Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2007 15:04:03 GMT -5
Here's our new cow Pumpkin!
Here's her and Chloe together.
We got to the dairy, and after waiting an hour for the poor owner to get back (his tractor broke down and he had to trudge home), he showed us his cows. We loved Pumpkin immediately. She was not the best cow we were shown, but she's got everything we want. She is 4 years old, due with her second calf any time now, has never had milk fever or mastitis, and is registered. Her only downside is that she only has three good quarters. She was born with a blind quarter that has never milked. Even with that though, they said she's a good milker and averages 3-4 gallons per day on twice a day milkings. She is not halter broke, but is extremely gentle and doesn't seem too afraid of us. Although she has been machine milked her whole life, the dairymen hand strip each cow, so she's used to having her udder handled. She may give us trouble in the stanchion, but we're hopeful she won't. She is bred to a Jersey bull, and the owner said he expects her to calf in about a month but he's not sure exactly when. We'll be on "labor watch" from now until calving, and may work on halter breaking her before that. We want to give her a few days to calm down and get used to us touching her before that.
These are the pictures from our trip to Frerich's Dairy to pick up a new cow.
These are the weaned calves that have been turned out to pasture.
This is one of the little calves that you can pay to bottle feed. That's my baby daughter Kyleigh (5 months-old) in the second pic.
This is Belle, the Blue Bell Ice Cream mascot. Mmmm, Blue Bell ice cream... I think Pumpkin is prettier, but maybe I'm biased.
Here's her and Chloe together.
We got to the dairy, and after waiting an hour for the poor owner to get back (his tractor broke down and he had to trudge home), he showed us his cows. We loved Pumpkin immediately. She was not the best cow we were shown, but she's got everything we want. She is 4 years old, due with her second calf any time now, has never had milk fever or mastitis, and is registered. Her only downside is that she only has three good quarters. She was born with a blind quarter that has never milked. Even with that though, they said she's a good milker and averages 3-4 gallons per day on twice a day milkings. She is not halter broke, but is extremely gentle and doesn't seem too afraid of us. Although she has been machine milked her whole life, the dairymen hand strip each cow, so she's used to having her udder handled. She may give us trouble in the stanchion, but we're hopeful she won't. She is bred to a Jersey bull, and the owner said he expects her to calf in about a month but he's not sure exactly when. We'll be on "labor watch" from now until calving, and may work on halter breaking her before that. We want to give her a few days to calm down and get used to us touching her before that.
These are the pictures from our trip to Frerich's Dairy to pick up a new cow.
These are the weaned calves that have been turned out to pasture.
This is one of the little calves that you can pay to bottle feed. That's my baby daughter Kyleigh (5 months-old) in the second pic.
This is Belle, the Blue Bell Ice Cream mascot. Mmmm, Blue Bell ice cream... I think Pumpkin is prettier, but maybe I'm biased.