bum calf

bum calf (plural bum calves)

1. A young heifer or bull which has been orphaned or abandoned; it must be adopted by another cow, steal milk, or be bottle-fed in order to survive, and is therefore often a runt.
   • 2005, Lynn Parr, Cowgirl: A Home on the Wyoming Range, page 149:

     At the start of calving season, there was another bum calf, Ferdinand, whose mother had abandoned him.

   • 2002, Judy Blunt, Breaking Clean, page 291:

     I could do it all — I could play their game until I dropped — but I would never own a square foot of land, a bushel of oats or a bum calf in my own name.

   • 1992, Teresa Jordan, Cowgirls: Women of the American West, page 83:

     She usually manages to be busy feeding some bum calf or wrangling the horses or something.

   • 1989, Gretel Ehrlich, Heart Mountain, page 114:

     "I feel like a bum calf when you do this to me," Madeleine said and when her mother said, "What?" Madeleine said, "Never mind."

• bummer
• dogie
• leppy (primarily in Spanish-speaking areas)