A new Highland arrival

Gwyneth and her newborn Scottish Highland bull calf. 

There's a new addition to the small Scottish Highland herd at Brambleberry Bed and Breakfast!
In the midst of one of the warmest mid-March weather ever, a bull calf decided to enter the world. Chris found the calf on a Sunday morning after noticing that the cow had not come outside of the barn. The calf was already nursing. It's quite possible that we had a St. Patrick's Day calf.
The calf's mother -- Gwyneth -- picked a much better day to calve. Last year while she was at another farm, Gwyneth had a calf during an ice storm and the calf froze to death only a few feet outside the barn. The farmer we bought her from figured that she would be the first of our three cows to give birth.
We noticed the day before that the cow's teats were swollen. Sherry also noticed some mucous coming from the cow. But the cow's udder didn't look full enough, Chris thought. But obviously these beef cattle are not like dairy cows and the udder was big enough.
The calf is quite sturdy and looks like he's been washed and blow-dried! That's because the mother was quite thorough licking the calf -- a natural and essential function -- which makes him look fuzzy.
We expect one other cow to give birth this spring and suspect that the other cow -- who had a bull calf last June -- did not get bred. It will be fun watching the little guy grow up.