Post by Rosa Ridge Farm on Feb 14, 2007 12:15:38 GMT -5
Here I am again¡K.and this time with pictures!
Iris is doing great! I consider her a rescue cow, although the farmer I bought her from probably doesn¡¦t. I found her in the Organic Trader Paper. I traveled by myself, 5 hours there and 5 hours back ( I have never driven a truck with a trailer ,let alone an 18ft.one) When I got to the farm it was like stepping back 50 years ago. The 85 year old lady was standing outside the barn waiting with warm greetings. She showed me in the barn where 30 other cows were in stanchions. The barn looked clean and she had Guernsey¡¦s as well as Jerseys. Did I mention that this lady milked all these cows herself and sells her milk to Organic Valley. They pick up her milk every other day. Considering how gentle all the cows were I believe that this lady was very close to her animals¡Kthey all had names but some things had just become neglected due to her age and lack of help. She said that the neighborhood boys sometimes did not show up to clean the gutters. I asked about the cow¡¦s feet. They were flared out in the front and she was walking on her heels. She told me that the cement floor was tipping forward and that was why the feet and rub marks were the way they were. The front of her legs had rub marks on them from her leaning into the stanchion to get her food. She also had very large rub marks on her shoulders from leaning into the stanchions and was full of manure, but she had big clear eyes, a very wet nose, she was chewing her cud and even took a treat from me. Her udders looked good and she seemed very alert. She was the smallest cow there. That¡¦s probably why she wanted to sell her. She is a five year old and this will be her third calf/ due on March 7th. She seemed awfully thin to me. She is considered a dry cow so I would guess that she was outside with the other dried cows. I was really disappointed¡K¡K¡K.. I even left the barn to go to the truck to call my husband, good thing he didn¡¦t answer, he would have told me to come home without her. If I didn¡¦t take her then she would remain there in that same condition. I just couldn¡¦t do that! So I brought her home¡K¡K..and did I get in trouble when I got home. My husband was sooo¡K mad at me but I convinced my him that if we couldn¡¦t get her back on track we would at least have a calf, hopefully a girl. It has been three weeks and my husband has really taken a liking to her. We gave her a new name (her name was Nooky) and she is now Iris. She calls to us when we come down to the corn crib. I was too embarrassed to post her first pictures but after just a few weeks she is looking better. I have cleaned all the pasted manure off of her. You can see where hair is starting to grow back. We put bag balm on her shoulders and her legs. Iris let us trim her front hooves and although not perfect she is starting to get off her heels. Through the help of everyone on this post we managed to keep her warm through our -35 cold snap and at present we are feeding her a grass hay with 2 1/2 #¡¦s of corn, oats, roasted soybeans, and kelp twice a day. I think she looks beautiful!!! According to the weight tape she is 716#¡¦s. Now all we have to do is have a healthy calf and then I¡¦ll be pestering everyone about share milking. By the way, I just got ¡§Keeping the Family Cow¡¨ and it is fantastic!! Here are the pictures! Now that I am up to date I won¡¦t be so wordy next timeƒº
Iris is doing great! I consider her a rescue cow, although the farmer I bought her from probably doesn¡¦t. I found her in the Organic Trader Paper. I traveled by myself, 5 hours there and 5 hours back ( I have never driven a truck with a trailer ,let alone an 18ft.one) When I got to the farm it was like stepping back 50 years ago. The 85 year old lady was standing outside the barn waiting with warm greetings. She showed me in the barn where 30 other cows were in stanchions. The barn looked clean and she had Guernsey¡¦s as well as Jerseys. Did I mention that this lady milked all these cows herself and sells her milk to Organic Valley. They pick up her milk every other day. Considering how gentle all the cows were I believe that this lady was very close to her animals¡Kthey all had names but some things had just become neglected due to her age and lack of help. She said that the neighborhood boys sometimes did not show up to clean the gutters. I asked about the cow¡¦s feet. They were flared out in the front and she was walking on her heels. She told me that the cement floor was tipping forward and that was why the feet and rub marks were the way they were. The front of her legs had rub marks on them from her leaning into the stanchion to get her food. She also had very large rub marks on her shoulders from leaning into the stanchions and was full of manure, but she had big clear eyes, a very wet nose, she was chewing her cud and even took a treat from me. Her udders looked good and she seemed very alert. She was the smallest cow there. That¡¦s probably why she wanted to sell her. She is a five year old and this will be her third calf/ due on March 7th. She seemed awfully thin to me. She is considered a dry cow so I would guess that she was outside with the other dried cows. I was really disappointed¡K¡K¡K.. I even left the barn to go to the truck to call my husband, good thing he didn¡¦t answer, he would have told me to come home without her. If I didn¡¦t take her then she would remain there in that same condition. I just couldn¡¦t do that! So I brought her home¡K¡K..and did I get in trouble when I got home. My husband was sooo¡K mad at me but I convinced my him that if we couldn¡¦t get her back on track we would at least have a calf, hopefully a girl. It has been three weeks and my husband has really taken a liking to her. We gave her a new name (her name was Nooky) and she is now Iris. She calls to us when we come down to the corn crib. I was too embarrassed to post her first pictures but after just a few weeks she is looking better. I have cleaned all the pasted manure off of her. You can see where hair is starting to grow back. We put bag balm on her shoulders and her legs. Iris let us trim her front hooves and although not perfect she is starting to get off her heels. Through the help of everyone on this post we managed to keep her warm through our -35 cold snap and at present we are feeding her a grass hay with 2 1/2 #¡¦s of corn, oats, roasted soybeans, and kelp twice a day. I think she looks beautiful!!! According to the weight tape she is 716#¡¦s. Now all we have to do is have a healthy calf and then I¡¦ll be pestering everyone about share milking. By the way, I just got ¡§Keeping the Family Cow¡¨ and it is fantastic!! Here are the pictures! Now that I am up to date I won¡¦t be so wordy next timeƒº