No bull

The 6 heifers mysteriously showed up in our corrals that night, DH was quite surprised to see them locked down with Meg when he got home. We decided that a kind neighbor must have thought they were ours and not seeing any vehicles home, had penned them for us. We call the Sheriff back to let them know that we now had them so that their owner could be found.

The next day (yesterday), Dh worked 1st and almost an hour after he got home we got a call from someone claiming to own the heifers. It seems they are his "problem" children, lol. He brought his tractor down and even pulled our car out of the ditch :) While we waited for him to come back with his trailer I asked dh to find out if he has a bull we could use. Turns out he lost his bull earlier this year :( As the two continued talking it suddenly dawned on him that that might be why his heifers have been breaking out, I know my girls are sure getting antsy waiting to be bred back. Cows aren't as bad as cats when they are in heat but they aren't too far off, lol.

Our neighbor in the smaller town has promised to loan us one of his bulls next month when he pulls them out of the cow pasture, so it will not be too much longer. Once they are settled they will calm down and settle into their winter routine. That will be a pleasant change of pace. I am now further convinced that a bull is a good investment, even if you just keep him for a short time. As of right now our girls are back to their barn, oh, chip turned out to have been behind the barn the whole time, lol. We'll see what a handsome bull he turns out to be next year and hopefully won't need to buy a bull.

Oh, as for the fencing issue, it turns out that the deer in the area seem to like to jump the hot wire, which they never seem to fully get over so it knocks it down and/or breaks the insulators. Many thanks to the farmer who picked up his rogue heifers as we would have never figured this one out. I don't know that there is a whole lot of alternative but we'll sure be looking.

Meg is also doing much better now that the heat has moved on and she can graze freely all day. It is amazing how the heat can affect cows. He calf is still kicking, as we eagerly await her (yes I'm optimistic) arrival :) Cow buying Tip: it is not wise to go cow shopping alone (if you are inexperienced) and assume pictures will be very good for the person who advises you. Even the best expert should at least see a cow in person before deciding one way or another. Shadows can play far too many tricks on the eyes.

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 :)

The new herd

Well we've been trying to find the right way to take the farm and after lots of prayer we have added beef cattle to our herd. We have added 2 more bred angus cows, 1 bred hereford cow, 1 charolais cross heifer, 1 simmental cross heifer (not the surprise calf) and 1 hereford heifer. We will have 5 more calves this year and plan to take 5 calves to the sale barn this fall, once they are up to weight. Next years goal is 10.

The sorting process of buying beef cattle is interesting if you opt to buy unregistered/cross bred stock. The 3 heifers came together and were among 5 that we went to see. 1 was an obvious (at least to me) jersey cross with jersey conformation (trending toward dairy rather than beef) and the other seemed thin for her age (compared to the other calves being seen and Eva). Those 2 did not make the cut. The hereford is such a sweet calf, she is like a pet. She follows us around, she is so adorable. The guy who had here had bottle fed her and kept her in a separate pen from the others, she even had her own "room" in the big barn, lol. We call her Pretty. The other 2 calves are Coffee (she had a cough) and the other is Patches.

The big girls, AKA bred cows, are Notch (she has a notch on her ear), Pickle (born in her bag and her mama worked very hard to get her bag to break, she looked like a pickle) and Dolly (another hereford that tugged on the heart strings of her previous owner). These girls come from a farm that is selling out and their other cow friends will be on the sale barn floor tomorrow. We looked at the bull who was there and he had been dehorned very young, he is a big boy but though he looks VERY angus, he is an obvious cross with jersey. It isn't that he looked the part, it is that all the calves that he has fathered have a very definite Jersey look (white ring around the nose and a variety of tan, red and brown coloring, mixed with their black fur.

While there is nothing wrong with crossing a jersey and angus, it is not practical to buy a calf that trends this way as it takes more to get them beefed up. We will have to keep looking for an angus bull to make the herd complete. The key to this however is trying to find one at the right price as we did for the females we got, as the saying goes "buy low, sell high".

On a side note: my son has just completed a practical course in investing, he took his birthday money and invested it, he didn't buy at the lowest point in the market but he was able to buy low enough that he trippled his money when he sold his stock today. To say the least he is very pleased with this and is making plans for his new found wealth, lol.

