Keep your fingers crossed for a heifer X X

Oakshire_Farm · #1 03/15/12, 01:11 PM

My little Jersey cow is due today to have her second calf!

I am so excited to have a new calf bouncing around, but more than that......... FRESH MILK!!!!!!!!! We dried our last cow off just before Christmas and have been buying that white death that comes in a jug from the store ever since. It has been a long just about 4 months since having our own milk. I miss fresh butter and REAL Ice Cream! milk that has flavor not water with some white dye.

We have all of our fingers crossed that Harriet is going to be having a heifer! Thanks to this site, I have met a "friend" that I have been chatting with since last summer. She has been looking for a little dairy heifer to grow into a family milk cow, and if we get a heifer she will be taking a long road trip after weaning to go live with a fellow Homesteader!

Harriet was bred by our Dexter bull, last year we got 2 heifers and 2 bull calves, from our 4 cows, all bred to the same bull. All of the calves came out to be a beautiful brindle color!

So now the waiting game begins, I kept Harriet in last night, due to the TORRENTIAL rains we are having I do not want a calf born out side, she was happy to see me this morning, he bag has filled right up, her "girly bits" are all swollen up, but ligs are still pretty tight. Lucky she is more than happy to be hanging out in the barn.

WJMartin · #2 03/15/12, 01:50 PM

Keep us posted and we want pics.

Dreamfarm · #3 03/15/12, 11:48 PM

crossing fingers!

kranac · #4 03/16/12, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oakshire_Farm

We dried our last cow off just before Christmas and have been buying that white death that comes in a jug from the store ever since. It has been a long just about 4 months since having our own milk. I miss fresh butter and REAL Ice Cream! milk that has flavor not water with some white dye.

LOL

I'd rather not go back to white death either...

Good luck.

65284 · #5 03/16/12, 02:43 PM

We get around drinking that nasty stuff by freezing many gallons of our milk while my Jersey is lactating.

myersfarm · #6 03/16/12, 03:40 PM

65284 how do you thaw the frozen milk so you can drink it.....I got a idea

Oakshire_Farm · #7 03/16/12, 03:54 PM

Still no baby, but she is looking more ready, my days may have been off a little??? She runs with the bull, so I wrote down the day that I first saw him jumping. With my luck I will be sleeping in the barn tonight, (yeah, I am one of those crazy people that sleeps in the barn with cows, and yeah I am 33 weeks pregnant)

I wish I could freeze enough to get us through the "dry" spell. But we drink about a gallon a day, so the freezer space, would be HUGE! We have staggered the cows better this year and should be milking year round now.

Cindy in KY · #8 03/16/12, 03:57 PM

Oh, I hope you get a heifer!

65284 · #9 03/16/12, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myersfarm

65284 how do you thaw the frozen milk so you can drink it.....I got a idea

Just like we thaw a frozen turkey, we put it in the fridge a few days before we need it. The cream clumps up in tiny little balls so we use a hand held blender to smooth it back out, other than that we can't tell much difference.

**gone-a-milkin** · #10 03/16/12, 10:06 PM

I have had all my fingers and toes crossed for heifers for the last month.
Just let me know when I can attempt to UNcross them.

Oakshire_Farm · #11 03/26/12, 04:47 PM

Sorry, computer was having a little "hissy fit" for a few days, but I am back!

Unfortunately we got a bull calf last wednesday. I think I wrote her breeding day down wrong??

Wednesday morning, her ligs were starting to slack, but I was giving up on her..... so I did not check on her. My girls were out side playing, and I asked them to go check on her. A few minutes later I herd screaming coming from the barn, they came running to the house. She had the baby! They were so excited! My husband had just pulled in the driveway, so he beat me to the barn. He made the discovery, a bull calf

Ohhh well, it could be worse, a healthy bull calf is better than a dead calf. He is a bouncing baby boy! Mama was up fast and looks great!

Cheryl aka JM · #12 03/26/12, 05:07 PM

Congrats! Bull calf means beef....as the commercial says....it's whats for dinner.

allenslabs · #13 03/26/12, 06:03 PM

Healthy bull is better than dead heifer is one way to look at it!!

springvalley · #14 03/26/12, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gone-a-milkin

I have had all my fingers and toes crossed for heifers for the last month.
Just let me know when I can attempt to UNcross them.

Wendy, I would almost pay money to see you walking around this way doing chores. hehe lol. > Thanks Marc

springvalley · #15 03/26/12, 06:35 PM

Oakshire, I have a question, if you have four cows why do you not have one to milk when the others are dry? Just a question not being smarty about it, I have started breeding cows so they have calves all year long. We are never out of milk, but also never out of work. > Thanks Marc

Oakshire_Farm · #16 03/26/12, 11:48 PM

The problem was we bought our bull and with out putting much thought into it... turned him out with the girls. So they were all bred together. Poor planning on our part, but now they are staggered so that we will have milk year round, no more down time.

We tried to stagger the breeding the first year, but the bull had other ideas... Last year he went on a few "dates" in between breeding our girls.