***Well, actually on their way down to the barn for morning milking
Traffic jam, NY style...upstate NY that is
Detroit
Bonneville and friends
Moments, we were hoping she was pregnant
and the other day when I walked by her, her calf to be was poking its fanny against her side
and I got to feel it kicking and wiggling, hooray for Moments!
My favorite cow, my milking shorthorn, Broadway, thanks Alan for giving her to me!
B-dub as I call her gets three pics just because she is so special.Can you believe her amazing color?
Broadway is beautiful and bright, but Moments has my heart. I love her face.
ReplyDeleteI think the photos of your girls are great! I like Moment and Broadway especially. Isn't it neat to see evidence of a calf like you did?!Glad to know I am not the only one who has a favorite cow at her house! Mine is a coming three year old Black Angus, named Nibs or Nibbie. Born in late early May she became a bottle calf in Aug. when her mom died. Needless to say she became a pet! She comes when called and still loves to scratched all over. This past spring she had a nice bull calf.
ReplyDeleteI love that you know your cows by name, and that they get outside. There are some big dairy farms around Saratoga where the cows -- too many to call by name -- are confined to huge roofed shelters with only a small, muddy, manurey enclosure to move around in. It seems to me, that if you cared enough for a cow to give her a name, you'd know that that was a shitty (literally) way to live.
ReplyDeleteJune, lol, she is a lovely girl and a real sweetie too. She is the one who lost her calf last year when the hunters were harassing the young stock out on the hill. We had to sell the other one, Hillbilly, but we kept Moments because we liked her so much.
ReplyDeleteJudy, thanks, I love to hear that other folks have pets too. We have to run the place as a business or starve, so sometimes hard decisions need to be made, but we do love our girls.
WW, sadly farms like ours are not very viable in today's economy...pretty much a thing of the past. And cows really do well in free stall barns. What might look uncomfortable to us is fine with them, as long as they have companionship, ample food and comfortable stalls to lie down in. Most free stalls have individual cow beds, bedded down with dry sand, which offers good traction and comfort, while allowing no germs to grow because it is inorganic, unlike straw or sawdust. Each management style has its challenges and advantages, but both work fine for the cows. That being said a British study found that cows with names gave more milk than cows with out, a feature of individual attention I am sure.
And our girls get dirty too. Even with a large pasture, with lots of grassy areas, on hot days they often choose to lie down in the muckiest, swampiest, messiest spot they can find (or make for themselves if you catch my drift.)That sure isn't much fun for whoever has to milk them that night. lol
I am so glad my Moments is pregnant. Relief times ten!
ReplyDeleteBroadway is indeed beautiful. In horse terms, I'd call her a glossy chestnut. :)
ReplyDeleteBut, sorry, I'm with Woodswalker. I simply cannot believe that cows who get to romp around a field are not happier than the ones stuck in a barn their whole lives.
And while I'm sure there are valid reasons for it, I'm especially grieved to see the little ones completely isolated in their own little igloos.
Defiantly better traffic jam than with cars;) I love to hear you call them by name, I am glad that we name ours, even though they aren't around more than a year and a half most of the Time!
ReplyDeleteAround here the dairies are always just one breed of cow....I love your variety!
ReplyDeleteOK.
ReplyDeleteI want more of this.
I don't know why, but I LOVE cows.
LOVE them.
A friend in Wales indulged my devotion by sending me a picture book with all the different breeds in the UK.
Awwwww . . . I'm gonna share this with my hubby now.
Paints, I am as glad as you are. She is a lovely animal.
ReplyDeleteAKa, I hadn't thought of that, but she is about the color of a bright sorrel chestnut. It delights me to see her colors change in the sun and the seasons.
I tried to discuss housing in today's post. I truly don't think cows care, as long as they can eat, rest and be in company. I didn't think much of hutches either, until we tried a couple. Although we don't have the right set up for them, so we only use the two we have on occasion, the way calves thrive and grow in them in incredible. They do very, very well. I don't think they would do so well if they were in any way suffering. So much research has gone on and is still going on every day into what works for farm animals. Although the way things are done may not look quite right from the outside, every detail is tested, but places like Cornell University and Ohio State...for the well being of the animals involved.
Lisa, lol, I have always named everything....everything....even the chickens.
Linda, we used to be all Holstein. Then Liz brought in the Jerseys...and the shorthorns are my addition to the mix. I love to see them...
Cathy, I really should take the camera out with me more, but my hands tend to be busy with gates and such when we are moving cattle...and I am so afraid it will get broken. Sorry about that.
I loved your photos of the girls. They all look so healthy and happy! Happy cows give good milk!
ReplyDeleteLinda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
I am wondering if you breed your different cows to different breeds, or do you just use one farm bull? Do people still use a bull, or is AI the only way to go? My sister has sheep and she calls them by name (they are Cheviots and look the same to me)...
ReplyDeleteLunachance
Redmond, WA
Linda, thanks!
ReplyDeleteLC, we use predominantly AI on the mature cows, but sometimes keep a bull for heifers. Generally for heifers we choose a milking shorthorn bull for calving ease and temperament. Otherwise most of the cows are registered so we use purebred bulls, with the exception being we are breeding up from crossbred shorthorns to purebreds. Thanks for visiting and commenting!
CTG, thanks!
ReplyDelete