You're right, Joe IS getting big. And wide. All that milk! Molly still looks very good, I think. I did take some pictures just the other day, because I realized I hadn't in such a long time! So here you go:
It's really a shame Joe's not a heifer because LOOK! He's already stanchion-trained!
Look at that butt... the picture doesn't really communicate how WIDE he is from side to side, especially right after his breakfast.
We got him a toy, too. I looked and looked until I found a play ball that I thought might hold up to a steer calf's rough play, and I finally found one. So far, so good. Here he is at the first meeting:
(And by the way, that's Molly's first halter he's wearing. We had to burn some extra holes in it, but dangit, he's growing so fast!)
Then outside. He'll play with it a little by himself, but he really enjoys having a partner. His "grampa" (Rich is absolutely smitten with this little guy) will spend time out there kicking the ball to him, and Joe very carefully noses it back to Rich, and they go back and forth like this for a long time. I laughed and laughed when I saw that commercial on TV with the two Holstein cows playing ball, rolling that big blue ball to each other, but it's TRUE! They DO play ball!
Just about then, the ball (which is underinflated slightly, for less chance of poppage), shot out from under Joe's head and rolled away a bit. He was SO frustrated that it got away again, he had to kill the grass.
I went and kicked the ball across the pen to see if he'd chase it, and he did, but either the ball said or did something scary, or maybe it was the guineas just outside the pen, but SOMETHING scared the bejeebers out of him.
Calves crack me up, they're like kittens when they're playing.
Anything can be a scary monster!
I'm so glad he's playing with his ball now, instead of my knees.
I hate having to whack him every time he presses on me, but that's a BAD habit, LOL! He's gonna be around a while, and he's going to end up bigger than Molly, so I can't have him pushing on me. The ball doesn't care, though, so he can play and push that to his heart's content.
Molly, of course, being above "playing" with an inanimate object, ignores it, which is probably a good thing. If SHE pushed it with her horns, she might pop it. But she's a good girl, she just lets her kid play while she snacks on grass and wild mallow.
Joe is such a character, and he's becoming every bit as sweet as his momma. I know no one will believe this, but it's true, swear to God - I can pull him off when he's nursing now, and lead him back to his stall, and he doesn't argue at all. It's the routine he's known since day one, so it's "what we do" every morning. I love that cows love routine as much as I do, LOL! In fact, sometimes all I do is say, "C'mon, Joe" and he disengages on his own and turns around and heads into the stall. Like I wouldn't even NEED the lead rope (but you know if I didn't have it, he wouldn't be so cooperative, LOL!) It's a good thing, now, because I don't have to wrestle a big calf, but it makes me wonder if he's going to be an early weaner. Like, will I still have his milking services late into the winter? Or not? Sometimes the calves just decide they like hay or grass better, and stop nursing. He's at his peak right now, at just under three months. This is why I like fall calves better - they're still hungry for milk all winter. Well, we'll see. I'm sure everything will turn out OK.
Oh, funny story about pulling him off Molly. The other morning, I didn't notice, but he'd gotten the noseband of his halter off his nose, and in his mouth, like a horse's bit. I didn't even see that. I let him out of his stall and he ran to his mom and started nursing, but he was hunting around and not settling on his usual quarter. When I went to clip the lead on him is when I saw the thing in his mouth, all foamy and wet, OMG. I grabbed his nose with one hand and pulled the noseband out of his mouth and back up where it belonged with the other hand, and he thought I was telling him to go back to his stall already. So he went, and that's the only time in the past month I've had a wild calf on the end of my lead rope. I was trying to pull him back to Molly and he was trying to go back in his stall like a good boy. I finally let him, and pushed the stall door shut, then opened it right back up again, and BAM, he ran right back to his mom. Routine. Routine. LOL!
I am having the time of my life with these two. They're the two nicest bovines I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Stinker (the loaner Hereford) is still VERY nice as well, but I can't get attached to her because she's not mine. Molly and Joe, however, are the light of my life. I've never had a cow as nice (and CLEAN!) as Molly, and I've had calves that were playful like Joe, but not many were as well trained as he is. One other, maybe. He's just a great little steer.
Molly's no slouch, either, in the training department. Or the routine department, I should say. She does everything right, and I never have to go fetch her from the pasture anymore for milking. If she's not already waiting in the barn, I just call her, then go about getting everything ready, and she's in the barn waiting for her treats by the time I'm finished mixing them up. I love both of them so much!
Whew, that was a lot! Well, it's been a while since I updated, and YOU ASKED, LOL!
