Post by simplynaturalfarm on May 6, 2010 15:39:17 GMT -5
I was horrified to see that I have a message from 2/10 that I haven't read as I've been busy this year and haven't been able to check on here very often. And did not even think to look for a private message - how sad is that!
Well, I'm here because one of my lovely Dexter heifers calved and well, it seemed like the thing to do LOL. She was from one of the dams of my original cows from 6 years ago, so is related to my girls from before I married. She is a very quiet gal who was bred at a very young age and when we bought her we did not realize she was bred. So she calved on Sunday and I was soooo upset with myself for letting her out after DH locked her up thinking she was in labor. I didn't have any loose hay around, just round bales and was feeling too lazy to haul hay, so told DH to let her out if she was still not in labor (he checked and saw sac, I checked an hour later and she was laying down with nothing chewing her cud). It was raining, the cows were all in the shed, and as I fell asleep I told DH I was going to worry about our stupid cow that is headed to the butcher trompling a calf . . .so go out next morning and find the butcher cow standing over a dead calf and our young bull stomping all over the dead bull calf in his zeal to mount the newly calved heifer (the cow headed to the butcher is not a Dexter. So after 4 hours of kicking myself and being upset at DH for not kicking me the night before, I told myself I wanted more milk anyway (how else can I stop being irritated at a poor judgment call) and milked her that night. She has not been handled yet and offered one vicious kick before I put a rope on her - I haven't milked in 6 years so am a wuss LOL. I got half a gallon of colostrum the first milking, half a gallon the next and then the next morning found her out of the fence bellowing for a calf and gorging herself on chicken feed. I called the vet (who just also happens to be my husband:) who came out a short while later and determined she was chock full of grain and we tubed her (hoping she wouldn't require surgery to haul all that grain out), so suffice to say she has had a rough time of it. And feeding her the poorest hay for days as well as limited water the first day did not do much for milk production. She has the loveliest teats for hand milking - the nicest I've had on a dexter so far. She goes into the stanchion very well, and she only kicked the first 2 days (the second day was because all the family decided to go outside and make noise which bothered her), and now I am milking without the rope and she does offer a lame kick on the off side when I milk her one teat, so maybe it is sore. Today when I pushed her close leg back, she repositioned so I could milk her more easily AND she let down for the first time since Sunday. Nothing more irritating than a cow that doesn't let down (I'm sure there are a few Amens!). She is less than 36 inches so quite a small dexter, but I'm sure being bred young factored into that. Dun, with some lovely breeding and I'll ai her this summer with some semen I purchased in January. She is the quietest dexter and is very easy to work with, albiet a tiny bit shy because she hasn't been handled. We've been drinking Jersey milk and I had forgotten how delish Dexter milk was - I kept telling DH how good it was and he got his first taste of it yesterday and said he had never tasted any milk so sweet in his life. Of course he is also a sweetheart so that may mean he is leaning towards my bias of Dexters *G*.
This morning I got 6lbs of milk, so the milk production is on the rise (all my heifers I expect to freshen between 1.5 and 2 gallons), and hopefully there won't be permanent milk production damage because of the acidosis. Her butterfat is definitely depressed because of it (which is nothing unexpected) and DH noted she seems sore so we'll treat her for laminitus too. Her front teats are a bit further apart than I like (much more like modern Jerseys for machine milking), but there isn't a heck of a lot of info on most AI bulls, so I don't know if what I have will improve teat placement.
I have another really nice red dexter heifer who is due to calve in October and she was bred to a beefier AI bull. Get the irony in this - I don't do ultrasounds on myself when I'm pregnant, but since my husband does bovine fetal sexing with his ultrasound machine, I let him ultrasound her and he was able to say she is due with a heifer (or at least he said 99% sure). I'm tickled because dexter semen is much more costly than regular (for obvious reasons - I am not complaining because I know the costs of collecting and it is reasonable, just a lot if your cow doesn't get bred), and I was hoping it would take AND be a heifer. She is a bit more attitude like what I'm used to with Dexters, but also very nice teats and I think she'll be a better milker because of her bloodlines.
Have a belted galloway x Jersey heifer also who is quite striking being red with a white belt (broken) and her head being brindled. She is only 9-10 months old and I'll breed her to a dexter also.
