I have a calf being nursed by two mommas and one that is being nursed by a two-legged incompetant cull who the calf has now marked as his ma. :oops: Seems cow takes calf during the morning shift and is followed around by the heifer until the cow lays down or goes to eat then heifer/cow takes over. Truly a strange and troubling event.
