hello from northern alberta, and from a first-time cow owner
Nov 20, 2018 17:55:55 GMT -5
elnini, steven888, and 5 more like this
Post by honeygoats on Nov 20, 2018 17:55:55 GMT -5
late in my life i have decided that it's now or never, and i followed joanne's advice and got a cow. and now i'm wondering and sometimes second-guessing my decision. so i figured it would be good to sign up here and introduce myself, because i am sure i will be back and ask for advice and opinions. what i've read here so far was very interesting and informative, and i am looking forward to educating myself more for this, the last great project in my life.
i live in an off-grid, no running water situation in the bush, have a garden and some of the usual farm animals (chickens, dogs, cats0, plus two pot-bellied pigs (instead of the usual butcher ones), four donkeys, and two lamas that used to protect my goats. i milked goats for almost 10 years, but due to personal circumstances gave them all away (and cried a lot over that). having been without a dairy animal on the homestead for 5 years, my longing for good fresh milk grew and grew, but my husband did not want to go through the whole fencing challenge again for goats. i loved all of my goats, but they are certainly hard on some marriages, mine included. so we agreed to get a cow. i love the jersey milk. couldn't get the right cow, though. now i got a canadienne cow, approx. 4 years old, due with her 3rd calf next may, separated from her last may calf just last saturday and arrived with a little unrelated steer to keep her some company here three days ago.
she has been milked this year and possibly last, but just in a solid stand, no head gate, no halter, not much physical contact other than some brushing and pre-milking. and she has horns, coming from a somewhat biodynamic farm. so far, she is settling in ok, as far as i can tell. i don't want to make this too long, and i have chores to do. just wanted to say hello and introduce myself.
oh yes, and my name honeygoats is owed to the fact that we also run a "microapiary". it is also my name on instagram, should you want to see pics.
all the best to all the cows and their owners,
petra