Post by rubygirl on Feb 17, 2019 22:53:15 GMT -5
So my family and I have been struggling with the decision on whether or not to butcher Gertrude or try to breed her and see if she can raise a calf. Some folks may remember her from my post about two years ago when she was born. Gertrude is blind she wasn’t born that way but do to a hard delivery and not getting any colostrum within 24 hrs Gertrude had went blind. Besides a week or two being penned up with her mother until she learned how to nurse by herself she’s always been out in the field with no problems,I’m almost certain she’s still blind because when your out working with them at night with a spotlight hers are the only eyes that don’t shine back. But out in the field you’d never know she can’t see a thing it’s quite amazing how she gets around so well. She’s tricked me into thinking she can see a couple times but she’s never passed the light test. We had five calves this year and though none of them were hers she’ll mother and lick on every one of them. However today do to the ground being frozen we took the opportunity to pen her up in the barn to start feeding out. We had waited for the ground to freeze because we had thought we’d have to run all the cows through so she would follow and have it be less of a muddy sloppy mess. However to our surprise she was the first to follow the sound of me shaking feed and calling to her right into the barn through areas she’s only been through once or twice with no other cows to help guide her as she often uses her half sister for. It was the first time she’s ever followed me anywhere without the others. So now she’s penned to be fed out. You’d think the decision was made right? Nope my father and I are still second guessing ourselves. Should we try and if worst comes to worst have a bottle baby or maybe even a dead one and then butcher/sell. Or just butcher now and save a potential headache?