I'm having so much fun and can't wait to work on cheeses again!
HEather
Well, I'm here because one of my lovely Dexter heifers calved and well, it seemed like the thing to do LOL. She was from one of the dams of my original cows from 6 years ago, so is related to my girls from before I married. She is a very quiet gal who was bred at a very young age and when we bought her we did not realize she was bred. So she calved on Sunday and I was soooo upset with myself for letting her out after DH locked her up thinking she was in labor. I didn't have any loose hay around, just round bales and was feeling too lazy to haul hay, so told DH to let her out if she was still not in labor (he checked and saw sac, I checked an hour later and she was laying down with nothing chewing her cud). It was raining, the cows were all in the shed, and as I fell asleep I told DH I was going to worry about our stupid cow that is headed to the butcher trompling a calf . . .so go out next morning and find the butcher cow standing over a dead calf and our young bull stomping all over the dead bull calf in his zeal to mount the newly calved heifer (the cow headed to the butcher is not a Dexter. So after 4 hours of kicking myself and being upset at DH for not kicking me the night before, I told myself I wanted more milk anyway (how else can I stop being irritated at a poor judgment call) and milked her that night. She has not been handled yet and offered one vicious kick before I put a rope on her - I haven't milked in 6 years so am a wuss LOL. I got half a gallon of colostrum the first milking, half a gallon the next and then the next morning found her out of the fence bellowing for a calf and gorging herself on chicken feed. I called the vet (who just also happens to be my husband:) who came out a short while later and determined she was chock full of grain and we tubed her (hoping she wouldn't require surgery to haul all that grain out), so suffice to say she has had a rough time of it. And feeding her the poorest hay for days as well as limited water the first day did not do much for milk production. She has the loveliest teats for hand milking - the nicest I've had on a dexter so far. She goes into the stanchion very well, and she only kicked the first 2 days (the second day was because all the family decided to go outside and make noise which bothered her), and now I am milking without the rope and she does offer a lame kick on the off side when I milk her one teat, so maybe it is sore. Today when I pushed her close leg back, she repositioned so I could milk her more easily AND she let down for the first time since Sunday. Nothing more irritating than a cow that doesn't let down (I'm sure there are a few Amens!). She is less than 36 inches so quite a small dexter, but I'm sure being bred young factored into that. Dun, with some lovely breeding and I'll ai her this summer with some semen I purchased in January. She is the quietest dexter and is very easy to work with, albiet a tiny bit shy because she hasn't been handled. We've been drinking Jersey milk and I had forgotten how delish Dexter milk was - I kept telling DH how good it was and he got his first taste of it yesterday and said he had never tasted any milk so sweet in his life. Of course he is also a sweetheart so that may mean he is leaning towards my bias of Dexters *G*.
This morning I got 6lbs of milk, so the milk production is on the rise (all my heifers I expect to freshen between 1.5 and 2 gallons), and hopefully there won't be permanent milk production damage because of the acidosis. Her butterfat is definitely depressed because of it (which is nothing unexpected) and DH noted she seems sore so we'll treat her for laminitus too. Her front teats are a bit further apart than I like (much more like modern Jerseys for machine milking), but there isn't a heck of a lot of info on most AI bulls, so I don't know if what I have will improve teat placement.
I have another really nice red dexter heifer who is due to calve in October and she was bred to a beefier AI bull. Get the irony in this - I don't do ultrasounds on myself when I'm pregnant, but since my husband does bovine fetal sexing with his ultrasound machine, I let him ultrasound her and he was able to say she is due with a heifer (or at least he said 99% sure). I'm tickled because dexter semen is much more costly than regular (for obvious reasons - I am not complaining because I know the costs of collecting and it is reasonable, just a lot if your cow doesn't get bred), and I was hoping it would take AND be a heifer. She is a bit more attitude like what I'm used to with Dexters, but also very nice teats and I think she'll be a better milker because of her bloodlines.
Have a belted galloway x Jersey heifer also who is quite striking being red with a white belt (broken) and her head being brindled. She is only 9-10 months old and I'll breed her to a dexter also.
I'm having so much fun and can't wait to work on cheeses again!
HEather