Traffic stopping

Today was my appointment to see the doctor, she recently had a baby and I am shocked she is back to work already, but it's only 1 half day a week so it's not horrible by any means. Anyway, I got in the truck, as dh was taking me, and I noticed that there was a horrible knocking noise. Now I don't know if I've explained this to you or not but my daddy was a mechanic, that makes me very aware of car noises. My dh is very hard of hearing and generally oblivious of car noises as cars are nothing more than a means of getting from point A to B. As I was saying, the noise was really loud and he listened for a sec and suddenly he heard it. It was an awful worrisome sound so he stopped and checked the oil, it was low. We were already running late so he figured we'd pick some up over by the doctors office in the city.

I must have prayed the entire way there as the roads are not heavily trafficked between my house and the city and we don't own a cell phone. There isn't even a gas station or a payphone between here and there. We finally get into the city and pass the gas station and as we stopped at the light the truck stopped. There is construction on that road so no one could pass us :( The guy in the 18-wheeler behind us was very nice though :) DH tried and tried and couldn't get it re-started, doesn't help that the starter is also going out. We were on a slight incline so the truck kept rolling backwards, Dh asked me to steer while he pushed as traffic was starting to get really backed up behind us. I am always impressed by how freakishly strong my dh is :) I digress, he began pushing and the nice guy in the truck behind got out and helped him.

Safely in the construction cones the kids and I talked about cars and their different fluids. Dh walked to the gas station we had passed to get some oil. There was a nice breeze out today thankfully so it was not too bad when we had to wait a bit longer as the gas station didn't have any oil and DH had to walk a bit further to O'Rileys. He came back with 3 quarts of oil and the car took all of them gladly, he jumped in and attempted to get it started and within a few minutes the engine was started, though there was still some knocking. DH would have to go to Wal-mart a bit further up the highway to get more oil.

I finally got to the doctors office, now half an hour late and thankfully she was still there. It had been 2 months since I last saw her and I was grateful to the scale when it said I had only gained 1 pound :) We chatted for a bit and she listened to baby, who was very active at the time. I have another sono coming up next week as baby was breach at the last sono and I finally got my glucose test done along with my other bloodwork. All in all it was a good day. Please pray that the truck repairs will not be too expensive.

Now to the quick updates: Yesterday was a HUGE cattle auction not far from here and Dh took Notch, Pickle, Coffee and Patches. We were tired of the irritation and harassment of whomever has been calling the sheriff out, it has been a weekly issue for the past few weeks and sometimes we would hear from the sheriff a few times during the week. Even the sheriff's office was beginning to wonder who we pissed off. Anyway, the sale was a disaster and I remember now why I hate selling cattle there. Notch was injured prior to taking the stage and now will need to be tended (by them) for the next week in the hopes of getting her back on her feet. If they can get her back up then they will attempt to sell her next week, if not they will put her down and file a claim with their insurance to pay us for her. There was so much cattle there that the sale started at noon and dh didn't get home till midnight.

Today I was on facebook (my second home) and a friend posted a video that I initially was going to ignore but decided to watch anyway. Man did it speak to me, WOW!! I know now that it is not time to sell off all the cattle and that we will need to strengthen our resolve to make this farm sustainable and that we frankly have to want it more. With this new resolve we will proceed forward and continue to work on the beef herd that we have left. The reduced numbers should make it easier to take them through winter and the money from the sale will help get the hay we need to do that. Anyway, now you're all caught up, hope you are getting stocked up this winter promises to be brutal.

We need a name . . .

For our new little lady, Notch apparently it is Blackbird that had her baby :)

Quinn

Tomorrow Today we say goodbye to Quinn, we weighed him and he is a whopping 700lbs. Hopefully that will work out well after processing. As usual he gave us quite a run for our money when we attempted to get him loaded into the trailer. He busted through the gate and trailer door and took off down the highway. My little guy came into the house and let me know what was happening. I got the kids in and took off in the car to offer my assistance as our oldest son manned the gates.

DH walked behind him trying to lead him back but he was leading the way . I cut him off from crossing the street and sent him up the strip behind the property, I went back to the house only to find that Quinn had doubled back, I was less than pleased. So once again I was off to head he off by the road. I was able to convince him to walk along the outer fence line and come back home, but AR wasn't expecting him from that end so the gate was not open yet. :( Quinn jumped over the trailer hitch but stayed close by.

