Farmers Make Earmuffs for Baby Calves
I was in Mexico in February and I met a group of farmers from Canada. Two of them worked on and owned a pig farm, and the other two worked and owned a beef farm. They were incredibly nice, hard-working people who have spent their entire lives on their farms. They still work on them today.
These beautiful people told me that they lived two hours from the nearest airport. Their farms were located in the middle of nowhere in Canada. (I am picturing somewhere close to Santa up in the North Pole). And in their tiny little Canadian town, it gets really cold in the winters.
When I asked them about their animals being out in the frigid temperatures, that’s when it got interesting. They explained to me that the baby calves wear homemade earmuffs. I was shocked. I needed to know more. So, I pulled up a chair and learned all about it.
Why Calves Need Earmuffs
Earmuffs? Yes, earmuffs. One of the women who owned the cow farm actually sewed earmuffs to keep the baby calves’ ears warm during the winter. Turns out, if the calves’ ears get frostbite, they could potentially fall off of their heads. I didn’t even know that was a “thing,” but apparently it is. If the ears fall off the calves, their selling price gets reduced. But, if the ears stay on, farmers get more money from the sale. This one woman had spent 20 years making handmade earmuffs for the calves. She even said that it worked! Not a single ear fell off of a calf with her sewn fabric earmuffs.
This woman isn’t the only one making calf earmuffs. In fact, it’s now a lucrative business for other companies. MooMuffs is a well-known company that sells their earmuffs to farmers all over the world.
Check out the most adorable pictures of baby calves in earmuffs below! I promise you it’s going to want to make you go out and adopt a baby calf. (At least I want to now!)
