Calves born at the farm were removed from their mothers immediately to prevent them from getting used to suckling every time and reducing the portion of the milk for sale and home consumption.
Also, it could be difficult to wean them from suckling and to orientate them in self-feeding. Too, they could delay in learning how to eat grass. They were housed in one of the compartments in the second shed where sheep, goats, rabbits and poultry slept or stayed.
The rich egg like first three days’ milk (colostrum) after delivery was all given to the respective calf in a pail. We had to hold the pails for them and carefully too because of their hitting the pails as they imitated suckling teats.
After sometime, they took the milk on their own without any assistance. Some farmers in the neighborhood used bottles to feed their calves. After every milking time, the calves got fed fresh, raw and adequate milk. Some milk was set aside for their last feed that was before locking their door for the night. They were thus fed milk three times a day.
We increased the amount of milk given to them gradually every two weeks as they developed. In between, they drank a little water from a small trough filled for each one at a time to avoid over drinking water while thinking that it was milk, as this would cause other problems like bloated stomach and death.
After one month, they started eating a little dairy meal in a small trough at one corner of the compartment once a day. After two months, they started eating tiny blades of soft grasses that we provided at another small trough at another corner of the compartment.
As time went by, we gradually increased the amount of grass given. This schedule continued as they learned to enjoy eating grass.
After three months, we reduced the milk feeds to two but increased the quantity with what came from the third feed.
In their premises, they leaned to eat grass quickly and to drink water well. They became independent pretty fast too.
After six months, we gradually decreased the quantity of milk feed on weekly basis. They were weaned out at seven months.
Male calves were sold soon after weaning them out of milk or slaughtered as veal because of land shortage and to avoid in breeding and transfer of venereal diseases among the herd.
By the time female calves got weaned out, they could eat adequate grass and of various types. They joined their mothers in the big shed when they were a year old to continuing growing and later on join in the cycle of reproduction. As they became heifers between one and two years old, we started observing them for heat signs.
Their unification with their mothers in the big shed was interesting because despite being away from each other for that long, they still knew each other and rubbed each other as family. By the time the calves moved back to join their mothers, their mothers were in calf again though still producing milk.
Not to forget to mention that while the calves were away in the small shed, their mothers knew their sounds and when the calves howled, their mothers became alert and sometimes responded.
Their waste was collected every day and formed part of the compost for produce farming. Their urine and waste water drained through pipes into the banana plantation.
In sickness, they too were treated with Neem tree byproducts’ solution just like their mothers except that the dosage differed due to their age and size. Drastic changes in weather seemed to be the culprit in causing their distress sometimes.
In some cases, young calves had their tiny horns seared off with hot tongs after numbing with surgical spirit just as the horns were starting to come out to stop them from ever growing. The healing was pretty fast.
The horns started appearing or protruding at about one month of age. We knew they were coming up because we touched the heads to find out when we saw the calves starting to rub them against pillars and partitions due to itchiness.
If the horns grew a little and the calves proved to be rough and dangerous then the base of the horns were numbed with surgical spirit and cut off with a small hacksaw and herbs applied till healed as stumps. This was done when they were not yet weaned out.