New! Friday Calf Blogging!

The newest member of the Dan from Madison clan, Bart, with his mom Annabelle. Two days old as of this photo.

25 thoughts on “New! Friday Calf Blogging!”

  1. Funny you mention yaks. A LOT of people slow down on the road next to our property to gawk at the cattle, we have nicknamed these people “yak watchers”. Many people have asked us if they are yaks. If you really don’t know, they are Scottish Highland cattle. We chose them because they calve easily, are very docile (don’t challenge the fenceline) and do well on pasture/greass/hay. They have been a perfect fit thus far.

  2. I doubt it is cold enough for yaks. But the undercoat makes sweaters that are softer than cashmere.

  3. I am a vegetarian, for 50 years now.

    This is the time of year, around here, when they take the calves they allowed to create milk and remove them from their mothers. The mothers are desolate. I watch them all year and after the calves are taken there is a period of about a week when they just wander around looking for their calves and crying for them.

    Animals experience emotion and suffer from it. One should count the cost of dinner.

  4. If humans didn’t have these animals around to be milked or eaten they would not exist at all.

    They are bred for human use and would be quickly annihilated in the wild.

    All living animals suffer pain and all living things die.

    That is no reason not to eat.

  5. I think there’s a good argument to be made for vegetarianism as a way to reduce animal suffering. Whether all life is suffering or whether the animals we eat would have suffered in the wild or indeed would not have existed without us, is there not a case to minimize their suffering now? You could apply these same points to pets and most people wouldn’t question them. Are cows different?

  6. I agree that it is a morally superior behavior to be humane to animals, and to minimize their suffering, where it is feasible to do so.

  7. Dan, you can tell them they’ve solicited the biggest number of comments on single animal photo @CB so far; I think they’ll be pleased

  8. Have they tweaked the genes in Highlands?

    My wife’s uncle used to raise them, some 40 years ago, in Vermont. They were not fence friendly. They ignored fences, gently walking right through them, whether the fences were wire, chain link, or wood. The uncle was constantly getting calls about his roaming herd, usually in the early morning hours.

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