Eliza’s mother, Toni Lake, established our herd of Highland Cattle in 2007 with four heifers: Bonnie, Annabelle, Clementine, and Primrose. In June 2011 we added to the herd, purchasing three cows with lovely names we never use, who we instead referred to as Momma Red, Momma White, and Momma Dun.

Since then, these wonderful mothers have been joined by a bevy of baby calves and the calves’ babies, who all grow like crazy and some of whom have or are slated to become part of the breeding herd. We have a new crop of calves each year, with each year assigned a letter, so as to simplify both the naming process and our ability to easily know the age of  each cow. And we try, sometimes successfully, to link the names to their mother’s.  Here’s the list of the babies who’ve been born since we began breeding:

• 2011: Asterix, Arthur, Abigail, Aria, Aoife, and April
• 2012:  Cinnamon, Cosmos, Cecelia, Cairo, and Clyde
• 2013: Disco, Denali, Daisy, Dehlia, Darling, Devin, and Djibouti
• 2014: Earnest, Elephante, Egg, Eyelet, Echo, Enormous (“Norm”), and Eritrea
• 2015: Fred, Franz, Fergus, and Fiona (the bull hadn’t done his job well that year)
• 2016: Gregory, Grayson, Georgia, Ginger, Gordie, Gertie, Grommit, and Gracie
• 2017: Hope, Hughie, Hellebore, Huevo, Hephaestus, Harry, (Clove) Hitch, Heidi, Honeybelle, Hammond, and Hamilton
• 2018: Iona, I-lette, Idli, Iambe, Iggy, Icarus, Ivan, Ian, and Iris
• 2019: Jamie, Juniper, Jellybean, Jasmine, Jicama, Jiffy, Jalapeno, James (Brown), Johnny (Jump Up), Julius, and Jillie
• 2020: All names that start with “K”!  It will be a tricky one, and we’re expecting another 11 babies.  Feel free to share ideas!

Of course, as is true on any farm, some animals are around for a long time, and some are not.  We are grateful for their contributions to the farm’s viability, enjoy their presence greatly, and enjoy the work they do to keep our rough pastures open.  We expect to maintain the herd with at least 30-35 animals, but the numbers grow and wane.