Post by brigitte on Mar 15, 2014 21:51:30 GMT -5
My father's family had guernseys on their farm in Spooner, Wisconsin back in the early 1900s. I was raised on stories about Harry the hired man and the bulls and the best cow- Sunshine. Guernseys were common back then, and the goal was cream for sale, not milk.
My first love, for lots of other reasons, is my milking shorthorns. That won't change. But I can't get the guernseys out of my head, or my interest. Every time I seek them out, someone makes me stumble.
My Dad was the first one, who said farmers themselves were guilty of inbreeding them, making them weaker, especially in the legs. (Dad, a very proud American and WW II veteran, is gone now, so I can't keep peppering him with questions)
When I went to buy my first seed cow, a really fine shortie, there was a guernsey in the barn's "sick" bay, not doing well.
And when I got around to pursuing my interest again, my AI tech told me "they don't have the same will to live other breeds do."
Still, I keep coming back to them. Maybe it's the A2 quality and their rich milk, maybe its my Dad, maybe its that the MS I got from that farm looks a lot like a guernsey.
I live on a brutal windswept mountaintop where not many cows would survive, much less thrive like my MS, but I have been pursuing an interest in these beautiful guernseys and wonder how others consider the breed. After doing much research,the only local farm with any available said the heifers are claimed for $3,000 as soon as they hit the ground. I have my eye on one that might be available at a sale, and wonder whether I should pursue my fascination.
My first love, for lots of other reasons, is my milking shorthorns. That won't change. But I can't get the guernseys out of my head, or my interest. Every time I seek them out, someone makes me stumble.
My Dad was the first one, who said farmers themselves were guilty of inbreeding them, making them weaker, especially in the legs. (Dad, a very proud American and WW II veteran, is gone now, so I can't keep peppering him with questions)
When I went to buy my first seed cow, a really fine shortie, there was a guernsey in the barn's "sick" bay, not doing well.
And when I got around to pursuing my interest again, my AI tech told me "they don't have the same will to live other breeds do."
Still, I keep coming back to them. Maybe it's the A2 quality and their rich milk, maybe its my Dad, maybe its that the MS I got from that farm looks a lot like a guernsey.
I live on a brutal windswept mountaintop where not many cows would survive, much less thrive like my MS, but I have been pursuing an interest in these beautiful guernseys and wonder how others consider the breed. After doing much research,the only local farm with any available said the heifers are claimed for $3,000 as soon as they hit the ground. I have my eye on one that might be available at a sale, and wonder whether I should pursue my fascination.