Hi All - I'm so excited to have found you all!
Jan 12, 2023 21:41:26 GMT -5
Shawn, treatlisa, and 7 more like this
Post by azkathryn on Jan 12, 2023 21:41:26 GMT -5
My husband has wanted to be a farmer his whole life, so when he retired from the City of Tucson we started seriously looking for our "retirement" home with a little bit of land and a well so that he could garden and build things and we could have more critters than were possible smack in the middle of a city. Although, over the years on our quarter acre urban lot we did raise chickens, rabbits, goats, and sheep and enough vegies to put a serious dent in the food bill for a family of ten. However, he wanted more than that. About two years ago we found fifteen acres about an hour southeast of Tucson and we have been carving a farm out of Southern Arizona scrub desert ever since. He's working waaaay harder than he did when he was doing IT for the city. I'm still working full time, which is good 'cause someone has to pay the bills! But I work remotely so it doesn't matter where we live as far as my job.
One of the promises he made to me was that I could have a cow. I've wanted to have a cow since my grandparents took me to visit my Great Uncle Bill's ranch in Montana when I was four and milked a cow for the first time. In July we bought two Dexter cow/calf pairs at a bargain basement price from a gentleman farmer in New Mexico who was selling because the drought meant there wasn't enough pasture for the cows and he couldn't keep them. I freely admit that these may be the four most spoiled cows in the state of Arizona because I'm so besotted over them. The calves are 8 and 9 months old respectively.
I have so so so much to learn. I've read The Family Cow by Dirk Van Loon, Keeping a Family Cow by Joann Grohman, and the Family Cow Handbook by Philip Hasheider, but there's a lot I want to do that I haven't taken action on because, other than our vet who clearly thinks I'm nuts and, besides telling me about twelve times the first time he came out to the farm that they are cows, not children, and will be fine, also told me not to feed the cows doughnuts (not that it ever occurred to me to do so!), I don't have anyone to ask questions of as things come up. I'm so glad to find this forum for support!
The cows were kept with a bull and the man we bought them from thought there was a possibility the were pregnant, but six months in, I don't think they are. Or at least, they don't look pregnant. The vet won't take blood because we don't have a head gate. If they aren't, we are going to need to figure out AI, which the vet doesn't do. One of the cows was milked briefly, the other has never been milked. So we're going to have to teach them how to let us do that, although both of them are willing to let me mess with their udders and don't threaten to kick. We also are going to have to figure out our milking set up. And, actually, the way I found this forum is that I was trying to find information on the best milking machine set up and the forum came up in the search results.
Anyway, I know this is a really long post and I apologize, but I'm so glad y'all are here and I'm looking forward to learning from everyone!
Kathryn
One of the promises he made to me was that I could have a cow. I've wanted to have a cow since my grandparents took me to visit my Great Uncle Bill's ranch in Montana when I was four and milked a cow for the first time. In July we bought two Dexter cow/calf pairs at a bargain basement price from a gentleman farmer in New Mexico who was selling because the drought meant there wasn't enough pasture for the cows and he couldn't keep them. I freely admit that these may be the four most spoiled cows in the state of Arizona because I'm so besotted over them. The calves are 8 and 9 months old respectively.
I have so so so much to learn. I've read The Family Cow by Dirk Van Loon, Keeping a Family Cow by Joann Grohman, and the Family Cow Handbook by Philip Hasheider, but there's a lot I want to do that I haven't taken action on because, other than our vet who clearly thinks I'm nuts and, besides telling me about twelve times the first time he came out to the farm that they are cows, not children, and will be fine, also told me not to feed the cows doughnuts (not that it ever occurred to me to do so!), I don't have anyone to ask questions of as things come up. I'm so glad to find this forum for support!
The cows were kept with a bull and the man we bought them from thought there was a possibility the were pregnant, but six months in, I don't think they are. Or at least, they don't look pregnant. The vet won't take blood because we don't have a head gate. If they aren't, we are going to need to figure out AI, which the vet doesn't do. One of the cows was milked briefly, the other has never been milked. So we're going to have to teach them how to let us do that, although both of them are willing to let me mess with their udders and don't threaten to kick. We also are going to have to figure out our milking set up. And, actually, the way I found this forum is that I was trying to find information on the best milking machine set up and the forum came up in the search results.
Anyway, I know this is a really long post and I apologize, but I'm so glad y'all are here and I'm looking forward to learning from everyone!
Kathryn