Does she have horn buds on her head? You will be able to feel these buds as soon as she’s born and if they’re present they will grow as she grows. You do have a choice to have them removed if you’d like. We had this done with one of our bull calves, Jack, and the vet numbed the area with lidcane and burned the nerve endings off. It was a successful procedure and Jack showed zero discomfort as his buds healed.
If she’s a couple of days old, do you have a way of feeding her? Maybe you have a cow that can act as a surrogate mother to her and raise her on milk. You could buy milk replacer, but it’s expensive and not as good as the real stuff. Ideally, you want to have a cow on their mamas milk (or a donor mom’s milk) for the first 6 months of their lives to help set them up for success. If they’re an older heifer make sure to ask how long they nursed for.
Getting colostrum into a newborn calf within the first two hours of being born is so crucial for their overall immune system. Calves aren’t born with a protected immune system because antibodies don’t pass through the placenta into the calves circulatory system - meaning, they are susceptible to bacteria. The colostrum provides antibodies for the calf to have protection against bacteria. Colostrum poop will be mustard yellow.

Did she have a retained placenta? Get mastitis easily? Have milk fever? Ketosis? Any complications post delivery will give you guidance on how to work with this cow in future carvings and what you should have on hand or if you can handle this cow if she were to have a repeat.
Every cow has their own personality. You can tell if one is sassy vs. docile. Does she stand nicely when she’s milked or is she constantly kicking over buckets? Does she come when she’s called or are you having to chase her down? You’re going to want a sweet cow - unless of course you’re good at breaking sassy behaviors. Her temperament will also likely be passed on to her offspring. If you’re looking to sell calves to other farms, they will ask about temperament as well. Good cows are worth their weight in gold.
Knowing the reason behind why someone is letting their cows go will tell you a lot as well. Some people are honest and great when it comes to making a sale and having a quality cow to pass along to your farm while others are just trying to make their trash your treasure. Be mindful of their reasoning and don’t feel bad about really digging to find out why they would let such a steal of a deal go.

When purchasing a farm bull you’re going to want to know what kind of genetics he has because he will be making lots of babies for your farm. If A2 status matters, ask. If being polled matters, ask. (Remember to ask if they are hetero or homo polled - it matters for the offspring.)
Does he breed quickly and get cows knocked up or is it taking longer for him to produce offspring. Like humans, bulls can have low sperm count or even be infertile. There are ways for a vet to check this.
This is helpful to know how big he was as a calf so you know if he will pair well with your cow so that she will be less likely to have complications of a calf being too large to push out easily.

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