fun with cows!

Oakshire_Farm · #1 05/26/14, 11:22 AM

As long as the weather is not blowing wind, raining or cold and freezing. I like my cows to calf out in the field.

Well Harriet was due to calf on thursday, the weather is great! BUT Harriet tends to loose her mind with a new baby! Not just her baby ANY new calf in the field! She finally calved sunday morning sometime. We were out for the day, I knew she was ready when she came in for her breakfast when I milked the other cows. So we came home from our outing, and sure enough she had a big and beautiful bull calf at her side.

Now for the fun part...... getting the calf into the barn! I pull the calves and bottle raise them. So me and my husband head out to the field. He picks up the calf and I am running circles around him waving a stick and shouting, protecting him from the crazy cow that is Harriet! So we get to the barn, calf is tucking into a stall. I milk all the other cows, Harriet comes in last. The calf can see her and calls a few times. But she is now to busy eating her grain to care..... After milking she turns and walks out of the barn and has yet to look back at the calf!

She does this with every calf that is born, she totally looses her mind when you take the calf out of the field, but once it is gone she just turns and walks away like it is no big deal!!! I hear the horror stories about people getting hurt by cows, she could be one if you tried to take a calf from the field alone. But once the calf i gone she turns back into the sweet little Jersey that I love so much!

On a side note..... I am milking 5 cows right now!!! Eeeekkkkkk, I have 12 calves in the barn and a pig drinking all this milk!!! Time to get cheese making again!

Oakshire_Farm · #2 05/26/14, 11:25 AM

This is my 2 year old saying hi to Harriet a few days before she calved.
fun with cows! - Cattle

Oakshire_Farm · #3 05/26/14, 11:36 AM

And the rest of the herd <3 (left to right) Harriet, Burger (weanling dexter steer), Mabel, Lily-Mae and Clairabelle. Cher my other holstein is camera shy and missed out on this photo.

fun with cows! - Cattle

Sensiblefarmer · #4 05/28/14, 04:54 AM

I question how safe it is to allow a 2 year old such close access to a cow that is due to deliver, when she is known to be "crazy" when calving in the field. Animals are unpredictable as it is, and it is a Jersey.

Awnry Abe · #5 05/28/14, 11:55 PM

It's like their nose hits the ration and their mind switches back to, "Oh yeah. This is what I do everyday." When I do the dirty deed, I run the cow into the milk parlor with the calf at side and let calf hang out during milking. Then I release the cow from the stanchion and shut the barn door behind her while distracting the calf. "Not you, kid." Then the calf goes into hiding for a couple of days.

Great pics, by the way. How else is a 2 yr old supposed to "think fast" if not with a Jersey on her heels? Just kidding. It's the family dog that'll get you in trouble with and angry momma, every time. When I read the beginning of your thread, I thought, "dang. Is it still winter up there?"