He She Errrr

Went out this morning to find a Silky Cousteau heifer, Calamari, with a new calf. This was not a huge surprise as she was due and had the look the night before.

In fact before I left the barn I bedded her deeply with hay and chaff and filled the gutter behind her with lots more of same.

When we came in for chores, the boss, who went out first to feed and set up, told us that we had a new baby heifer, so we went back to look. It was a nice husky black one, standing up and taking nourishment already.

However it looked like a bull to me so I lifted its tail and decided that it was indeed a bull. Later Alan swore it was a heifer.

And so it went until mid-afternoon when we were cleaning the stable. Deciding to settle the question once and for all, he took a real good look.....

And, well, we were all right. It had rudimentary female equipment and small, but unmistakable male apparatus as well.

It is not uncommon to find heifers that are born twin to a bull to be infertile because male hormones shared in utero mess up their reproductive systems. They are called freemartins. This calf was obviously a singleton.

I guess we will just pretend that it is a regular bull and raise it for beef.