Tiny Highland Calf

[She]

Hey everyone...
Last year my Scottish Highland Heifer had a little bull calf. He was smallish at birth but the birth was easy... 30 minutes start to finish. He got right up and walked and nurse shortly after birth so by all outward appearances everything was normal.
He got his shots, we banded him at about 2weeks old and everything seemed fine.
He is now almost 9 months old and he is still so small... really small. Even for a Highland, I know they are slow to mature but he looks about the size of a 3 month old calf.
I will post pictures so you can see what I'm talking about... is he a dwarf? Was his mother's milk just not good enough or what? I raise only a few Highlands each year so they are on a regular worming schedule, they are fed alfalfa grass mix and have access to a mineral block and fresh water at all times.
I had him sold at 3 weeks old but I called the people who bought him several months ago to let them know he wasnt going to be what they wanted... (they were looking for a stear to butcher in a few years) long story short I will be keeping him. I just want wondering what your thoughts are on why he is so small and is there something I am missing to help this little guy out?
This 1st picture I took today...nearly 9 months old...
The second picture is of both my calves born last year... the silver calf at 3 months and a picture of Shorty at 5 months. He hasnt grown much since then

 

[Nesikep]

Could there be dwarfism in the family? Momma have decent milk? He looks stocky, but yeah, he is tiny!

 

[She]

Right???
I do know his mom had lots of milk but I never thought to have it tested for quality. I waited till a few weeks ago to wean him because I thought it might help him to be able to nurse longer but now I am wondering if I did the right thing... ugh! He is stocky... it was her first calf and the 1st calf from this bull. I guess we will see what this years babies look like and go from there.
He's super cute and I'm kind of attracted to him so I dont mind at all, but i was just wondering if there was more i should be doing for this little guy. He seems perfectly healthy....

 

[Muddy]

Looks normal to me. Not all highland calves have same growth rate. Especially the ones from first time mothers. Highlands are painfully slow-growers..

 

[She]

Looks normal to me. Not all highland calves have same growth rate. Especially the ones from first time mothers. Highlands are painfully

My calf is 9 months and weighs 250 pounds....
Here he is with my 8 month old Anatolian pup.
Maybe this will show his size better. I don't think this is normal...

 

[wbvs58]

He looks to be a real cutie.

Ken

 

[Muddy]

Looks normal to me. Not all highland calves have same growth rate. Especially the ones from first time mothers. Highlands are painfully

My calf is 9 months and weighs 250 pounds....
Here he is with my 8 month old Anatolian pup.
Maybe this will show his size better. I don't think this is normal...

Look normal to me. You are not going to get 500-600lbs highland calves at wean time. That's how they are and I've seen plenty of 400-500lbs highland yearlings.

 

[She]

He looks to be a real cutie.

Ken

Thank you Ken! He is sooo cute. I named him Shorty :lol2:

 

[CG1]

I have no idea but that's cute as ever.

 

[She]

I have no idea but that's cute as ever.

Thank you so much... I think so too! I'm kind of in love with the little guy!

 

[WFfarm]

My daughter would take him and try sneaking him into her bedroom.

 

[She]

My daughter would take him and try sneaking him into her bedroom.

That's the same thing my parents would have said about me! :lol:

 

[WFfarm]

My daughter would take him and try sneaking him into her bedroom.

That's the same thing my parents would have said about me! :lol:

She keeps showing me pictures on her phone of furry little highlanders and has bugging me to get her a friendly little pasture pet. I tell her our Simmentals might accidently lay on it and squash it.

 

[She]

My daughter would take him and try sneaking him into her bedroom.

That's the same thing my parents would have said about me! :lol:

She keeps showing me pictures on her phone of furry little highlanders and has bugging me to get her a friendly little pasture pet. I tell her our Simmentals might accidently lay on it and squash it.

So funny! They are cute little things. Tell your daughter I'm rooting for her

 

[Hippie Rancher]

his head does look a little dwarfy to me.

 

[She]

his head does look a little dwarfy to me.

I wondered about that... but arent their heads bigger than normal? He actually has a really small head.... but yes he has something going on for sure. Either way he is Special :lol2:

 

[Hippie Rancher]

that kind of bulging forehead. a couple of your pix seemed to show it but one didn't and looked pretty normal. also bit of undershot jaw is another feature. it all makes them look cute - same thing with those miniature horses. does he have the Highlander split ears? We had a Highlander my Grampa bought sort of as a joke and she turned out to be a darn good cow - lots of her descendants for many, many generations had the ears. Branding crews would freak out about it. LOL

 

[She]

that kind of bulging forehead. a couple of your pix seemed to show it but one didn't and looked pretty normal. also bit of undershot jaw is another feature. it all makes them look cute - same thing with those miniature horses. does he have the Highlander split ears? We had a Highlander my Grampa bought sort of as a joke and she turned out to be a darn good cow - lots of her descendants for many, many generations had the ears. Branding crews would freak out about it. LOL

Funny you should ask about his ears... they are split and I thought maybe my Anatolian shepherd had been chewing on them while they were playing so I've really been getting after him when I catch him playing or trying to start fights with them... Like he does. Soooo maybe he was born that way?

It's really hard to tell about his head... there is so much hair going on there! Lol Here is a close up....

Anyways... thank you for being so kind. I know some people freak out at this kind of thing but seriously other than being a dwarf I just dont know. By all outward appreacnce he seems perfectly normal except his tiny little body.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

it is pretty hard to tell, some look like he is dish faced but others don't - he must also be part chameleon LOL. he's a steer so he isn't going to be throwing more if he is a dwarf, but if he is you probably want to figure out which parent (or both, if I recall from the old days of Herefords with the problem - it was a recessive gene and took both parents to have it show up, but I don't remember for sure with out doing a bunch of research that I don't have time for just now) and be super observant of other offspring. Not a trait you want in general in your herd. he's fine and cute, but just be aware. hopefully he is just a bit of a dink from a first calf heifer and all is fine.

sometimes the ears will actually look like they have swallowforks cut out of the tips, his look kind of like they were just under sloped.

 

[She]

it is pretty hard to tell, some look like he is dish faced but others don't - he must also be part chameleon LOL. he's a steer so he isn't going to be throwing more if he is a dwarf, but if he is you probably want to figure out which parent (or both, if I recall from the old days of Herefords with the problem - it was a recessive gene and took both parents to have it show up, but I don't remember for sure with out doing a bunch of research that I don't have time for just now) and be super observant of other offspring. Not a trait you want in general in your herd. he's fine and cute, but just be aware. hopefully he is just a bit of a dink from a first calf heifer and all is fine.

sometimes the ears will actually look like they have swallowforks cut out of the tips, his look kind of like they were just under sloped.

Thank you for sharing. I will watch for this springs calves and see what happens. Hopefully it was a one time thing and he can just be little if he wants to be! :lol2: