Tamed with Tortillas

Two calves were on the road recently, having gone through the sagging barbed wire fence in the pasture across the road.  The four neighbor dogs were chasing them up the road.  Beau joined in and the calves scrambled through the fence to the pasture on my side.  The little bullock was out the next day and I was able to walk him down to the gate, where the neighbor helped me herd him through.

The heifer was left in the pasture with two cows who apparently didn't have the herd mentality to go with the others when they were moved across the road. She was skitty, as are all cows who are not regularly approached by humans.  I felt sorry for her because she was separated from her mother.  The boy cow who led her astray had fled the scene.

Not having a bag of milk replacer or a calf bottle, I looked for something to offer her.  Finding a package of corn tortillas with "best by May 5, 2012" in the fridge, I settled on that.  I sailed a few over the fence like Frisbees daily and found they were being eaten by something.  After some days, I saw her licking them up.

Slowly, she started coming closer, then my Jane Goodall moment arrived when she took one from my hand.

Now, she comes to the fence and moos for me to come out with the Mexican corn.  I named her Juanita.

While it's true that tortillas are not the usual cattle feed, I believe she comes because she lost her mother too soon.  So, I am foster mom to a calf.  Having raised three children, I have plenty of experience in the mom department.  When I had a herd of dairy goats, they followed me on long walks around my unfenced thirty-five acres.  Cars would stop.

Even the two cows left in the pasture are showing some interest in the ritual.  I trust they will all be relocated across the road soon, because the cow guys are feeding the rest of the herd round bales of hay over there.  Also, I'm going through many packages of tortillas.