Freshening & Calves' Names

Whew......we were busy this morning.....two cows freshened (Dairy Word of the Day). Do you think that means those two cows went to the powder room (which is the whole barn, by the way)? Or that they took a shower or bath? You would be wrong on both accounts.

What if I told you that I have, in a way, freshened 4 times. Would you think I've bathed only four times in my life?? Not hardly.

You probably already know this, but to freshen means to give birth.....specifically, to a calf.....to calve.

The first photo shows one of the new arrivals (she looks damp because her mother was licking her off). The calf's dam (mother) is named Crystal, and her sire (father) is Mock.

Husband does A.I., so the sires' names come from whoever raises the bulls. Some other time I'll discuss A.I. Also, by the way, we do not have registered cattle......they are grade Holsteins, thus our animals don't have those really long complicated titles containing the name of our farm and goodness knows what else (Here are a few examples from a magazine: "Pine-Tree Outside Mint", "True-Blue Ellimay", "End-Road O-Man Banana", "Welcome Teamster Patsy") No lie, those are cow's names!!

The other calf born this morning is also a heifer (female); her dam being Ophelia, and her sire, Lattitude. Only her foot is showing at the top of the photo below. The calf in the foreground is several days old......her name is "Apple". Which leads me to what I really want to discuss: How we choose names for calves (only the females receive names, as they will be raised to become milk cows).
Apple's dam is Amber, and her sire is Applause, so after knowing that, I started free-associating name ideas to Husband. I suggested Ampere, Apple, Ample, Amble......he chose Apple, which would have been my choice, too. He gets the final say in the matter. He is the boss of the bossies.

Anyway, now we have these two additional heifer calves to think of names for. Any ideas? Remember, the two sets of names to work with are Crystal & Mock and Ophelia & Lattitude. Let's see.......Crysmo or Mockry.....Oaf (nah), Ophatt, Loafy, Phelia, Laugh......like I said, I just free-associate words until Husband hears one he likes. Sometimes, he thinks of a name himself, or one of the kids will come up with one. Husband is famous for having chosen the name "Boob" for a cow one time. The poor thing......I felt sorry for her.

Let me know if you have any ideas for these two calves' names. Oh, and also, HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!!