I brought home a new calf and need name suggestions please! If you could “comment” below this post with any names that you think would be good for my new little one, I would greatly appreciate it! I’ll then pick the one I like the most.

As I mentioned last week, I’ve been on the hunt for a new calf to put on my family milk cow, Sienna. After a fruitless search online, I started calling dairies around my area to ask if they had any bull calves to sell. Many dairies will sell bull calves cheap, as they only want to keep the heifers and don’t want to leave the calves on their mamas. 

I found a Jersey dairy about 30 minutes from my farm that had several calves for sale. They had each calf in a separate, tiny pen with a calf hutch. I wanted a calf that wasn’t too old or too young. (I got offered one that had been born the night before, but I wanted one a little older.)  The next youngest calves were two that were about 10 days old. 

I chose one that had a pretty color pattern over a solid brown. I thought he looked part Holstein because of the white patches, but I was told he’s full Jersey. I wasn’t too worried about his breed anyway, since I intend to sell him when he’s old enough. He also only cost $20.

We brought the little guy home in a dog crate that Scott put in the back of our pick-up. Once the calf was put into our small barn paddock, he started running around with glee. It was a much bigger space than what he was used to and there was grass! He kicked up his heels and seemed quite happy. 

I was a little nervous about if he would nurse well off Sienna, since he’d been on a bottle for 10 days. However, once I got Sienna in her stanchion, the calf had no problem nursing greedily. This was a good sign.

So, half my job was done. By “job,” I mean getting Sienna and the new calf to accept one another. As far as the calf is concerned, he’s met his long, lost mother and is happy to be with her and nurse from her. However… Sienna has not been as accepting as I would like. She will let the calf nurse as long as she’s eating in her stanchion. But, as soon as the food is gone, she kicks. I’ve watched him try to nurse when she’s not in the stanchion, and she pushes or kicks him away. She’s not fooled. She knows that is not her calf. 

As of this writing, Sienna is still on the fence about this intruder. She seems to want him near her and like his company, but she’s not too thrilled about him nursing from her unless she’s in the stanchion. It’s only been three days though, so I’m hopeful she’ll fully accept him soon.  

Next time, I’ll go into more detail about how I am working to get them to bond. For now, I need to name the little guy. Help, please!