It's a Heifer!! And she is SO PRETTY!

[Cheryl aka JM]

Would you just look at what my sweet Bessie did yesterday!!



I'm just so pleased! The momma is one of my bottle babies from two years ago~ we believe she is holstien/jersey cross but she is all black, the daddy is a belted Galloway. I was hoping for a heifer with a stripe but she is nicer than I hoped for~ full stripe all the way around!! One little black spot in the white. She got up right away and started rooting around to nurse, Bessie looks good and pleased with herself.....just WOW!!!!

So~ being all dairy Bessies bag is FULL! I want to get a couple bull calves to put on her (I've got too much milk already with the goats) but I'm having a hard time finding any I don't have to drive 8 hours one way to get. I know I don't have to put a couple calves on her immediately~ but how long do I have? Should I milk any of the colostrum off now or leave it till I find a couple calves?

And just because I'm so proud~ another pic

[TwosCompany]

She is beautiful!! I love her belt. There are some dairy farms up here near me (we aren't so far apart) that you could probably call and ask after some calves. If you want more dairy that is. They'll probably come up on Google.

[Cheryl aka JM]

Dairy bull calves are exactly what I'm after~ I didn't know there were any dairy's that sold calves up there~ I'll try google thanks!

[willow_girl]

It's an Oreo calf!

[topside1]

Sweet.

[gone-a-milkin]

Oh my goodness!
She is stunning!

Congratulations on your first homegrown heifer calf.

I would try to get some more babies for her as soon as possible and just leave that colostrum for this calf for up to 3 days.
After that, if you dont have any more babies for her you may need to milk her out.

Good luck!

[Cheryl aka JM]

Thank You! Thank you! I was just discussing with my son about how I didn't know should I milk some of that off her today or not. Three days...good, good I can do that! I'm going to try advertising on CL see if anyone local or within a few hours closer has any calves.

I feel like a kid at Christmas!

[gone-a-milkin]

On the dairy where I work, we commonly leave new mamas out in the field with their calves the first few days and it doesn't seem to hurt anything.

[dosthouhavemilk]

Is this your first calf? Do you have any cow colostrum in your freezer? If you don't, I would suggest milking out a bit within the first 12-24 hours to freeze for future emergencies. It is worth it's weight in gold.
It would not hurt to relieve some of the pressure from the udder. Our heifers/cows are generally milked within the first 12-24 hours after calving, even if the calf is left on them.
If she has a lot of edema (common in first calf heifers) the sooner you get the milk flowing and the blood circulating in that udder, the sooner the edema will move out.
I would be inclined to do what you can as far as milking, until you can get some calves to put on her.

The calf is stunning!

[Cheryl aka JM]

The calf is over 24 hours now~ but my nieghbor (does beef cattle but is a very knowledgeable guy) was just looking at her asking if her udder was swollen at all or if that was all colostrum. Could be edema~ I can try and see what she will let me do as far as pulling some of that off.

On the bottle calf front the closest I've found so far is at the Georgia Florida line~ 8 hour drive one way. Perhaps I'll milk her for the pigs until I can get some calves later in the year.

[pfaubush]

Very, very pretty!

[Donna1982]

Aww what a sweet baby. Congrats I've always liked belted galloways

[TwosCompany]

I've emailed my county's extension agent asking after local dairies. Hopefully I'll hear from him tomorrow!

[Cheryl aka JM]

oh thank you Twoscompany that is very nice!

I tried milking some off her last night. It was terrifying! She was not hateful, she is used to me touching her udder, but she did not like me squeezing the nipples and she kept trying to scrape me off her side. Every time she lifted her leg I had to force myself not to squeal like a girl and give up. I got some off to relieve the pressure on her udder, but I had to pin her behind a gate so she couldn't lift her leg to do it. I had my cell phone on me and I tried to call my son to help me, when he answered and I realized he had left and I was at home alone wrestling a cow I lost my nerve and gave up. So~ not much was done but to stress me and Bessie. (those that don't know a cow kicked me and broke my hip earlier this year) I'm going to order an antikick from jeffers today. I'm close to jeffers so when I order something I usually get it the next day. She is a sweet girl and I'm sure if I could bring myself to push through she would get used to it and stop but at this point every time she lifts that leg I break out in a cold sweat.

[AverageJo]

Try getting her into a stall or put a halter on her and tie her to a post. Then let her calf suckle. Get on the other side of her from her calf and milk her out while the calf is also nursing. She'll be more inclined to let you milk her, and her milk will be let down, due to her calf being under there, too. She won't want to harm her calf. Good luck.

[April]

That's a sweet little heifer - congrats!

How was her udder - much edema, or was it just really milky?

[Cheryl aka JM]

really milky I think.....
Only goat exp here and I was having a hard time so....just very full of milk I THINK and I didn't get anywhere near half of it even

[trbizwiz]

I love belties.

[gone-a-milkin]

Im glad you've found some calves for her.

No cow in the world is worth you getting hurt again over.
She will be okay if you cant milk her out completely.

[farmgirl6]

what an absolute beauty!