Dh managed to get him back into the corrals but upon trying to load him once more he busted through the gates again. It was more than a little frustrating at this point. Got him in once more and DH determined that he needed to back the trailer up a little more. I was less than impressed with this plan as it required all gates to be open while Quinn was standing within 100 feet of them. He got Quinn a flake of Alfalfa and he backed up the trailer. It was perfect now. He walked Quinn straight into the trailer with no further fuss or fanfare.

We've had Quinn since he was 6 week old and this is a bittersweet end for us all. We had hoped to sell him but it never turned out that way. We hope the meat will last us quite a while, we will find out about getting the hide in the morning. The skull, bones and organs will also be coming home with us. Well not much else to say except, thank goodness summer vacation is here :)

Praise Him ALWAYS!

We are really please to have hit the 50% mark of our surplus sold, we hope to finally put a sign out as others around town have inquired. We will be getting a few more layers to balance out our hen to rooster ratio. The meat birds will be ordered soon (if you will want some please let me know asap) as we have a standing pre-order. All in all we are very pleased with the current pace and look forward to see what the Summer and Fall will bring. :)

Mag is still a bit of challenge with her kicking, she has gotten a lot better since we started using the milking machine but occasionally she gets so antsy that she even kicks at the milker :( Dh thinks we may need to get a hobble after all, at least until she learns not to kick. I really miss that about Buttercup and Treva.

Miss Broody's eggs did not hatch, we were really bummed but it was great learning experience. Now with warmer weather we may opt to try the experiment again.

The garden is coming along, the potatoes seem to be growing nicely, as are the strawberries, tomatoes, squash and cantaloupe (saved seed from last years volunteer garden). We put the corn in (we are doing a very small patch), with pigeon peas, I really hope they both do well as I LOVE pigeon peas and it is not easy to get it around here. The blackberries, raspberries, grapes and blueberries seem to be doing well. The peach and cherry trees aren't dead so that's progress ;) All in all we are very optimistic for the small (tiny really) garden we have attempted this year. :)

A quick note from Quinn

He is such and ornery little punk, lol :)

Meet Mag

Mag (pronounced Meg)is the sister (same Sire) of Treva. She is a smaller cow and so far seems to be bred (Quinn has passed her on the sniff test thus far) lol. She gives 4 gallons a day but doesn't seem to like our feed. :( We'll be working on finding an acceptable combination for her. As she settles down more, she's currently not too keen on the stanchion and just lays down. She is getting a bit more used to the idea, and she stands beautifully. I expect great things from her while she's here :)

She's gone

Well they were supposed to pick her up yesterday but with all the rain they couldn't get out. I guess I must have forgotten the whole thing because I forgot to say goodbye this morning :( When I called home at mid-day, my girl was being loaded and was soon on her way to her new home.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to go with EE to a farm tour south of Wichita. It was an amazing farm and I really felt encouraged that I wanted to get into this life. I learned a lot on that tour, I asked a ton of questions. It was a great family place, all the kids worked there with their parents and the grand kids are now coming up.

I told you that story, to tell you that amazingly that is the farm that bought my Treva. I am so glad that she will be well cared for and that others will have a chance to see her and learn all about cows and milk. It is a wonderful place and though I didn't recognise them when they came out to see her, I do remember the conversations I had with each of them that day a few years ago, and how it changed my life.

In a surprise turn of events

We had planned on selling Buttercup, though we were not actively committed to that end. A potential buyer emailed us and we agreed for him to come out and look at her, well sure enough we got an email this morning saying that he found another cow yesterday. I was a little disappointed but no problem. A few minutes later I got a call from someone asking about Treva, it seemed really odd since we had not advertised her yet he knew all her information. I eventually asked, "who are you?", "have I met you?" He explained that he had placed an ad on craigslist some time ago, then it clicked. I had read an ad of someone looking for a gentle milk cow and I called. The guy told me that the price was a bit more than they had wanted to spend so I said ok and didn't bother. Anyway, he wanted to come see her and he picked the same time that the other buyer was supposed to come out. He and his wife came and met Treva, who was not too thrilled to meet new people but was much better once she was out of the Angus cows way, they have been giving her the evil eye. Anyway, they poked and prodded and tugged and petted (a very good idea when looking at a cow that is supposed to be gentle). Finally they said good bye and we figured we would never hear from them again. Well they called to say that they want her, she is as gentle as ever and just what they've been looking for. They didn't even try to get the price lower, she's quite a bargain even at that price. :) We will miss our girl but it will be nice for her to be an only cow, where she can be spoiled with all the things her little cow heart desires :)

So you want to buy a Jersey milk cow

Since getting Treva almost 2 years ago we have learned quite a bit about Jerseys. This breed is known for it's fairly docile cows . . . please note that the bulls are notorious for their bad temper. They give about 3-6 gallons of milk depending on the cow, calve easy (depending on what it's bred to) and are fairly hardy.