We will be having both pastures hot wired, with a path leading from one side to the other, thankfully we found someone who could do it at a good price. I am hoping that this will end the annual fencing nightmare. We have also ordered more hay to act as a supplement. This year we will be deworming and vaccinating the cows, as we do not want to risk losing any this year.

We were so thankful that the truck was able to handle the weight, the 3 cows are rather big and we have never hauled so much weight before. We were very concerned but it did beautifully, though we will not haul such a heavy load in future with a 1/2 ton truck, we will need something heavier. There was one point where we got stuck on someone's property while trying to turn around and thankfully their neighbor had a 1 ton dually 4x4. That guys truck is VERY NICE, it is both manual and automatic, but boy is it expensive to buy something like that. Everything in time . . .

As you may have noticed we are moving more towards working on the farm over any other ventures. The "business" didn't work as it was supposed to or as we had understood it to be and we have walked away from it. There are issues there that I would please ask that you keep us in your prayers. God has been good, He is truly faithful and we are continually blessed.

PICS:

Pretty


Patches and Coffee


Coffee again


Spot and her new mama :)

More pics to come soon, it is pretty dark out so no pics of the ladies yet.

Calf surprise

Well dh went to the weekly sale barn and came home with a little Angus x Simmental heifer. Side note: dh is no longer allowed to go to the sale barn :) Anyway, she's here and is a sweet little thing with a sad story. Born half of a twin, her mother died a few days ago when the VERY large bull attempted to mount her and broke her hips :( Fortunately we happen to know the farmer that this little lady came from so we are hoping for great thing from her :)

New Kid on the block . . . er . . barn

A few days ago we said goodbye to our Dexter girls. It was a bittersweet goodbye for us and Lot, there is nothing sadder than listening to a grown bull cry/whine/moo. We had figured that the transition would be a bit difficult, and we found a deal too good to turn down, so we went to a little town, too small to find on the map and picked up a beautiful jersey heifer. They called her Buttercup. Pics to come soon, my battery died as did my washing machine, dishwasher and well pump :( Thank goodness we got the cows sold, now to find a home for Lot and/or Quinn.

Random

We got the pigs out and have since cremated them and my only real lesson on this subject is, if you ever have to pull dead pigs out of mud, make sure you have some rope handy.

On a happier (a very relative term) note, dh discovered that it is not a good idea to be napping with a curious toddler around. Our little guy got a hold of some safety scissors and gave daddy a little "hair cut", lol. He now adamantly denies any knowledge of the incident, he will make an awesome spy. :)

Treva is a very happy milker now that she have figured out the pay for performance deal, she eagarl moos at us when it is time to be milked and even willingly goes into her stanchion and puts her head through the gate and waits, lol. :)

I am amazed how small the dexter cows look next to Treva. I know what you're thinking, but while I know they are a small breed, Jersey's aren't exactly a large breed. In fact jersey cows settle around the same weight range as a Dexter cow. I can see now why people thought we had calves or why people mistakedly call the Dexter's minitures.

We're considering dehorning all our animals. Having Treva around we found that we really do prefer no horns. I will probably only get polled animals if I buy more as I don't know how I will feel about this whole dehorning process. Not to mention it will make training our Dexter cows to stand in the stanchion a lot easier. As it is their horns are too wide to go straight through, and while they can turn their head, we'd prefer not to have that particular fight too.

Cows, Peep Shows and Milking

Yesterday I left work to go see the Jersey Cows at an Amish Farm about an hour from here. Once I finally found the place (not mapquest/google maps accessible) i drove up to a sea of beauties. So many Jersey cows relaxing in the shade. I was greeted by the tinies little dog with the loudest wheeze, he sounded like one of the pigs but couldn't be more than 7 pounds. Turns out the wife of this dairy farmer got a ride to Wichita and along the way was informed that she had acquired the dog in return for the trip :( Anyway, I got out to the milking parlor (which is one of the reasons I took a late lunch, so I could be there). He pointed out the 3 options and I watched as they were being handled for milking.

The first in line, an older girl was very calm and was so full she was practically milking herself. He name is Zilla, she is 10 years old and calved on the 4th of July and has a very nicely attached udder. We moved on the lioness, she is only 3 quartered (only 3 teats work) but is a beautiful 4 year old cow, again with a very nicely attached udder. She is a little antsy about being milked in that when she feels she's done, she kicks off the teat cups, lol. The thing is that she has one teat that milks slower and so she usually has to be hoooked up again. Last but not least is Treva, a 5 yr old with all four quarters working, nicely attached udder, though she seems to have an "extra" teat (no it doesn't give milk too). Her back teats are shorter than the front. I was told she is a little frisky and has a little kick to her, though she didn't mind being milked.

