Sunday morning of this week our neighbor’s Dexter cow Trixie had her calf. It is a bouncy bovine boy whose temporary name is Sully.
My neighbor found Sully in a pile of fresh hay at about 1000 hrs Sunday. As I have reported on in the past, the
Dexter Breed are a hearty one and really do not need any shelter even in the coldest of times. However, due to the single digit temperatures he picked Sully up once Trixie had cleaned him up and brought him into the barn where the temperature was warmer.
Trixie followed my neighbor and her son into the barn which she had never been in before.
By mid-afternoon Sully had gained his feet and started butting mom’s utter with his head. I have just learned that this is normal and basically a signal to mom to start delivering her milk. After a few annoyed looks from Trixie towards Sully, she acquiesced and allowed him to nurse.
The next day, Trixie showed signs that she wanted out of her stall in the barn so our neighbors let her outside into a holding pen but Sully didn’t follow her. I guess he figured out the whole temperature thing and decided he liked the min 40’s in the barn. Trixie mooed and mooed trying to coax him out but he held firm in his love for the barn.
After a short time she walked back in and returned to her stall and Sully.
It has been reported to me that Sully likes trying to play with the sheep who also are occupying the barn during the cold nights. Although curious, they have absolutely no interest in him. The goats absolutely refuse to go into the barn and spend the cold nights buried in straw in an outside shelter.
Our neighbor built a milking stage for Trixie. It is a bit elevated because of the shorter stature that Dexter’s have. In the past he milks his cow twice a day. Later this week he is going to try to milk her once a day and let Sully have the second milking. This should be fun to watch as Trixie was never milked by her previous owner.
Our neighbor’s wife sdoon1, will start shopping around to hopefully trade Sully for a similarly aged female Dexter cow. The plan is for raising Dexter’s for the milk not the meat although they are known as a dual purpose cow.
Attached is a picture.
