I wonder how many of these are walking around on earth today. Not cute little Holstein heifer calves, there are millions of them. Not daughters of Alan's show cow, Bayberry, there are two of those. Not granddaughters of of sweet Balsam, two of those too.
Nope, this calf has another interesting aspect, rather an amazing one in fact. This baby is an own daughter of the Hostein bull, Whirlhill Kingpin. Alan had trouble getting Bay bred last year. She was sick when she freshened and never got as vigorous as we would have liked. I think she had hardware disease and some issues with scarring from that. Anyhow, in desperation, the last chance breeding before we had to sell her, he chose Kingpin. For some reason we have nearly always gotten a calf when we used him. This time was no exception and the heifer was a nice bonus. The unusual part of the whole affair is that Kingpin was born in 1959. He was a popular bull in the sixties and early seventies. He has been dead a very long time. However, thanks to the wonders of liquid nitrogen and artificial insemination he has a brand new daughter right here in 2007. Now if Alan will just come up with a name for her, other than Ballistic Buffalo, which is his most recent, but unacceptable to both mom and the Holstein Association choice.
***(Suggestions for good names that begin with "B" would be most appreciated at this point.)
I think you should call her Baylee, partly after her momma.
ReplyDeleteAI is a wonderful thing...so neat to know that Kingpin lives on after all these years.
ReplyDeleteYes, the goats are a bit overly companionable...with is where they run into problems. I have high hopes for this crop of doelings...only one has too many teats but she should produce well.
Sweet little heifer! I know about hardware disease...haven't run into a goat with it yet.
Hi Joni, I like that. Another one on the table right now is Bayliner, (thought up by the boss) but the jury is still out. lol
ReplyDeleteRosie, it works out well for dairy farmers, that is for sure.
Your goats are beautiful. I'm glad you put up such nice pictures of them.
Kingpin -- wow! I had forgotten about that one.
ReplyDeleteBonnie Bay.
ReplyDeleteI won't propose any names this time. I'm still basking in the glow of Bama Breeze.
ReplyDeleteThat is amazing that a long dead bull still produces calves.
I really enjoyed the previous two posts too. It's good to hear the other side of the rising milk prices.
I'm catching up after being at sea.
Get out of here! :0D No way! Now isn't that something?!
ReplyDeleteNW, we have had a couple of calves by him over the year. One runty bull out of the Trixie cow that we beefed and one spectacularly lovely and productive cow that we named after our vet.
ReplyDeleteAMWD, good one...any that he doesn't used will be saved for future calves as we have two "B" families and have pretty much run out of names
FC, Bama is a little beauty and we think highly of her and her name. Your sea vacation was a wonder to us landlubbing northerners and anybody who is reading this who hasn't seen Pure Florida should click right over there and enjoy it.
Cathy, it never fails to amaze me when we get a calf from one of the old bulls. They must wonder at the Holstein Association when the registration papers show up.