Neal

One of my favorite things besides smoothies and surprise discounts at checkout and when my pants fit is when things come full circle. I love when things are complete, and when stories have happy endings.

Thus, I love when our calves stay on the ranch and become mothers themselves! It's fun to see baby calves grow up and come back to the pens where they were born as a mama-to-be.

This is Neal. I love Neal. I wrote a lot about Neal on my old blog when she was born two year ago. She has a narrow white face, and I could spot her from anywhere! It was actually kind of creepy. I mean, she was always rightthere.

And yes, I know she's a girl whose name is Neal. Look, I didn't know she was a girl when I named her. It just came to me. Nancy Drew has a girl friend named George, and Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have a daughter named James. I can have a calf called Neal.

My other named calves from that year (Fleur, Flour, Dipstick) were boys and are no longer on this ranch--some of them are on other ranches, breeding cows. But that's beside the point because that's not full circle. That's like three-quarters of a circle. But Neal is still here!

Except Neal is no longer a calf! She's a MOMMY! She had a baby two days ago and I got to the barn right as the baby was starting to get up. Good job, Neal!

I'm so proud. I'm extra-special proud because she got that baby up quick. Heifers don't always know what's what, so we all enjoy when they get it and don't need any help.

It's important for a calf to get up shortly after being born--usually within a half hour or so--because they need to nurse and get their colostrum. When they are born, the mom will lick them clean, and start bothering them to get up. They'll nudge the calf with their head, holler at them a little bit, and generally harass them until the calf gets the point and learns to stand.

Good job, Neal.