Yesterday Erin and I travelled to Creedmoor to look at a milk cow that was for sale. She’s just freshened on the 21st of January and she looked pretty good from the pics.
After driving about 45 minutes, we arrived at a closed farm where we met the farmer’s wife, Linda. Linda’s husband had injured himself and he wasn’t able to milk anymore. Linda loved milking, but was tied up making a living off the farm as many farmers are. Therefor they were selling this freshly freshened milk cow and her little bull calf. Erin and I looked the cow over as best we could and by all accounts she looked great. The calf was cute as a button and everything seemed like a decent deal. Well, she was a little expensive but with what happened to Ginger I wasn’t in a negotiating position. The cow is a Heinz 57 of a breed. She’s 1/2 Jersey, 1/4 Dexter, and 1/4 Holstein. The calf is even more of a mutt with a makeup of 1/4 Holstein, 1/4 Jersey, 1/4 milking Devon, and 1/4 Main Anjou. Phew!
As we talked a few minutes, I noticed that the bull calf peed out “his” backside. Now I’m no expert, but bull calves pee from a different spot. Heifer calves pee out the back. Erin noticed the same thing so we asked Linda if the calf was a bull. “Sure is!” We’d already agreed to the deal so we pointed out she was a heifer and explained to Linda what she was selling. Heifer calves are worth a lot more. She agreed to go ahead and we paid her and backed the trailer up. The calf was a tiny fuzzball so when she got near the trailer I scooped her up and plopped her into the trailer. I then walked her into the front so I could close the cut gate and then coax mom in the trailer with me. As I was walking forward, I felt the trailer move and looked back. Mom had hopped in with me and was ambling forward. I closed the cut gate and Erin closed the rear gate and we had both cows loaded easier than I’ve ever loaded anything or anybody. It took about 5 seconds.
We put mom and daughter into the barn last night and we’ll begin working with her, and milking her today.
Both cows are really cute. The mom’s name is Betsy and the calf’s name was Bernie since Linda thought she was a boy. I was going to keep Bernie and just say it was for Bernice but SWMBO has declared that’s a terrible name so we’ll see. So far they both are sweet but as they say the proof is in the pudding. We’ll see how milking goes. She may be a devil cow in disguise!
I hope they both stay sweet, sane, and healthy. Maybe all the good qualities of all those breeds have added into the mix.
Thanks Joelle! I take a bit of sanity right now. 🙂