Its funny, we’ve learned there are only a few subtle signs that our novice eyes seem to take in before the surprise of a new little bull-calf or heifer joins our little family herd…Beyond the sometimes-not-so-obvious size difference (maybe because we see them every day, all day) of being bred, there’s some behavioral stuff we start seeing, like starting to isolate somewhat from the typical “fray” of the day – or staying out of normal dominance stuff between adult females, or staying back from any feeding time excitement.
In this scenario, Whiteface Mama seemed to “bag up” (bag getting bigger in anticipation of imminent birth) only within a few days of the big event – so that, combined with her isolate-y behavior told us we were probably soon expecting a little one! And, we were right, within only 2 days of leaving on vacation (with my neighbor set to come feed horses and cows, and our RV-traveling friends docked in our driveway to be here for/with my mom, who was heading up dog-sitting duties), we not only had a new bull-calf on our collective-hands, but also a very small, young kitten who had recently appeared in our hay pile in the barn!
So, it really did take almost our whole village to care for everybody this trip…I’m glad and grateful we have the great folks around us that we do!
Meet the new babies – Boo, our first barn kitty, who just showed up to the barn one day – no mom or siblings…just her.
We first heard her mewing under the hay pallets, and she’d hiss when I’d try to stick a container of water and food down there with her. Once she started trusting us, she’d pop out from under the armoire we have in the barn to hold horse supplies – or she’d be meowing from inside a drawer! Never knew where to expect her…and, since Halloween was approaching, we thought Boo might be an appropriate name.
Ronnie recently helped “pull” his first calf next door with some neighbors – and when I say “pull” I mean it! Next-door mama was struggling to get her calf out, so our neighbors called to ask if Ronnie could come help and they ended up tying that calf’s front legs (how they present first) to the winch on our ATV and reversing slowly to assist getting the little (big) guy out! Poor Mama was HIGHLY annoyed, but after a very quick recovery, she went to her baby and got onboard with the Mom-program. Thankfully, Whiteface Mama (over here at our place) didn’t have that kind of trouble and had her calf in her usual way – disappearing for the evening feed, and showing up in the morning with her calf! Its so special to get to see a brand new calf, however they make it into the world!
Our same neighbor had recently found some tiny kittens abandoned in a parking lot and brought them home and we took one (and the other went to a kitten rescue) – well, they were so cute I couldn’t decide so I just opened the carrier and this guy walked in and planted himself.
Meet Stubs (now, “Chubs” because he’s such a fattie or “Scrub” when he’s being a toot). Apparently we have the two “craziest” cat colors we could’ve chosen (had we chosen them) – so stay tuned for some updates on their adventures!
They are living their best lives, man…I’m loving being a cat lady – barn cats are super fun, and – as always around here – a learning experience!
Everyday at the 4J 
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