Our Highland calves - now 13 weeks old! (Pics and a few questions!)

[MaineHighlands]

Here are our two highland calves born June 2nd.
The first picture is Maisey - our bottle calf (even the vet that came out thought it was a long shot for her to live)

And here is Ziva - (aka Buggy) - She got fly strike at one week old.

Both are doing great, Buggy is back out with her mom in the pasture and is thriving!
Maisey transitioned to bucket feeding about 4 weeks ago, she is also doing great and we are going to be weaning her next week. She has gone through two bags of milk replacer so it is time... My husband wants to let her out in the pasture with the other cows and bull, but I think that would be a mistake as there would be no mom to protect her. She has her own grassy area separated from the others by a wood fence and corral gate and has a run into the barn for shelter and safety. She can see the other cows when they come to drink at the waterer. Any thoughts as far as letting her out with the others?

Also, we are making a winter paddock area for them on one side of our long chicken barn using the gravel drive as their outdoor area. They will have an opening in the side of the barn to go in for shelter, and we thought we would feed their hay in there so it would be easier to scoop the poop for compost and basically to get it out of the way as opposed to letting it build up until spring in the driveway. We read that the calves shouldn't be competing with the adults for food in a somewhat confined area - so my thought was to keep both calves in the area I described above that Maisey has - access to the barn with an enclosed corral area. They could keep each other company and not compete with two full grown cows and a bull for hay. How does this plan sound?
I appreciate any input!

 

[arabianequine]

They are sure cute! I love the first one especially

 

[Cricket]

Oh, they are cute! Sounds to me like a good plan keeping them apart, but I'm a nervous Nelly. I usually feed outside in winter unless it's sloppy ground, and then pick up the poops after they freeze--they pop right up. As you mentioned, waiting 'til spring to get them all means a sloppy few months. They seem to waste less hay outside.

Have you ever thought of disbudding your calves? I'm not suggesting you should, but I have been thinking about going back to raising beef instead of just dairy calves. I really like the solid Galloways, esp the polled part, but they're just about impossible to find around here. I get the impression that it's sort of criminal not to leave the horns on the Highlands?

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Can't answer your questions but your calves are adorable!

 

[MaineHighlands]

We thought that feeding them in a sort of half round hay feeder would work. We would feed the round bale in the barn in the feeder - they would have access to one side. We would push the bale closer to the feeding side as they ate it down. We aren't 100% sure what we are going to do at this point... We thought that inside feeding sounded like a good idea.
The horns will stay - we only have a few animals and we aren't in close quarters with them... and they look odd without them!

 

[CocoNUT]

ADORABLE!

 

[Cricket]

The horns will stay - we only have a few animals and we aren't in close quarters with them... and they look odd without them!

Thanks! That's what I was wondering! The good thing about your feeding plan is that it'll be easy enough to change if you're not happy with it!

 

[autumnprairie]

your calves are adorable, please enter them in PIC of the week.
I too would keep them separate

 

[arabianequine]

Yeah cause the first one will win!

 

[Royd Wood]

Nice calves - great breed