All of that said lets take a look at some of those things: 3-6 gallons of milk per day - if you have your heart set on keeping a 100% grass fed animal then this number is not realistic I have met 1 person who has made the claim and later admitted that the cow get grain in the stanchion. (Please note that it is not impossible to get milk, we are discussing the quantity).

Since I have not had any issues with calving, I will only point out once again that the breed used to breed back is key to this.

Fairly Hardy (the ability to survive adverse growing conditions) - I use the word fairly because while Jersey's are smaller than lots of other dairy cows their condition (essentially muscle tone and fat coverage) tends to suffer depending on quantity and quality of the food they eat. There is a conditioning chart to help determine if your cow is too fat/thin the latter being the most likely. Milk production burns A LOT of calories. I had a comment on here a couple weeks ago accusing Treva of being too thin and claiming that she could die if I didn't dry her off immediately etc.

Well I called my vet and had him come out as Treva tends to stay between a 2(a little underweight) and a 3 (optimal), he found her to be in the same condition as she has always been, and offered a few suggestions if we wanted to try to bulk her up to a 3. For some jerseys this will work, so we figured it was worth a shot, I always think she is thin but I am comparing her to beef cows. The vet keeps pointing out that if she looked like a beef cow then that would be a problem. Anywho, we switched her to 1 milking a day to help her keep more of her calories. I'll let you know how it goes.

Since then I have noticed on many boards that this is a common issue for Jersey owners, I have not seen any other dairy breed have to worry as much about this, maybe it's the high butterfat? Just thinking aloud.

Hoof care is very important with dairy animals but I can only speak to Treva at this point. Recently she was moving rather slowly and I was concerned, the next day there was a noticeable limp. We called the vet and he instructed dh to check her hoof for a possible stone or nail that may have gotten stuck, but there wasn't one. I did a bit of searching and discovered that the grain can cause their hooves to grow rapidly and need to be kept trimmed. The vet told dh to get her an antibiotic from the co-op and the next day the limp was replaced by a little sluggishness and now she is back to her old self (ornery, lol).

So what was the point of all of this? The point was to remind future milk cow owners that getting a milk cow is like having another child around the house, you will have to spend a lot of time around them and take as much care or better to make sure that they are healthy and strong. They may seem tough because they're big animals but they need you to stay attentive.

Oh Buttercup . . .

Well mama and baby are doing very well (last I checked, lol). She is so delighted by this little guy, it is amazing to see the transformation of a heifer to a cow. her maternal instincts are wonderful. I watched as she stood guard of LJ and you could tell that the little wheels in her head were turning as she decided if she should leave him and try to get Treva's grain or stay put just in case . . . she stayed put. :) This is day 3 so her milk hasn't come in but we are eager to see what kind of production she will have. I remember how flat her little udder was when we got her and now it is definitely a B cup, LOL. I'm told she will probably move up to a C or D when her milk comes in, lol. She has been a bit more ornery about getting into the stanchion and leaving the barn but we have chalked that up to hormones. She doesn't want to take baby out in the cold, understandably and she will not leave him. We'll get back into the routine and she will be fine. She does not mind being milked, she is still standing beautifully. :)

She's a . . .

He. LOL!! It seems my hubby needs a cow anatomy lesson. :) We are calling him Lot Jr (LJ). He will make many pretty babies, just like his daddy :) He is nursing very well, I am really pleased with Buttercup. Dh and I went to look at him when I got home from work and he was there all by his lonesome, soon enough the other cows came up from the pasture and he mooed for his mama, she came running in to check on him. She cleaned him a little and then stood patiently as he latched on. It was wonderful. Quinn seems to like him too. I cant wait to see the babies that he and Buttercup will have next year :)

I should add that we are very pleased with this little guy as we really wanted Lot's genetics to continue through our herd and now it will :)