We had a heifer calf born towards the end of last week over at Gordon's house and we decided to pull it off its mother and bottle raise it. We've been wanting to give this a try for a while but haven't really had to opportunity until recently, now that we're settled in our house. Zebu cows are typically looked at more as pets than livestock since their so small, and a tame Zebu is worth more when we try to sell them. Since bottle raising a calf is the easiest way for us to keep one tame, we wanted to give it a shot. So Saturday we went over to Gordon's and got the calf and took it home. Steve's first attempt to feed the calf went pretty well. When he was done, he decided to give her some room to stretch and walk around a bit. She started running around the back yard which was really cute, but before we knew it, she was darting away from the house, down the driveway and towards the street. Who knew day-old calves could run so flippin' fast!? We do now. Anyway, she got away from us and ran into the forest across the road from us. We had to post signs all up and down the street and just hope and pray someone would find her. Well, Sunday evening the phone rang and a lady quickly told us that she was on our street and had the calf in sight. We jumped on the buggy and zipped down the road to find her. She had already taken off by the time we got there, but Steve found her, chased her into the palmettos and was able to grab her. We got her home, filled her belly, and so far she hasn't fled yet! If you have a good name for a female cow that escapes or runs like the wind, let us know. Brooke's name choice is "Fairy Princess Butterfly Flower".
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