Post by DostThouHaveMilk on Oct 11, 2007 13:31:30 GMT -5
Well....things have not gone horribly well this year with regards to replacement heifers being born. Before August the last heifer calf born on the farm had been born in December. I brought home the last Jersey heifer born at the school in early January.
We are now at 10 bull calves, 1 heifer calf and 2 lost calves for 2007, with three more cows due the end of this month (21st, 22nd, & 25th).
Argos delivered a heifer calf back in mid-August. I think I mentioned it then but never put any pictures up. Here is Argos a month after calving, I think;
She is 7/8 Jersey, 1/8 Norwegian Red. Her udder is better than her half sister Hermaine's, but still not the best udder in the world. Way too low in the back.
Her daughter out of Mor (1J480) {the larger calf in the back};
Then Shaylee disappeared for two weeks and the calf was dead when I found them (not sure on gender). Then a week or so later Calliope calved (huge udder). We never did find her calf. She would disappear every night but it looks like she lost it in the Roll Bale Hollow pasture. Dad said he is about ready to claim her udder as the worst udder he has ever seen and he has seen some pretty ugly udders in his lifetime.
So with Madelin (Jersey), I stuck in a pen in the goat pen. It was a chore keeping her in there. She kept climbing over the cattle panels to get out. But I managed to keep her in....for her to deliver her bull calf out of a test sire (son of Lemvig). Here is Madelin today;
Her bull calf is the younger calf in the above picture. He is one of the darkest purebred Jersey calves we've seen in quite some time. No question what color he will be as he ages. The heifer will be black as well. We are considering keeping him for clean up. Madelin is an Impuls daughter and our only Impuls in the herd. Her dam's udder, however, was not good.
The four above animals were all first calf heifers.
So fast forward to today. Nicolass (Nikki), a purebred Jersey due with her second calf was due October 1st. Yes...10 days ago.. She went over her due date last year with her heifer calf, so I wasn't too worried. She has a longer gestation than most Jerseys. I went down and was hoping, that maybe, just maybe we would luck out like Claire. No go. It's another bull calf (out of Flight-29J3226)...number 10 for the year;
So that leaves Cadence settled to Mor (1J480) due with her second calf (purebred Jersey); Juness settled to Mor (1J480) due with her third calf (calf will be 7/8 J, 1/8 NR) and Nessie settled to Patrick (1J349) with her second calf (purebred Jersey).
That will be it for 2007.
We are now at 10 bull calves, 1 heifer calf and 2 lost calves for 2007, with three more cows due the end of this month (21st, 22nd, & 25th).
Argos delivered a heifer calf back in mid-August. I think I mentioned it then but never put any pictures up. Here is Argos a month after calving, I think;
She is 7/8 Jersey, 1/8 Norwegian Red. Her udder is better than her half sister Hermaine's, but still not the best udder in the world. Way too low in the back.
Her daughter out of Mor (1J480) {the larger calf in the back};
Then Shaylee disappeared for two weeks and the calf was dead when I found them (not sure on gender). Then a week or so later Calliope calved (huge udder). We never did find her calf. She would disappear every night but it looks like she lost it in the Roll Bale Hollow pasture. Dad said he is about ready to claim her udder as the worst udder he has ever seen and he has seen some pretty ugly udders in his lifetime.
So with Madelin (Jersey), I stuck in a pen in the goat pen. It was a chore keeping her in there. She kept climbing over the cattle panels to get out. But I managed to keep her in....for her to deliver her bull calf out of a test sire (son of Lemvig). Here is Madelin today;
Her bull calf is the younger calf in the above picture. He is one of the darkest purebred Jersey calves we've seen in quite some time. No question what color he will be as he ages. The heifer will be black as well. We are considering keeping him for clean up. Madelin is an Impuls daughter and our only Impuls in the herd. Her dam's udder, however, was not good.
The four above animals were all first calf heifers.
So fast forward to today. Nicolass (Nikki), a purebred Jersey due with her second calf was due October 1st. Yes...10 days ago.. She went over her due date last year with her heifer calf, so I wasn't too worried. She has a longer gestation than most Jerseys. I went down and was hoping, that maybe, just maybe we would luck out like Claire. No go. It's another bull calf (out of Flight-29J3226)...number 10 for the year;
So that leaves Cadence settled to Mor (1J480) due with her second calf (purebred Jersey); Juness settled to Mor (1J480) due with her third calf (calf will be 7/8 J, 1/8 NR) and Nessie settled to Patrick (1J349) with her second calf (purebred Jersey).
That will be it for 2007.