Post by melwynnd on Sept 11, 2007 8:19:00 GMT -5
I guess it gets us all in the end ;D
Although I'm not getting another milk cow (yet), I am keeping Ivy Louise. She's a pure Angus calf I got last year, nearly starved to death. Her mother was quite willing to feed her, but she had really big, fat teats and Ivy couldn't latch on and pull the plugs. The guy who owned the cow didn't bother to try milking the cow out so Ivy could get started and tried feeding her on some concoction of goat's colostrum and replacer. You could see every bone in her body when I got her and she had almost no suck reflex left. It was pitiful that she was so weak she couldn't walk from the house 50 feet to the barn.
I got her all straightened out, though and you'd never know that huge thing was on death's door. The guy who owned her left the mother with the neighbors for a couple of days so they could take her to the sale. Cathy said the mom was quite gentle, and she weighed out at 1400 lbs so she was a big girl. Cathy said she had milk and would let her milk her a little, so there was no excuse for what happened to Ivy, except ignorance and laziness.
Anyway, I got a very sweet calf out of the deal. Ivy is going to be very quiet. I had her haltered when she was little and I'm going to re-halter break her this weekend. I like to just lead my cows to the bull and they are so much easier to do anything with when they are halter broke. I may even milk her some or foster calves on her. We had an Angus we bottle raised that we did both with.
So I guess I haven't escaped the dreaded CALP!
Sherry
Although I'm not getting another milk cow (yet), I am keeping Ivy Louise. She's a pure Angus calf I got last year, nearly starved to death. Her mother was quite willing to feed her, but she had really big, fat teats and Ivy couldn't latch on and pull the plugs. The guy who owned the cow didn't bother to try milking the cow out so Ivy could get started and tried feeding her on some concoction of goat's colostrum and replacer. You could see every bone in her body when I got her and she had almost no suck reflex left. It was pitiful that she was so weak she couldn't walk from the house 50 feet to the barn.
I got her all straightened out, though and you'd never know that huge thing was on death's door. The guy who owned her left the mother with the neighbors for a couple of days so they could take her to the sale. Cathy said the mom was quite gentle, and she weighed out at 1400 lbs so she was a big girl. Cathy said she had milk and would let her milk her a little, so there was no excuse for what happened to Ivy, except ignorance and laziness.
Anyway, I got a very sweet calf out of the deal. Ivy is going to be very quiet. I had her haltered when she was little and I'm going to re-halter break her this weekend. I like to just lead my cows to the bull and they are so much easier to do anything with when they are halter broke. I may even milk her some or foster calves on her. We had an Angus we bottle raised that we did both with.
So I guess I haven't escaped the dreaded CALP!
Sherry