Cow Tales
Oxford Wellington’s Tale
Oxford, affectionately known as “Ox” was born in December of 2020 on a local farm where his mother rejected him at birth. The owner of the farm could not care for him, meaning he would he orphaned and in need of bottle feedings around the clock. Luckily, his daughter knew we were starting a farm and sent us a message asking if we wanted a bottle baby bull calf. We instantly said yes, with no pasture ready for him to graze. But he was small, on a bottle and fit quite nicely in our garage space. Which gave us time to build him a shelter, pasture and find some pasture mates. At four months, he decided to let us know it was time to go out on his own by breaking out of his garage dwelling to the yard to eat grass which is where we found him when we came back from a walk that morning. He absolutely loved his new, spacious pasture. At first he thought he would love his pasture mates, Penny and Ferdinand. Two miniature Donkeys whom we were given from another neighboring farm. Come to find out, they werent too excited about Oxford, and chased him incessantly for weeks until finally they grew to accept his presence. They are still pasture mates to this day, except Ox doesn’t take anymore bullying from those two, he has grown to be a beautiful and powerful Bull. He sired numerous baby calves for us in his four years and we decided last year to retire him. So that he can live out his years here just basking in the Low Country sun, chewing his cud, and tossing around his yoga ball in his pasture. He is quite a character and weighing in over seventeen hundred pounds he can be intimidating. But to us, he is just an overgrown puppy. He loves to be petted, and anyone that comes up to his gate better pat him on the head. He loves cattle treats, sprinkles and marshmallows are his favorites! If you ever want to come see Ox and his herd feel free to contact us and dont forget to bring some treats!
Hershey the Holstein Angus Cross Tale
Hershey was purchased in a lot of five other calves from an auction, sight unseen which we learned our lesson on that one! Upon their arrival, this little solid black calf looked smaller, slower, and his ears hung a little low. It was February of 2021, a cold winter and I just knew by the look of his emaciated body he wouldnt make it through the night in that bitter cold. We placed him in the warm barn with hay, heat lamps, feed, fresh water. He was so weak. We were guarded. Our amazing farm vet comes out to check him, feels the same as we do but we still ask Doc to do what he could to save him. Hershey is a sweet soul, very docile. Antibiotics, pain relievers, supplements, and etc for what felt like months to combat the symptoms of pneumonia. Its a slow healing process and our Doc wasn’t sure he would ever be able to stop coughing and quite possible could have continuous lung issues in life. We didnt care, we loved him! The time and effort paid off because he is with us today! He is our tallest steer now! No cough either! We were patient with the process, we fight as hard as our animals are willing to fight. If we see they are fighting to survive illness then we will fight right along with them! To see him now, enjoying his walks and his play time with his herd mates brings us tremendous joy. He was our first severe illness in our herd. We never knew what we were walking into in the barn, then the one day came where he was a ball of energy! Ready to take on the others and it took him a few years but now he is the tallest of them all! He towers over them but he isnt a bully, he loves to play! Hershey will forever be our farm “pet” and will live out his days on our Low Country Farm! Want to come see Hershey? Bring some sweet treats and a smile! The herd will do the rest!
Lucky, the Lonely Jersey Male Tale
Lucky didnt just get his name for being on the best little beef farm in town, no. His story is a somber one with an outcome none of us saw coming. We admit now, it was a bad investment to purchase six Jersey males from a local
dairy farm, we had no idea what we got ourselves into and then several weeks led us down a very heartbreaking, very traumatic experience. These six calves we separated in a pen, for good reason. They were sick. Not just a little cold, they had Scours. A horrific illness that causes severe levels of dehydration, no absorption of life saving nutrients and minerals would save their sweet souls. The bottle went in one way and immediately out the other. They were emaciated, cold, eyes sunken in from drastic dehydration. No amount of Gatorade, Sub Q fluids, minerals, antibiotics ,and feed could combat this disease. We would awaken just to go check them and feed them to find at least one had passed away in the night. It took months for me to stop getting emotional when I heard the tractor crank up. As we had to use ours with the bucket to carry these poor little sweet babies to their grave. We had spent days, nights, thousands of dollars to maintain our sweet Lucky! He is so calm, so happy and is attached at the hip with Oxford! Its such a sweet reminder in life that no matter our circumstance, always be grateful. Although, we could not save them all and trust me that hurt us to no end. We have memories with each of them, we loved them. Their short time here on Earth was spent with love. My heart can heal knowing we did all we could and at times we must accept even that isnt a guarantee. You just love them, respect them, show gratitude for them and their purpose. It was a tragedy that still creates a lot of emotional distress within me, but Lucky is a reminder of overcoming tragedy to embrace the presence of resilience. Lucky will be here at the farm each day, he loves treats as well! So when you stop by and swear you see a Deer with a pot belly, dont worry you aren’t losing your mind its our little Jesery calf Lucky!