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Sunday, March 4, 2012

this time of year...

I get an itch

it starts with the change of weather
and the feeling in the wind...
I think of all the possibilities

I have baby calves bounding around in the pasture right now and the new little baby lamancha buckling who has adopted me for his Mommy..

I like to keep options open and have been thinking about adding a couple more dairy cattle to my group. At present, I have 5 full Jersey cattle that range in age from 3yrs to 8 yrs old.  I've kept 4 half Jerseys that range 4yrs to 6yrs. I also kept back 4 yrlg heifers from last spring and I now have 5 heifer calves born this spring...
Add to that 7 yearling steers and I can just about call it a herd. Don't forget Rudy, the Jersey/Guernsey Bull I've hand raised either.  Along with 1 odd walking 2yr old stunted calf the Rancher down the road dropped off a couple years ago and the Total count is at 27 head.  With 5 more cattle to calf yet....I could be up to 32...if all goes right!

This last summer one of my oldest Jersey cows died and I need a little character that only a Jersey girl can give, plus bottle raising a nice little heifer might give me that "better than ever" milker that I like.
I have a couple girls who let me milk them proper without a fuss, but any of the other girls are pretty tough for me to handle without a proper stall setup to milk.  I KNOW I can raise a heifer calf that allows me to milk her, pet her, brush her and most of all control her.

So...
I called the dairy that I buy a few bull calves from.  She is willing to sell me 2 heifer calves.  They only have Holstein/Jersey crosses and she's checking the barn today.  They have calves born most every day there and as she knows me pretty well now,  I trust she'll treat me right.
Course I called my Dad to let him know he gets to do a road trip and he was ready to hop in a car right now.
I won't let him put them in the backseat of the car this time, and I'll be picking up dear ole Father to give him a little adventure.  He likes those...and I have to say, this time of year you just never know what I'm going to do.

I've been studying up on Holstein/Jersey crosses and it seems they are becoming pretty trendy and are hardy girls.  I'm hoping I can choose which ones I like.  I want to have some color and character and as always...I like the neighbors to always wonder "WHAT is she doing now?"
I'm thinking a new little bottle baby (or two) is nothing new around here, and since I've been feeding steer calves that I sell or take to butcher, I am needing a keeper calf that I hand raise.  Now to find some names...always the hardest part.

8 comments:

  1. Oh, my nothing smells nicer than new little calf breath! times two!

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  2. Oh,I can't wait to see what you bring home! How exciting! I have to say I contemplate another milk cow,the last one I had was hand raised by someone else and meaner than snot,lol,( I can laugh about it now) but I don't know yet how bad our pastures are going to be after last years drought.Not good I am thinking,so no milk cow this year most likely.I will just enjoy watching yours grow!

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  3. I can't imagine anything more sweet. Waiting on those photos...

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  4. It's always nice to find another farm girl. I just joined your blog and hope you will join me to read about my farm girl life and lots more. We have lots of new calves too. They are so cute.

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  5. Hope you come up with fun names! The picture of those calves is priceless.

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  6. If you lived closer, we could supply you with Holstein/jersey crosses! We breed all of our young heifers to a jersey in order to get an easy first calf delivery, but we don't usually raise the calves! Those two you have a so cute...love the coloring!

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    1. I would be your best baby calf buyer! I wish too I lived closer..your my kinda gal!

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  7. Total cuteness those little calves! I want a milk cow soooooo bad. I keep teling honeyman one of these days I am going to do it. I would love to make our butter, cheese etc. Course she would need to be real agreeable on the milking as I don't have any kind of set up for that, it would be me a stool and a bucket LOL..

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