The gift that keeps on giving

Joni pointed out in the comments that a calf fills that description quite nicely. I was reminded of how true that can be last night when we were finishing up milking. I walked around to the north side to see a new calf that was born yesterday morning. It hadn't stood up yet when I first saw it (actually Liz and I delivered it) and the kids wanted me to see how tall it was. (Tall, very tall...too bad it is a bull.)


Along the walkway an older black calf was tied. For a second it struck me...'I don't know who that calf is or why it is there, but that is a "Trixie" baby". You can't miss them, Trixie babies. The old cow sure stamped them and after all these years you can still see that strong, put-together look she passed along to her descendants.


Then I remembered that they moved calves night before last and that particular black calf is in fact Lucky. She is indeed from the Trixie family, and, despite the fact that Trixie herself died having Frieland LV Dixie, who died herself as an aged cow several years ago she has the look of her.


Liz and I tried this morning to count the generations that have passed since the boss bought Trixie for me as a Christmas present when we first knew one another. There was Trixie herself, dam of Emmie, dam of Ella, dam of Estimate, dam of Elendil, dam of Lucky.


Over twenty years have passed since we got her.... Mears Grand M Trixie.... at the Mears dispersal one cold miserable winter day. She gave me four daughters, Emmy (Woodbine Ellason), Melly (Shade-Acres Elevation Frosty), Fond Little Trixy (No-Na-Me Fond Matt), Dixie (Walebe Jewelmaker- a barn bull we owned) and one son, Frieland Patriot (Paclamar Bootmaker), that we used in the herd. Her last daughter won more ribbons than any other cow we have ever owned.

Today on a casual walk through the barn you can find Eland, Lucky, Elendil, England, E Train, Lakota, Dakota, Egrec, Encore, Cookie Crunch, Takala and Dixon descended through her daughters and Beausoleil, Bama Breeze, Bariolee, Volcano and Magma descended through her son.


To me that is truly a gift that has kept on giving. I only hope that twenty or so years from now, November will have offered Liz a similar list of good cows and great memories.

***November is by the bull Four-of-a-Kind Eland out of a Comestar Leader daughter Alan used to show and is half sister to Blink, the French fry calf.
I used to try to breed my cow, Frieland Profit Eland (out of Emu, out of Ella, out of Emmy, out of Trixie) to the Eland bull in order to get a calf I could name Frieland Eland Eland, which has a certain ring to it. Alas she only provided me with bulls from that cross.