Some of you might remember a previous post that introduced our newest farmyard animal, a Jersey calf. It is now over 3 months later, and he is no longer a calf but a steer! And, unlike the original post about him, he now has a name. According to the results of the naming contest, our visitors’ favorite choice was Max. Thanks to everyone who voted!
When Max was a calf, his diet consisted of milk formula and sweet feed. As he has gotten older, his diet has slowly become hay and steer chow. He currently still gets sweet feed, but as his growing slows he will be completely weaned off. His growth has been rapid since he first came to us, and he still has a long way to go before he reaches his full size! If you look back at the first post (you can click on it above), you can see that Max used to be about the same height as Chummix the goat. Now Max is somewhere around a foot taller than Chummix.
Max is also in the process of being trained to walk on a leash. Above, Keeper Kent is taking him on his daily walk. The leash is inside the PVC, which helps to train Max what distance we want him to be from us. This is a slow process, but hopefully Max will eventually become just as good on a leash as Moo the Steer was. Watch for a later post that will discuss Max’s red bucket training.
Keeper Kristen also posted a story recently about stonedusting the farmyard. Click here to see this post and you can watch a video of Max running around his yard.
Nice post – thanks for linking back to the video of Max running around – I’d forgotten how much fun it was to watch that.I do have a question, though. What is sweet feed? It sounds like something that I’d like!
Jeff,Sweet feed is a grain mixture (often corn and oats) that has added sugar. The sugar is usually in the form of molasses. In young animals, the extra calories are good for energy during the period of rapid growth. It is not usually given to adults except as a treat or as a small part of the diet.It smells really good!