Spring is here! That means April showers, May flowers... and baby calves! Just like humans, cows have a gestation period that is approximately 9 months long. So if we want to have calves in the spring, we breed our cows in late summer/early fall. These calves will stay on pasture with their mothers until they are weaned at about 6 months of age.
On our farm, we use the fence-line weaning method. This simply means that rather than abruptly separating the pair, the calves are moved to a pasture right next to the cows. This way, they can still see each other and socialize, but the calves will no longer be nursing from the cows. We choose this method because research has shown that this method puts less stress on the animals; lower levels of stress = healthier animals = happier farmers.
Spring time on the farm is one of my favorite times of year. The leaves and grass are getting green, flowers are blooming, and new babies are being born on the farm! It doesn't get much better than that!
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