Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2005 7:32:17 GMT -5
My apologies - I have this rather bad habit of butting in without introducing myself first.
Thankyou Joann and Midge for your welcome.
I live at almost the opposite end of the country to Midge and although we correspond (spasmodically , my fault), we have never met but the intention is there.
I live in an area of the country called the Far North, very narrow with easy access to both the west and east coasts, high rainfall, high humidity in the summer and could almost be called sub-tropical. We own 60 acres of which 20 is quite steep and is being allowed to regenerate back to native forest. The remaining 40 acres is a balance of flat to rolling country with a river running through it and prone to flooding in periods of heavy rainfall. On it I run my milking cows, breed pigs and have 25 breeding ewes. My husband runs his own heavy diesel business.
My herd is a motly lot of cows, most of which I have bred myself and keep not so much for their production but because of their character. There are two straight Jerseys, a Hereford/Friesian, a Jersey/ Belgian Blue (the daughter of one of the Jerseys), a Jersy/Hereford/Friesian (daughter of the Hereford/Frisian) and a Jersey/Friesian, the only bought in cow I have. RWB are a Jersey/Friesian that I bought in and reared as a calf, and the grandaughter of the Hereford/Friesian. So a pretty mixed up bag but they produce all the milk I need and meet my love of cows and love of milking. The milk is used to feed the pigs and at this point in time there is 1,000lts of milk sitting in drums over and above what is being fed to the pigs on a daily basis.
Midge, I doubt that I could pass on too much knowledge that would be of any use as I've come to the conclusion that my farming methods are probably far from conventional. All of my cattle are horned, none are halter trained or leg roped. I call, they come even the bull, they decide in which order they will be milked and once that has been established I'm happy to stick with it. Both bales have backing chains which are never used. Once the first two have been milked I stand in the cowshed and yell out the names of the next two and they come in on their own. They all respond to their names and basic commands such as leg back, move out, back up. Milking and handling of them is a breeze and either I'm lazy and laid back or they are but whichever, we rub along very well. They put up with the goose and duck waddling around or under them, idiot chooks flapping up and sitting on their backs, the dog swinging off their tails and the cat rubbing against their legs.
Sorry if I've bored you all but it is now Christmas Day here and will be for you tomorrow so I wish you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year.
Cheers,
Ronnie
Thankyou Joann and Midge for your welcome.
I live at almost the opposite end of the country to Midge and although we correspond (spasmodically , my fault), we have never met but the intention is there.
I live in an area of the country called the Far North, very narrow with easy access to both the west and east coasts, high rainfall, high humidity in the summer and could almost be called sub-tropical. We own 60 acres of which 20 is quite steep and is being allowed to regenerate back to native forest. The remaining 40 acres is a balance of flat to rolling country with a river running through it and prone to flooding in periods of heavy rainfall. On it I run my milking cows, breed pigs and have 25 breeding ewes. My husband runs his own heavy diesel business.
My herd is a motly lot of cows, most of which I have bred myself and keep not so much for their production but because of their character. There are two straight Jerseys, a Hereford/Friesian, a Jersey/ Belgian Blue (the daughter of one of the Jerseys), a Jersy/Hereford/Friesian (daughter of the Hereford/Frisian) and a Jersey/Friesian, the only bought in cow I have. RWB are a Jersey/Friesian that I bought in and reared as a calf, and the grandaughter of the Hereford/Friesian. So a pretty mixed up bag but they produce all the milk I need and meet my love of cows and love of milking. The milk is used to feed the pigs and at this point in time there is 1,000lts of milk sitting in drums over and above what is being fed to the pigs on a daily basis.
Midge, I doubt that I could pass on too much knowledge that would be of any use as I've come to the conclusion that my farming methods are probably far from conventional. All of my cattle are horned, none are halter trained or leg roped. I call, they come even the bull, they decide in which order they will be milked and once that has been established I'm happy to stick with it. Both bales have backing chains which are never used. Once the first two have been milked I stand in the cowshed and yell out the names of the next two and they come in on their own. They all respond to their names and basic commands such as leg back, move out, back up. Milking and handling of them is a breeze and either I'm lazy and laid back or they are but whichever, we rub along very well. They put up with the goose and duck waddling around or under them, idiot chooks flapping up and sitting on their backs, the dog swinging off their tails and the cat rubbing against their legs.
Sorry if I've bored you all but it is now Christmas Day here and will be for you tomorrow so I wish you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year.
Cheers,
Ronnie