just a
thought
What’s On Your Mind, Ozarks?
Life Is Simple
E
By Jerry Crownover
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e f i L elpmiS si
arly one morning, as I unrolled a bale of hay during the second week revoofnwFebruary, orC yrreJI yB heard the weak, little bawl of a newborn calf. There in the edge of the woods stood the tiJerry Crownover farms niest, red calf I’d ever seen, seemingly crying in Lawrence County. He for its mother. Counting cows, while inspecting to see is a former professor of which ones had calved overnight, I spotted a first-calf Agriculture Education at heifer, allowing a new, tiny calf to suckle. Hurriedly, Missouri State University, I grabbed the bawling little red calf and carried all 25 and is an author and pounds of him to who I suspected was the mother of professional speaker. bouncing twin calves. Since instinct told her that she To contact Jerry, go to was already taking care of her baby and allowing it to ozarksfn.com and click suckle, she rudely butted away the interloper. Sadly, on ‘Contact Us.’ this is quite common with bovine twins. It was cold that morning, with a skiff of snow covering the ground, and I knew the mini-bull wouldn’t last long in those conditions. Swiftly, I loaded the little fellow inside the cab of the tractor and transported him to the barn, where I laid him on a fluffy bed of wheat straw. Judy had prepared a bottle of warm colostrum, and upon arrival to the barn, he quickly gulped down the contents. Immediately after consuming the warm treat, the little calf began shaking like an old-time Quaker revival. My son’s fiancé was witness to the event and instantaneously dubbed the newborn calf “Shaky.” Feeding the calf three to four times daily, he would live up to his new name every single time he received nourishment. After a week, the feedings became twice-daily shaking events. After six weeks of living in the barn and accompanying warmer weather, Judy released the calf to run with all the other cattle and, both morning and evening quickly trained him to come to the yard fence and bawl for his bottle. By this time, he
Administrative Amanda Newell, Marketing Manager Eric Tietze, Accounting Advertising Amanda Newell, Display & Production Sales Amanda Newell, Classified Sales Circulation Eric Tietze, Circulation Editorial Julie Turner-Crawford, Managing Editor Jerry Crownover, Columnist Frank Farmer, Editorial Page Editor Emeritus Production Amanda Newell, Production
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About the Cover
www.westgatetrailer.net
Ryan and Debbie Gettle utilize a robotic milking system at their dairy farm. See more on page 7. Photo by Amanda Bradley
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Ozarks Farm & Neighbor accepts story suggestions from readers. Story information appears as gathered from interviewees. Ozarks Farm & Neighbor assumes no responsibility for the credibility of statements made by interviewees. © Copyright Ozarks Farm & Neighbor, Inc., 2022. All rights reserved. Printed in USA.
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