At the end of December, Corey decided to try moving Abe in with the other cows. We had noticed that the two calves over there (who are younger than Abe) were starting to eat hay, but Abe still wasn't. He didn't have anyone to teach him.
It's hard to tell from the picture (I was inside... where it was warm!) but Corey is pretty much dragging Abe over there. He was basically just resisting the halter that was around his face and the rope, but it made it look like he really didn't want to be over there.
The other cows were pretty curious about this new little black calf (Corey has Herefords, but Abe was one of my dad's Black Angus). They tried to check him out right away, but he just ran from them.
This was the little spectator section from Corey and I's bedroom...
The two other calves were even more curious about this new little friend...
Gretchen thought it was so sweet that they wanted to play with him...
He was so freaked out, though. Just scared to death. We realized (later) that Abe had really never even seen another cow before. His momma died before he was born (my dad did a post-mortem c-section)... we got him when he was just a few days old... and he had been in the barn and small pen where he couldn't even see any of the other cows. His only interactions had been with us (mainly Lawson) and Marley. I really think he thought he was a dog.
Look at him running over to Corey...
It was so sad to watch. I know Corey got tired of me asking if he was okay.
There may have even been some tears shed by a certain red-head who was really worried about him.
Doesn't he look sad?
He was there for a day and a half and then the weather got super, crazy, bitter cold. There's really no shelter in the field where these cows are and we felt bad that Abe didn't have a momma to snuggle up with. So Corey moved him back over to the barn and smaller pen. (No rope and halter this time... he just followed Lawson.)
But... Corey rearranged some fencing. (I helped him fix fence one day. In the snow! And then asked on Facebook if that made me a real farm wife, yet.) He made it so the other set of cows (and one calf) could have access to the pen right beside Abe. Then he put in a calf gate between the two pens. (Too small for cows to fit through, but the calves can walk back and forth between the two pens.)
So now... Abe has a friend...
It was so fun the first day when we saw him over there with the other cows... the other calf coming into his pen... one day they were chasing each other around and playing.
He's started eating hay now and lots of grain, but he still gets excited to see this guy coming...
Look how big he's gotten! His head used to naturally fit through the second opening in the fence...
Remember when we first got Abe and he and Marley were about the same size? Marley was maybe a little bigger?
These two are still pretty good buds...