Now that I had seen them get milked it was time to really meet the girls. I walked out to meet Zilly, the sweetest cow you ever did meet and if you thought I mistyped zilla I didn't. Zilly is from Zilla's line, which told me that zilla was a keeper. Zilly - not for sale :( - is a beautiful young cow that loves to meet new people. She walked up to me and before I knew it she had sniffed me and began actively licking me. lol.

Anyway, this is not about Zilly, no matter how wonderful she is and how great she would be to own :( But seriously, I had to make a choice on the other two as I couldn't afford them both. As previously mentioned cow buying is not a quick sort of thing. Oh and I should mention that all of these cows are dehorned (I think I will be dehorning my others). Dh finally showed up and was greeted by the friendly miss Emma, a cow who vigorously licked his shirt, lol. Anyway, I called him over to meet the girls and as he wandered around them lioness seemed not to like him too much, while Treva smelled him and licked him. (Guess which on we got, lol).

We talked a bit more and then the wife suggested that we try to get them haltered, I immediately liked her thinking. She had mentioned that the oldest boy tries to halter train the cows, tries is the operative word. Zilla was not going to do it willingly though she did not put up too much of a fight, Treva on the other hand took off running. We decided to wait a little longer to try again. The farm has a very interesting way of loading animals and I will definitely be trying this if I have to load an animal again, walk them up to the gate, have 2 movable gates on either side of the trailer (creating sort of a triangle), 2 people in the spaces inside the triangle and close the gate, which pushes the animal forward gently. Both girls were loaded without incident. Once inside the dairy farmer climbed in and haltered Treva.

It was then I asked about the records and he mentioned something about the date Treva was bred. I stopped. "What? I didn't know she was bred." He looked at his wife and they asked, "did you not want her bred?" I was ecstatic. This was a great bonus, then as he went to get the papers she asked if we wanted them to transfer the registrations. Again, I stopped. "These are registered Jersey's?" Well I tell ya, God is a funny God, we found this awesome deal and didn't even think twice about asking any questions, but he worked it all out.

Zilla, went to some friends as they are to be hand milking and of the two cows, she was identified as the most receptive to that idea. I hear she's done wonderfully with it ;) Treva came home and the others were immediately interested. We locked them into the arena and unloaded her, not such an easy task with a 900 pound animal, but for sweet feed she was definitely considering it. lol. Once in the double Corral we locked her in and she immediately started to eat the grass. The dairy did not have a lot of pasture for the 70+ cows they had. She was in heaven. Lot and the ladies mooed like crazy as they checked her out, it looked like some kind of peep show as they peered through the fence and gate. They were checking her out from all available angles, lol.

At that point dh and I were don for the night and went to bed excited to start the new day and our first try at milking. The alarm went off at 5:00 and we were actually both awake and not hitting the snooze button. We puttered around for a bit getting things ready, after figuring out a few details, like what we would sit on, we were off. Then turned back to get our jackets, it's cold at that hour. The sun was not up, nor was it even thinking of getting up yet.

The cows were in the arena and so once again we shut the gate. The stanchion was moved to the doorway and the doors closed on either side. it was time to get Treva in. While she did not mind us getting the rope on her halter, she was not going to go anywhere with us without some encouragement. It was like watching a 900 pound temper tantrum though I've seen worse tantrums, lol. Not once did she lock up on us and refuse to move. We got her to the door way and then she did not wish to go any further, it was time to get out the incentive - sweet feed. It piqued her interest some but she wasn't hungry. Finally, after several more tries she was in and I shut the head gate. She tamed, immediately.

Just to be on the safe side though I asked dh to tie her leg to the back post of the stanchion, as I didn't want to take any chances of her kicking either of us. We began milking, squirt (pause) (pause) squirt, it was slow going, actually very slow going for a while. Then I went in front of her and offered her the sweet feed again, nothing. I picked it up and she ate it all out of my hands. Now she was interested. :) Long (LONG) story short we were finally able to get her milked out by 8:30. Picks of this beauty will be up a little later when I get home from work and get a nap. :) Oh, we got about 2 gallons of milk, I will investigate the butter possibilities when I get home also.