Presently we are raising a red Angus we dubbed Big Red. He is aptly named, for even when he first popped out, he was already quite big. Big and furry and sweet-natured.
He was placed all by himself in a corner pen at the time of his birth, for we had all our regular pens filled with older calves. The baby calves have to be separated from the other older calves as sometimes they can be mean to one another. For instance, bullying each other away from the feed trough or just horse-playing around.
I grew fond of Big Red right away. Being by himself for the first week or so of his life, which looking back, probably made him more compliant. Once in a while I get a calf that is very docile and transitions from bottle to pail easily, which I completely appreciate. Big Red was one of those. He went from bottle to pail without batting an eye. After each feeding, just before leaving, I’d scratch his very large forehead and say, “Good boy!”
Big Red progressed through the pens from small to medium to outside in good fashion. Every time I would clean his pen, he’d come around to me and I’d stroke under his neck and talk to him: “Hey, how’re you doin’? Huh, big fella, Big Red?” Well, you know, this keeping-them-tame-thing comes easy to me when they so easily follow the plan.
When he got big enough, Big Red eventually was moved to the outside pen, as inside, we were overflowing with calves. There is a group of six that are close to his size, approximately 400 pounds now, in the outside pen that used to house the pigs. When we had taken our pigs to market, (By the way, we are eating “high off the hog” these days! Ha, literally!), we let the area dry out, then cleaned it out, laid fresh straw down and installed a water tank that could be easily filled every other day. My husband brought out a narrow feeder bunk that fit nicely and also served to extend the area in which they could meander. Securing a gate that could open and close with ease completed their new place.
The other day Big Red and one other accomplice broke lose. Because he was my pet, so to speak, as soon as we realized they were out of their pen, I ran for a scoop of grain and started talking.
“Biiig Rrrredd!” I called out in a sing-song voice, and held up the scoop of grain. He took one look at me and started coming, ears forward. His body language told me he recognized me, knew I only meant good for him and he would follow me anywhere. Well, he and his friend followed me right back into their pen and enjoyed an impromptu mid-afternoon scoop of grain while my husband fixed the fencing around their pen.
I get such a sense of satisfaction as we tend to them, cleaning out their area, giving them good food to eat and supplying them with fresh water. They get let out to exercise for the afternoon in the cow yard when the cows come back into the barn after mid-morning chores. There is a salt block our cows can lick when they’re outside, and Big Red and his friends enjoy access to that block for a few hours every day. All of this is done to promote good health and growth.
Big Red will not be at our farm forever. There will come a time when I’ll have to say goodbye. It probably will be hard, I know, but this is what we do.
For now, excuse me, I must go tend to Big Red. He’s getting hungry.
(“Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.” Ecclesiastes 5:19-20, The Message Bible)
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