Post by thystledown on Aug 19, 2022 14:00:49 GMT -5
This was early November 2019. The rest are this week. Esther is learning to come and be led to the barn from the night pasture and to move away from the dog to the barn when we separate Heiferlump from the calves. So far, she has let me catch her in the pasture with no treats or grain. She is learning from her mother.
She stood pretty good in the stanchion while she had a taste of grain. Not so happy about the milking equipment, but she didn't throw a fit. Heiferlump is very thin. Other posts talk about that.
Topper, one of our English Shepherds, is just two, and while he can bring the cows to the barn from the connected pasture, we don't let him take them by himself to the barn from the pastures with no fence to the barn (read that where they could run into the road or such like). Topper's mother Tessie can, but Top is just learning. Below he is wearing away behind Heiferlump to keep her moving. She hurts. I can hear the creak and snap in her stifles when my head is against her flank when I'm milking. We will almost certainly put her down before cold weather. It makes me cry, but she just isn't maintaining weight and I'm convinced she's in pain. She was quite the ballet dancer in her own mind and has taken some bad falls on the ice here in NY winters despite my best efforts (wet weather springs make glaciers on the ground under the snow). I will have to put her down by Esther's birthday, but at least they got to be together for a little while. I just brought Esther home from living with the beef herd since she was weaned. Touching reunion!
Below is not a great picture, but it is Heiferlump and Esther in the night pasture (afterfeed from a hay field we didn't take second cutting off). Heiferlump comes from a show line and produced some gorgeous calves that I was really proud to see at the fairs. Esther isn't one of them. She has a terrible topline and extra teats I somehow missed when she was born (probably because it was so cold and I put a coat on her). She had two full brothers that were stunning. But she is good natured. I thought I put her in with our bull for a September calf, but if she was only born in November, either I made a mistake or I'm going to worry a lot. Plus I bred her to our Galloway bull who does throw very small calves, but for a young first calf Jersey? What was I thinking??!! I think I was just overwelmed at the time, I was out of semen, and out of time. (I had a bunch of stuff that happened because of covid madness--like a school I started got closed permanently.) Anyway, Hopefully she will freshen sometime this fall with no problems. She is well grown and I will be handling her everyday and keeping an eye on her. Hope she will be on one of the fall freshening threads.