Post by Tricia on Feb 2, 2007 15:12:09 GMT -5
Well, my Jersey, Molly is now dried off and due March 17th (crossing my fingers I put this on the calendar correctly!!!). She has her own house and fenced in area adjacent to the barnyard where the highlander herd is.
Well this past fall we separated the bull into his own area, the calves are weaned and in another area and the bred cows are in with the yearlings and 2 year olds (this years beef.
Long story short is one of the heifers was in heat and the bull (Medlar), squashed a pipe gate and went after her. DH hadn't put a hot wire along the top of the gate yet!!! The heifer is 2 years old and on the small side. We were planning on breeding her this coming summer. Well..... it happened a bit sooner. The shameless girl was a wagging her rump in his face!!!
What an afternoon, I was so ticked at DH for this!
So we are worried about Clover being small and this pregnancy slowing or halting her future growth. I had the bright idea of putting her in with Molly the Jersey where I could feed her the best of the hay that is usually reserved for Molly. Molly didn't like this idea. I opened the gate, Clover the heifer, strolled on in and started muching on hay. Molly came rushing out of her house bellering. So much for my mild mannered sweet little Jersey. This was her area, her hay and apparently no sharing! So they went head to head, both bellering and pushing each other. The fence was ripped down and they are beating each other up all over the hay field. Now Clover has a nice rack of horns, Molly has none. So I am having horrible visions of ripped up Molly! Then my 10 yr old son comes strolling outside to find Mom screaming at the cows and wielding a pitchfork. I finally got Molly in her house and locked her in. Thank goodness she is kind of slow now. She was hanging her head over the door and bellering! Clover then finds the pine trees and proceeds to rip them up with her horns. But luckily a handfull of tasty hay distracts her and we get her back in with the other highlanders.
So Molly got a talking to about her manners. Now we are not talking to each other. I am ticked because she is territorial and beligerent and well down right disobedient. She keeps giving me her evil eye, she is good with "the look". Thank goodness she is dried up now or she'd be pooing during milking just to emphasize her position.
Now we had a friend's Jersey here after Thanksgiving for almost 2 weeks, she was in with Molly and they got along quite well.
All the cows are together quite often in the pasture but apparently very pregnant cranky beligerent Jerseys are protective of their space!
Well, the Molly, the Jersey is claiming victory, Clover is looking all sad and garnering sympathy. I am never going to have a "bright" idea like that again.
I suppose I should get over my mad and go give Molly a good brushing. With a little lecture over manners and my expectations of hosptitality!
Well this past fall we separated the bull into his own area, the calves are weaned and in another area and the bred cows are in with the yearlings and 2 year olds (this years beef.
Long story short is one of the heifers was in heat and the bull (Medlar), squashed a pipe gate and went after her. DH hadn't put a hot wire along the top of the gate yet!!! The heifer is 2 years old and on the small side. We were planning on breeding her this coming summer. Well..... it happened a bit sooner. The shameless girl was a wagging her rump in his face!!!
What an afternoon, I was so ticked at DH for this!
So we are worried about Clover being small and this pregnancy slowing or halting her future growth. I had the bright idea of putting her in with Molly the Jersey where I could feed her the best of the hay that is usually reserved for Molly. Molly didn't like this idea. I opened the gate, Clover the heifer, strolled on in and started muching on hay. Molly came rushing out of her house bellering. So much for my mild mannered sweet little Jersey. This was her area, her hay and apparently no sharing! So they went head to head, both bellering and pushing each other. The fence was ripped down and they are beating each other up all over the hay field. Now Clover has a nice rack of horns, Molly has none. So I am having horrible visions of ripped up Molly! Then my 10 yr old son comes strolling outside to find Mom screaming at the cows and wielding a pitchfork. I finally got Molly in her house and locked her in. Thank goodness she is kind of slow now. She was hanging her head over the door and bellering! Clover then finds the pine trees and proceeds to rip them up with her horns. But luckily a handfull of tasty hay distracts her and we get her back in with the other highlanders.
So Molly got a talking to about her manners. Now we are not talking to each other. I am ticked because she is territorial and beligerent and well down right disobedient. She keeps giving me her evil eye, she is good with "the look". Thank goodness she is dried up now or she'd be pooing during milking just to emphasize her position.
Now we had a friend's Jersey here after Thanksgiving for almost 2 weeks, she was in with Molly and they got along quite well.
All the cows are together quite often in the pasture but apparently very pregnant cranky beligerent Jerseys are protective of their space!
Well, the Molly, the Jersey is claiming victory, Clover is looking all sad and garnering sympathy. I am never going to have a "bright" idea like that again.
I suppose I should get over my mad and go give Molly a good brushing. With a little lecture over manners and my expectations of hosptitality!