Big Day For Knuckles

After being sequestered with his mother in the barn, the barn yard and the very small side pasture, Knuckles and Plum have now joined the rest of the group in the nursery field. Knuckles has been steadily growing and strengthening his gnarled front legs. He has been working and stretching both his knees and his ankles to straighten them.

At first he had been walking on his ankles rolled under him and when he tired of that walked around on his knees in order to get around as he was learning the balancing act of standing and forward movement. He caught on to the idea of walking early but every time he wanted to move one or two of his legs would buckle and he would be stuck doing a skipping, lunging, stumbling run that would not be a straight line at all but a bopping and weaving one.

With massaging from us and a lot of practicing from him, Knuckles was able to straighten the joints enough to get his hooves to touch the ground before his ankles although he spent about a week tiptoeing and wearing the tender hooves down. He began resting with one leg outstretched to force the joint to extend and stay straight when he stood. His right leg has always been the stronger and straighter of the two and he uses this to his advantage when his left leg falters. He is strong and steady enough now to not get hurt with all the activity of the big cows and rambunctious calves, and his legs are getting better all the time.

Knuckles had been sneaking under the small electric fence that surrounds the small side pasture. His mother would pitch a fit and bellow until he would make a sneaky dash back under the wires and into the pasture. We believe this may have been what started the whole commotion on both sides of the river the other night before our herd sire delivery day. Plum is very vocal when she is hungry, grumpy or concerned for her little one and her bellows could easily wake the whole farm.

It was necessary for Knuckles to have this time to strengthen but after nearly three weeks of being cooped up it was time to get the mother and baby out into the real pasture.

The beautiful sunny weather has the pasture ground firmed up a bit and Knuckles was anxious to follow his mother out into the big pasture. The rest of the animals were in the far back of the field and Plum was able to allow Knuckles to wander around without worrying about the other calves picking on him or the bigger animals scuffling around where he could easily get hurt. Throughout the day, members of the greeting committee would roam by and meet the new baby before meandering their way back to the rest of the herd.

By  the evening meal, Plum and Knuckles were part of the nursery herd with Knuckles resting in a pile of hay while the others ate their meal. Zooming in for the pic was the route I took so that I did not disturb what was a very busy day for this calf.