My New Friend, Ferdinand

I made a friend today!  Not exactly groundbreaking, I know...but I thought I'd share because I think all of you will find him charming, much like I do.  He isn't very big, but he's stout.  His hair is a mix of reds and his eyes are dark chocolate brown, fringed by eyelashes of which I am very jealous.  Are you dying to know who this mystery man is?  Could he be someone famous?  I'll let you decide for yourself.  Here's his portrait.

 Isn't he handsome?!  I thought so, too.  He thinks he's pretty hot stuff as well...nothing like being president of your own fan club!  Or should I say he's "out-standing in his field"?  Bad joke, I know...but I couldn't resist.

I had gone out to check on the heifers and their calves just to make sure everything was kosher.  We tag all our calves with the same color tag and same number as their mother so we know which calf belongs to which cow.  Bull calves get their tag in the right ear, heifers get their tag in the left ear.  It makes ID pretty easy when you're out in the field...unless, like my little friend here, they haven't been tagged.  Sometimes the heifers are super casual moms and they don't keep track of their calves, so when we go to tag them, we don't know who the mother is...and sometimes the calves are sneaky and won't go to their mothers.  This guy?  Well, he's super cool, calm, collected, and casual.  I never did find out who his mother was...but I think I have a pretty good idea. 

The heifers and their calves had gathered around the truck, hoping against all odds that I had a bale of hay and was there to feed them...I was surrounded...and then they started looking in the cab of the truck...

 Right after I took this picture, this heifer stuck her nose in the cab of the truck.  She only looks innocent, don't let that wide-eyed stare fool you!

I got out of the pickup to see if I could find the mother to the little guy I had my eye on.  I circled around behind the truck and sat in the shade of the flatbed.  A lot of times, cattle will approach you if you crouch or sit on the ground.  Their curiosity gets the better of them and they can get close enough to lick you, which isn't exactly pleasant unless you like having slimy saliva dripping off your pants or sleeves.  I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you know the cattle fairly well, 'cause sometimes you might find yourself in a place you don't want to be!

This photobomb brought to you by #44.

I slooooooooooooowly reached my hand out to see if he'd sniff it.  The curious ones usually will sniff from a distance, but as you can see, this guy wasn't scared of me at all.

 What do those fingers taste like?

 That feels so nice on my forehead...but lemme clean my nose out while I'm at it.

He let me rub his forehead, down his face, under his chin--that was where he really liked it.  But rather than write about it, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

 That's not so bad....

Who knew your eyeballs could get so itchy?!

I've been trying to get that spot scratched since I was born! 

I should interject here that it's very unusual for a calf to just approach you in the field, especially one who hasn't really had any contact with people.  Sometimes, a former "bottle calf" (one that we had previously fed on a bottle for some reason or another) will come up to you, but it's generally not something that happens.  They will get curious, but they mostly keep their distance.  One other calf got brave, but only for a few seconds, and then my first little friend butted him and made him leave.

This calf got brave enough to lick my fingers....

...and then I rubbed his forehead a little bit before he decided that was enough!

Little ol' Ferdinand came back to check me out.  I think he might have pushed the other calf out of the way so he could get scratched again...

Ferdinand got mad when another calf tried to sniff me...and so they had a stand-off.  They were probably pretending to be big bulls and that they were having a real fight.  Boys!

I love it when they scratch their necks like that.  It's adorable!

Back again...

Oooooo...a little to the left...back to the right...

That's the spot I tried to itch with my foot!

He nearly fell asleep with his head pressed on my leg while I was scratching his neck.

He kept licking my pants...I'm not sure what I had on them but it was really tasty, apparently.

His favorite spot to be scratched.  Sorry for the blurry picture! 

I got a few videos of him, too.  I apologize for the horrendous filming...it's so hard to film when you can't see exactly what you're getting!  But I think you'll get a better idea of his personality if you watch them.  Plus, the cute factor is overwhelming!

That's it for this post.  I am assembling pictures from our horse drive from Smith Valley to Bridgeport and doing some editing, so I hope to have that blog post going up within the next two weeks.  Until next time, dream of green meadows, fat cattle, shiny horses, and blue skies!

My favorite picture of him.  Gotta love that face and those ears!