Men and women who breed, rear, and sell livestock for a living know that there’s nothing more important than protecting their investment. Cattle ranches exist largely in states where winter comes early and stays well into the spring, meaning that many calves will be born while there’s still snow on the ground and temperatures are dangerously low.
According to Dr. W. Dee Whittier, calves are particularly susceptible to the cold, and the frostbite that can happen as a result.
“Newborn calves are most at risk because they are wet and because they have a large surface area in relation to their total body mass. Calves are not fully capable of maintaining temperature the first several hours of life. Newborn calves have a circulatory system that is less able to respond to cold changes as compared to more mature animals.”
Farmers know that losing cattle – especially brand new ones – isn’t kind, nor is it profitable.
Enter the earmuffs for calves trend, as useful as it is cute as it is ridiculous.
Thanks to @ThisFarmingMan_, we now have these pictures for posterity, and around 200k people online have already become obsessed.
Probably best not to look at any of these before you go out to grill a burger or a steak, though. They’re just too darn adorable to be dinner!
Or maybe you don’t care.
Probably depends on the steak.
