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06/01/14, 02:02 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver Island, British Columbia, CANADA
Posts: 931
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Best deal ever!
Monday afternoon I came in the house for lunch. I sat down opening up my computer and flipped on facebook...... The first add that pops up on my page was posted in a group I had "liked" The add says........ 2 FREE cows! They are Jersey x Angus, to friendly to butcher... Would like them grow up to be lawn mowing pets..
I right away sent a message, the add had been posted 2 minutes before I logged in! Well they were on a small Island, a 20 minutes ferry ride and a 20 minute drive away. They are yearlings, March 2013 and June 2013! After chatting back and forth for a while she says that she will deliver them on thursday.
I kept thinking it was to good to be true! She was going to be a no show, or the trailer would open and there was going to be 2 half starved calves, or they were going to be wild as heck!
I rushed around all week, getting a new paddock built, good strong fences, I worked my butt off!
Thursday morning comes around she calls to say they are 5 minutes out, I run down and open the gate, they drive into the field. He opens the top on the cattle box..... and there is see to perfect little black faces starring at me,,, instead of backing up to the far corner of the box, they came to me and smelled my hand. They looked to be in great shape!
So they back up to the round bale for the cows to jump onto, I did not know they did not have a trailer and had nothing prepared.... Well they were perfect! They are fat and CRAZY friendly, they came off the truck, turned back and grabbed a mouth full of hay. After 5 minutes they turned and looked around, they walked over to the water, had a drink and came back to me for head scratches!
I could not believe it! They are sweet! All my fears and worries were wrong! After about half a hour they were wandering around like they have always lived here!
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06/01/14, 02:48 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Beautiful Minnesota
Posts: 449
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Wow! I'd be pretty excited too! Enjoy your latest additions to your homestead...what a bargain!
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06/01/14, 05:46 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Frederick, MD
Posts: 1,488
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Can't complain about free....
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06/01/14, 02:55 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Utah
Posts: 936
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You may not know it but, you didn't get 2 free calves, you signed up for a feed bill.
I guess if you were looking for that, then you got your wish.
There are exceptions, but in general cattle don't grow old very well.
__________________
That which is tolerated by the first generation is magnified in the next.
CIW
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06/01/14, 03:50 PM
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: N.E. OK
Posts: 2,292
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sounds like great start to be oxen?
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06/01/14, 04:22 PM
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My name is not Alice
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: On a dirt road in Missouri
Posts: 4,185
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That's a pretty great deal. You were smart to jump on it. Jersey/angus X will make you great beef for years to come.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CIW
You may not know it but, you didn't get 2 free calves, you signed up for a feed bill.
I guess if you were looking for that, then you got your wish.
There are exceptions, but in general cattle don't grow old very well.
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What on earth?
__________________
Honesty and integrity are homesteading virtues.
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06/01/14, 07:25 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Nearnorth Ontario
Posts: 545
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I don't think feed will be an issue as they offer hay for sale from their farm - "Hay for sale off the field as well as sales from the barn during the winter months." quoted from the link provided to their farm's website.
I want to see pictures of the new additions!
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06/02/14, 05:30 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Frederick, MD
Posts: 1,488
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CIW
You may not know it but, you didn't get 2 free calves, you signed up for a feed bill.
I guess if you were looking for that, then you got your wish.
There are exceptions, but in general cattle don't grow old very well.
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The free cattle are yearlings... a long way to go before they are considered old. Anyone with animals has a feed bill.... whether it comes directly out of pocket or via equipment, labor, and depreciation.
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06/02/14, 06:04 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: South Central Va.
Posts: 519
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That's alright. Happy for ya! There was a guy on the radio show, "The trading place back a couple of months ago that had two goats to give away! A doe and a buck, so I called him hoping to get a shot at them!
That was between 11:00am and 12:00 noon and he said he'd hold them for me!
I finished what I was doing and went ahead and knocked off at 2:00 pm and hauled freight out there and they were already gone!
My luck isn't as good as yours, LOL!
Godspeed
Ranger
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06/02/14, 11:16 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 841
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Congratulations! They sound lovely
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06/02/14, 11:14 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver Island, British Columbia, CANADA
Posts: 931
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We have a few hundred round bales, I am not concerned about the feed bill.
I will get some photos of them pretty quick! I spend the weekend cutting and bailing hay! I will get a spare minute soon to get out there with the camera!
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06/03/14, 12:23 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Lisbon,Ohio
Posts: 947
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What a great deal ! Congrats !
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06/05/14, 07:03 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Washington State
Posts: 33
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That's awesome, lucky you! 
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06/05/14, 08:57 PM
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Retired farmer-rancher
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: north-central Kansas
Posts: 2,895
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I must have missed something. Are these "cows" heifers or bulls or steers? Makes a big difference. Are they just to be pets, or can you breed them, any restrictions on what you can do with them?
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* I'm supposed to respect my elders, but its getting harder and harder for me to find one. .*-
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06/06/14, 06:44 AM
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Very Dairy
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Dysfunction Junction
Posts: 14,603
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I'd say the people who gave them to you are the lucky ones if you fulfill their wishes to keep them as pets! Not many people want to go through the trouble of keeping a cow for a pet. And there are a lot of disreputable sorts who would have taken them and then had them on a trailer to the sale barn the next day. So kudos to you!
As far as cows not aging well -- ha! Here's my Christine at 12.
__________________
"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.
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06/06/14, 12:44 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver Island, British Columbia, CANADA
Posts: 931
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ksfarmer..... they are 2 heifers. They are both yearlings (march 2013, june 2013) they are very tame. I am free to do what I want with them. But at this point, my plan is to haul them over to my parents angus bull in a few months.
I am just about to up load some photos.... will be posted soon 
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06/06/14, 07:19 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Nearnorth Ontario
Posts: 545
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I've been waiting patiently for the pictures 
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06/07/14, 12:10 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver Island, British Columbia, CANADA
Posts: 931
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sorry, my computer decided it was pms'ing and didn't want to talk to me.....
BUT we worked it out and here they are!!!
THis is Fran, she is a 50/50 mix of Jersey x Angus
And this is Summer, she is a 25/75 mix of Jersey x Angus
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06/07/14, 12:12 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver Island, British Columbia, CANADA
Posts: 931
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hmmmmmm, shoot. Those are both the photo of Summer???
This is Fran
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06/07/14, 11:42 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver Island, British Columbia, CANADA
Posts: 931
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They are still to small to be bred. I am planning on waiting until the fall. To take them over to visit. The bull is a yearling bull. He has about 1/4 dexter in him, and the angus are on the small side. They are the old school angus. Not the great big ones. I think they will be fine. figures, I sold my deter bull a few months ago. He would have been perfect for these too.
My kids have decided that the cows need to be haltered. Right now the easiest way to tell them apart is to run around and look at their little udders, Fran, has a big white patch on her udder. Summer is ALL black. So they need to be easier to tell apart..... hahaha. So today, my 6 and 8 year old will have a bucket of grain and a few halters and are going to get them on. This is going to be fun to watch!
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