Our only cow at Farmhouse Rescue is Mr. Patches. He is a Jersey Holstein cross who came to us about three years ago. He was born at a dairy farm but unfortunately was what they call a ‘drop calf’ which means he was separated from his mother so that he was not competing for his mother’s milk. Milk is obviously what makes the profits for the dairy farmers, and profits are so often put first unfortunately. This means they get none of those essential nutrients at the beginning of their life from their mother and in this case, it led to pneumonia. Added to a lack of oxygen at birth, poor Mr. Patches suffers brain damage so he needs a little extra care and attention. A family driving by the field where he was abandoned, could not bear to see such a young cowclearly struggling so they put him in the back of their Chevy Tahoe and took him home. He lived in their garage for about a month before they reached out to us as they did not have the space or expertise to look after him. At only a few months old he was still so young and small when he came to us. Now you could not imagine him ever being small as he is huge. He is a Steer, which means he is a castrated male bovine, and he still has his horns. Many people have the horns removed but it would be for our benefit rather than his, so we decided to let him keep his glorious horns. They are exceptionally large, and he is much stronger than he realizes so we do have to be careful of him, but he never means any harm. He seems to think he is much smaller than he actually is and until very recently he was incredibly scared of birds and squirrels, he is a big softie. At first, we fed him grain as advised but we learnt early on that this was not the best idea. It made him very bloated and unhappy, and it took two Farmhouse Rescue workers to burp him after his feed. Once massaging his belly and the other his throat. Farmers feed their cows grain as it is cheap, and it fattens them up quickly, but it makes for some uncomfortable cows. This is the best reason if you do buy beef, to ensure you always buy grassfed cows. We are in the process of building Mr. Patches a much bigger enclosure so he is free to roam a little further so if you would like to help give him some more space, please donate to Farmhouse Rescue.
