13 years with Faith - or, The cow that started it All
Aug 8, 2018 23:43:30 GMT -5
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Post by sdmilkmaid on Aug 8, 2018 23:43:30 GMT -5
I didn't milk Faith tonight.
February of 2005 Sally Fallon spoke at the NPSAS winter conference.
I was 19 and soon to graduate from home school. I used Sally's presentation as leverage, "Mom, we need a milk cow around here."
I spent the next 2 months hunting for a cow.
A Jersey. One with teats that would be hand milkable.
Looked at a cow that had been known to get milk fever, and turned away, petrified from the stories by James Herriot about MF.
An old friend called. "We have a heifer. Sired by the bull we borrowed from your sister."
I wasn't sure whether to be excited or dubious. The bull in question had been sired by an A2/A2 bull imported from new Zealand. However, I had milked that bull's mother. While her udder attachment and body type were both lovely, her teat length and attitude had things left to be desired. We had not gotten along, and when my sister returned a couple days later, her milk pail had a new hoofprint in the side.
I went to see the heifer anyway. Used to looking at stocky beef cows, she looked as gangly as a young colt to me. She was 18 months old, and because they didn't need another cow freshening, they hadn't bred her yet.
Bob and Phyllis assured me her teats would grow and be long enough to hand milk. We made a handshake deal. I returned a couple of weeks later with the trailer, wrote a check for $1000, and she was mine.
Her name was Faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen." And she was. Here I had this Jersey heifer, not even bred, but hoping for much good creamy milk.
I got her home and put her right with my brother's Angus bull. 3 days later she came in heat.
That was April 17. (What was I thinking? That meant she would calve in JANUARY!)
I turned her out to pasture with the beef cowsfor the summer.
So now I had a bred heifer, but still no milk. The hunt for the perfect cow continued.
I got a lead on a cow in another state, but the gal hadn't decided for sure to sell.
I milked a BW/Hereford cross that lost her calf. She dried up in August, and again we were without milk.
K called again just a few days later. "I have decided to sell my cow. Do you want her?"
A dozen questions. How easy is she to milk. How old is she. Has she ever had milk fever. Is she open or bred. How much milk does she give.
Health papers. Pregcheck. Get the trailer ready to go. She was 4 hours away, so this time there was no going to check her out first.
Yes, I brought home a second cow. Dixie was in milk and bred back.
Faith had grown and filled out over the summer.
I bought yet one more cow, a stunted HOJO that had just freshened, and named her Lucy.
Still I waited for Faith's calf. Her udder grew promisingly. When she got bad edema, I panicked and called my sister. I had watched my sister's first cow die from lymphosarcoma and thought Faith had it because of the swelling under her belly.
Faith had her first calf January 20th, 2006. A heifer! Half Angus, and muddy brown, she looked "like a cowpie" said one of my younger sisters.
To be continued...
Rachel
February of 2005 Sally Fallon spoke at the NPSAS winter conference.
I was 19 and soon to graduate from home school. I used Sally's presentation as leverage, "Mom, we need a milk cow around here."
I spent the next 2 months hunting for a cow.
A Jersey. One with teats that would be hand milkable.
Looked at a cow that had been known to get milk fever, and turned away, petrified from the stories by James Herriot about MF.
An old friend called. "We have a heifer. Sired by the bull we borrowed from your sister."
I wasn't sure whether to be excited or dubious. The bull in question had been sired by an A2/A2 bull imported from new Zealand. However, I had milked that bull's mother. While her udder attachment and body type were both lovely, her teat length and attitude had things left to be desired. We had not gotten along, and when my sister returned a couple days later, her milk pail had a new hoofprint in the side.
I went to see the heifer anyway. Used to looking at stocky beef cows, she looked as gangly as a young colt to me. She was 18 months old, and because they didn't need another cow freshening, they hadn't bred her yet.
Bob and Phyllis assured me her teats would grow and be long enough to hand milk. We made a handshake deal. I returned a couple of weeks later with the trailer, wrote a check for $1000, and she was mine.
Her name was Faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen." And she was. Here I had this Jersey heifer, not even bred, but hoping for much good creamy milk.
I got her home and put her right with my brother's Angus bull. 3 days later she came in heat.
That was April 17. (What was I thinking? That meant she would calve in JANUARY!)
I turned her out to pasture with the beef cowsfor the summer.
So now I had a bred heifer, but still no milk. The hunt for the perfect cow continued.
I got a lead on a cow in another state, but the gal hadn't decided for sure to sell.
I milked a BW/Hereford cross that lost her calf. She dried up in August, and again we were without milk.
K called again just a few days later. "I have decided to sell my cow. Do you want her?"
A dozen questions. How easy is she to milk. How old is she. Has she ever had milk fever. Is she open or bred. How much milk does she give.
Health papers. Pregcheck. Get the trailer ready to go. She was 4 hours away, so this time there was no going to check her out first.
Yes, I brought home a second cow. Dixie was in milk and bred back.
Faith had grown and filled out over the summer.
I bought yet one more cow, a stunted HOJO that had just freshened, and named her Lucy.
Still I waited for Faith's calf. Her udder grew promisingly. When she got bad edema, I panicked and called my sister. I had watched my sister's first cow die from lymphosarcoma and thought Faith had it because of the swelling under her belly.
Faith had her first calf January 20th, 2006. A heifer! Half Angus, and muddy brown, she looked "like a cowpie" said one of my younger sisters.
To be continued...
Rachel