Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Ellie Mae

[erykah1310]

This is sweet little Ellie Mae, she is only a week or so old and is an orphan:sad: the way things look right now, Ellie might just be coming to live here She needs to be bottle fed for a while and cant be with the rest of the herd on the farm she is at. Guy and myself have decided that we will take her home. Its his parents calf. We just have to make a few "alterations" to some sheds around here for now.

So... Here she is!
Do you have my bottle???


I am not talking to anyone unless I get my bottle.


"excuse me sir... have you seen my bottle anywhere?"





This is what Ellie will look like when she is all grown up. Just obviously not white.


Many more pictures coming. I went a little nuts today.

[erykah1310]

Ellie and her buddy Spike ( Guys parents dog)




Here she is very curious about the camping gear being unloaded. You know her bottle just may be in there!


There are a few more Ellie pics I have to resize, but here are some of the calves that are just a few weeks older than her. They dont really like her too much though.



"Momma, Momma, there are strange animals over there, pointing things at me"


And the only cow that I could get close enough to, inorder to get a good picture.I dont know her name.

[Prin]

Aww... You've got such a big heart. Good luck with her.

She reallly does need a parent to teach her not to pick her nose...

[erykah1310]

Originally Posted by Prin

She reallly does need a parent to teach her not to pick her nose...

Yup we're gonna have to work on that she is freaking adorable, so soft and fluffy in real life. She runs around after you like a puppy would and goes off in these hilarious kicking fits
If you call her by her name she comes running. ( thinking you have her bottle) It really is the most important thing on her mind right now.

[angeldogs]

HaHa prin.
Good luck.I love farm animals.

[erykah1310]

There is someone else who wants her, but they will just eat her after...
I couldnt, not after knowing her name. His parents are the same, they have a hard time with that whole aspect of farming, and are especially attached to her, so they would rather us take her. lets hope we get everything ready here for her next weekend.
We are figuring on picking her up on Sunday ( next sunday)

[marko]

Wow - super cute pics erykah1310....and what a beautiful gesture!

[~michelle~]

sooo adorable!

[SableCollie]

Awww so cute! How could anyone want to kill and eat her? So fuzzy!

[happycats]

OMG she is so precious. She is so freakin adorable! how can anyone eat something so cute?
I love the name Ellie May,.

[Rottielover]

wow congrats to you and guy, she sure is a cutie pie.
How come she is an orphan, wasn't she running to her mom ??

[rainbow]

I was wondering the same thing. She certainly is cute and kudos to you and Guy for taking her in.

[Hunter's_owner]

Wow Erykah. That is great that you guys are going to take her in. You have such a big heart

[Frenchy]

oh wow ! She's so cute. If she could stay this size, I would tell you to send her my way

[badger]

But what if you bred her later, would she provide you with milk? Even if she's not dairy stock?
So sweet, 'kicking fits' I love that.

[RolandsMom]

Oh! shes so freakin cute!!! i want one!!! thanks for giving her lots of love!

[luckypenny]

Is she a Highland? She's absolutely adorable! Did she finally find her bottle? More photos would be great .

[marsupial mama]

how adorable! good luck with the bottle and all that.

once you name it, you are not allowed to eat it. If you are going to eat it, don't name it. That's what my farming friend taught me. Loved her critters and treated them all well but was v. pragmatic about the distinction between those that were pets and those that, well, were not...

[Skryker]

Originally Posted by marsupial mama

how adorable! good luck with the bottle and all that.

once you name it, you are not allowed to eat it. If you are going to eat it, don't name it. That's what my farming friend taught me. Loved her critters and treated them all well but was v. pragmatic about the distinction between those that were pets and those that, well, were not...

That is what my Grandfather taught my Mom and her siblings, too-don't name them if they are meant for the table.

My husband was a farm kid, too, and is way more pragmatic than I am about farm animals-his uncle taught them to give the cows food names like "Wellington" if they were going to name them-just to remind the kids that he was raising beef cattle, not pets.

