Post by thea on Feb 10, 2009 8:53:57 GMT -5
Hi all,
I mentioned in an earlier thread that we're looking for another Jersey as we had to finally give up on breeding Bella after 2 years of trying and last week I got a lead. It was actually from the same farm where we got Bella 4 years ago and the Jersey was described as small, bred and friendly (although not like Bella, who even the farmer agreed was a rare one). So we set off to see her. The farmer runs a pretty big dairy, about 65 cows in milk and then all the heifers and calves. He described where we'd find her as he would be away.
I have never been so disgusted in a barn in my life! The cow in question doesn't really look like a Jersey, she's marked like a Holstein, but she IS small and has a bit of Jerseyish face. Her udder looked nice, her belly is HUGE! but her back is very swayed and her feet have 7" long hooves and red swelling where the hoof meets flesh. Her neck is hugely chaffed and swollen where it rubs as she eats. She was moderately friendly, probably wouldn't take too much work to tame her if all the other problems could be addressed.
The horrifying part was as we walked around the barn we started to notice that a large number, 10-15 at least, of the cows had these hooves that were literally almost a foot long!!! Horribly curved around and over each other and forcing her to stand on her hocks. Many also had sores.
Now, when we got our hearts broken with Bella we promised ourselves we would wait for the "perfect" cow (for us anyway) and I don't think this poor girl is her. On the other hand I want to save her!!! She's also cheap ($400 CND) but there's the certainty of vet bills and of course upkeep.
I realize now I probably should have put this in the Family Cow thread (sorry!) Any thoughts would be appreciated. I have pictures I will post this afternoon.
Thanks!
Thea
I mentioned in an earlier thread that we're looking for another Jersey as we had to finally give up on breeding Bella after 2 years of trying and last week I got a lead. It was actually from the same farm where we got Bella 4 years ago and the Jersey was described as small, bred and friendly (although not like Bella, who even the farmer agreed was a rare one). So we set off to see her. The farmer runs a pretty big dairy, about 65 cows in milk and then all the heifers and calves. He described where we'd find her as he would be away.
I have never been so disgusted in a barn in my life! The cow in question doesn't really look like a Jersey, she's marked like a Holstein, but she IS small and has a bit of Jerseyish face. Her udder looked nice, her belly is HUGE! but her back is very swayed and her feet have 7" long hooves and red swelling where the hoof meets flesh. Her neck is hugely chaffed and swollen where it rubs as she eats. She was moderately friendly, probably wouldn't take too much work to tame her if all the other problems could be addressed.
The horrifying part was as we walked around the barn we started to notice that a large number, 10-15 at least, of the cows had these hooves that were literally almost a foot long!!! Horribly curved around and over each other and forcing her to stand on her hocks. Many also had sores.
Now, when we got our hearts broken with Bella we promised ourselves we would wait for the "perfect" cow (for us anyway) and I don't think this poor girl is her. On the other hand I want to save her!!! She's also cheap ($400 CND) but there's the certainty of vet bills and of course upkeep.
I realize now I probably should have put this in the Family Cow thread (sorry!) Any thoughts would be appreciated. I have pictures I will post this afternoon.
Thanks!
Thea