I could never, never eat Ellie May! Especially not if I had to bottle feed her. I can't imagine eating an animal I knew personally...guess I'm a hypocritical carnivore!

[erykah1310]

Ellie is a Highland she will be tagged and registered this week:sad: there goes her people loving attitude, once they get tagged they get a bit weary of people. Hopefully with bottle feeding her, she will remain sociable.

Ellie Mae's momma had some complications during delivery ( it wasnt her first calf either so thats what has Guys parents confused)
Anyway, shortly after delivery she went "down" and wouldnt stand on her own, so Guys dad hooked her up in the hanging harness thing to keep her up, but she just didnt recover.:sad:

The calf running to its mother is another one, she is white. There are still I think 5 more calves to come, 2 from the black herd for sure.

Perhaps if all goes well and we do indeed take Ellie, later on we will get her a "friend" from the herd too. I think it would be adorable 2 woooly mamoth cows for pets

I think Ellie works perfect for her, she reminds me of Ellie on Ice Age, she too was an orphan.

[erykah1310]

Heres some of the remaining pictures from yesterday.

"Yup, I am just the cutests ever"


A full out run towards all the people...


" I hope you dont think im riding in this when I go to your house"


"Somebody, Anybody, Look at me!!!!!"


"Boo, I scared you didnt I "
( this was an attempt at her running kicking fits, but my camera sucks)

[chico2]

Erykah,you are sooo lucky,Ellie-Mae is adorable
Seeing I know zilch about farm-animals,how long before she's big,horns and all??
By the way,those are beautiful cows,I suppose they are destined for the dinner-tables:sad: Oh,lets not talk about that!!
We'll need lots of pics,of course...the first calf on pets.ca

[Stacer]

Awww jeez, she's just the absolute cutest. During my teenage years I had a thing for cows, collected cow stuff etc...Will you let her in the house?

[erykah1310]

Chico, actually the only ones destined for the dinner table are the very very very few steers they have. And its for their personal consumption. ( really not that bad in MY eyes)

All the cows are for breeding. His parents attend gozillions of seminars about breeding and conformation.

They only sell them to other "fanciers" of the breed as a whole ( usually people from the seminars, in order to introduce new blood lines into their herds)
All the cows are artificially inseminated ( although one year they had a bull... he was a mean bugger)
Its a very interesting breed, Im hooked personally.
Ideally his parents wanted to get 3 seperate folds, a black , a white and a "silver" ( very stunning )
I myself would be more interested in a brindle, ( yes they even come brindle)

The horns should start getting large by next year on Ellie, last falls calves there only have little "stumps" right now.

Heres a couple sites that I have been reading up on, if anyone is interested in browsing.

http://www.chcs.ca/eindex.htm
http://www.highlandcattlesociety.com/society.php

[SableCollie]

She is (still) so adorable! I went to an agricultural high school, we got to play with the calves, but most of them went to slaughter. And the ear tagging (and on the lambs, the tail docking, done with a giant pair of scissors like things!) was just a horrible thing to watch. I always wanted a pet cow just to watch and hang out with. In fact that is one of my goals in life, to rescue a couple cattle from slaughter and have them as pets.

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by erykah1310

Heres some of the remaining pictures from yesterday.

"Yup, I am just the cutests ever"

awww , she's making a Cider's face !

[jessi76]

her twin is 2 houses down from me! There is a small farm w/ highland cows, and low and behold, a new week old baby! sooooooo adorable!

[chico2]

Erykah,thank's for enlightening me,I looked at the site,they are truly beautiful cows.
I did not know farmers would keep cows for anything else than meat and dairy:footinmouth:

[Rottielover]

aweeeeeeeeeee she is so adorable...You are a great person for taking her in and loving her

[erykah1310]

Originally Posted by chico2

I did not know farmers would keep cows for anything else than meat and dairy:footinmouth:

It is quite rare I must say, but is done. Thankfully they are like that.
We do have Highland meat here, from the farm but I dont know which it was or anything like that, I try not to think about it too much. Atleast I know they had a wonderful life ( its what gets me through it I guess)