Photos of the mommas and babies!

[willow_girl]

Well, are you guys about bored to tears listening to me go BLAH, BLAH, BLAH about my cows?!? (God knows my husband probably is by now!)

Well, for anyone who's still with me here, a few photos I took tonight of the herd:


Doesn't that one just make ya go "AWWWWW!"


Here's another shot of Teeny and her calf. Mind you, this was taken just a couple hours after he was born. Have you ever seen a bigger calf? EGADS! It took Gary and me both to lift him into the trailer!


There's Twist and Little Man, proving that he DID eventually learn how to nurse! I love this photo because of the look on Twist's face, is that not priceless?! Do you think she is just a little bit annoyed with me?!


Here is Twist standing out in the woods earlier this afternoon ... what a nice bag she has! I still can't milk her unless her calf is right there, though -- otherwise she'll scrape with her front feet and fling dirt all over me! But if the little guy's standing there, she's an angel; I don't have to tie her up or even give her a pail of grain! (Can you say "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"?!)

[pygmywombat]

That is a whopping big calf! Teeny must have looked massive when she was pregnant. Both calves are attractive little guys. Twister definately looks a bit P.O.ed with you. What does her bag look like when it isn't hugely swollen from bagging up?

[willow_girl]

I am kicking myself now for not taking a photo of Teeny in the last couple days before she delivered! She was HUGE! I mean, if you could have taken a cross-section of that cow, it would have been perfectly round! She was feeling pretty groovy, though, right up to the end ... I could tell from the way she sort of pranced as she walked. It is hard to believe she is the same cow I brought home from the auction just a year ago.


Teeny on the day I brought her home -- at the dairy, she was so depressed! I think it was from having her calf taken away! (She had calved down at the heifer barn and Mark let her run with her calf for a couple days before he brought her down the milking herd.)

I was beginning to wonder whether she'd twin this time, as her momma twinned with her last birthing (and both the calves were the size of regular single birth calves!). So, big calves must run in her line! She dropped him without a hitch, though, and was grazing tonight. She would not let me so much as TOUCH her bag, though (kick! kick! kick!) and I did not make an issue of it as the calve was nursing very nicely and will take the pressure off. Into the stanchion she goes tomorrow though! Gonna try out my new (well not new, but new to me) Surge milking machine on her!

It is hard to see Little Man (Twist's calf) in the picture 'cause it was getting dark, but he is really a beauty! Four white legs and (you can't see it in the picture) but the tip of his tail is white, too. He has been running all over the place, and sticks his tail straight up in the air with that little white tip flying like a flag. Just so darned cute!

Twist's bag stayed pretty big even after she was dried off; it never got really floppy like I've seen some cows do when they're dry for awhile. It has gotten steadily bigger the past month, though, and as you can see, it's huge now! Not a lot of edema in her teats, though there is some in her bag (I've certainly seen worse, though). She is milking nicely and, while she's not giving the 100 lbs a day she did at the dairy, on a much richer ration, I am getting a good 4 gallons a day besides what the calf drinks. I just started using her milk today (actually I could have kept last night's milking, but for some reason I was thinking she calved on Tuesday not Wednesday) and I'm already running out of space in the fridge. Help!!! Well, the pig, cats and dogs will help to clean it up, and I have a rule that nobody who stops to visit is allowed to leave without taking a gallon of milk with them whenever I have a cow in milk!

--> Willowgirl, whose hands are tired from doing this ---> to a cow!

[leaping leon]

So cute! I sent a link to my daughters who are visiting with relatives this weekend...I'm trying to get them a little interested in cows too...but maybe it's enough that they share my interest in goats and equines...if these photos don't do it, I'll give it up and just get a cow or two for myself next year!

You're too far or I would be arriving for my gallon of milk some day!

[willow_girl]

Thanks Leon! Hope the photos work! And you would certainly be welcome to that gallon of milk!

[ponyexpress]

Thanks so much for sharing the pics! Give those darling little calves a hug for me!
I would love to have some of your milk too --- trade ya some tomatoes?
Unfortunately, too far away!
Enjoy your babies!
Anne

[OD]

Awww, they are sooo sweet!!! I'm glad everybody is OK.
What are you going to do with all that milk? I'm only keeping about 2 gallons a day from my Jersey, & I still have to pour a lot out. Well, actually, I skim off the cream, & pour out the rest. I feel so wasteful, but what else is there to do?

[willow_girl]

Thanks everybody!

OD, isn't there someone around you who can benefit from all that good milk? Because I live in a dairying community, there are a lot of old retired farmers around here who really have a hankering for milk "just like they used to drink growing up." No, I don't sell it (it's illegal in Michigan) but figure what the heck, if I have a surplus, might as well give it away! That reminds me, I need to call a couple folks and let them know I have a cow in milk again ...

I have actually had better luck with older people than younger ones ... I thought my stepdaughter would love some extra milk, since they are very poor, but as it turned out her kids wouldn't drink it because it didn't look or taste like milk from the store! (Too rich, and the cream floated on the top.) Go figure!!!

Anyway, I also feed the surplus milk to my cats, dogs and potbellied pig. And this morning I made a deal to buy a bull calf off the farm where I work! Cheap! Well, it isn't much of a calf ... he's real small, and he didn't get fed last night because the farmer let his sons feed it, and forgot to see whether they actually did ... I found the bottle next to the pen this morning, and boy was he hungry! (Hey, the kids are only like 5 and 2-1/2, I am sure they TRIED to feed the calf!) He also seems to be a bit loose,,,,hmmm. But hey, it's a $50 gamble right?! I will keep him in a pen in the barn, separate from the other calves just in case he's carrying something contagious.

[Goat Freak]

Seems like the farmer should take care of whatever calfs he has himself, one thing about little kids, they can't do the work of adults no matter what.

[Christina R.]

Hi Willow,

I just got back from vacation (Oregon Coast), so now I get to catch up with the posts. Twist, Teeny, and boys are the best!!! Please continue to post away....I always love hearing about your gals. I'm glad you posted the picture of Teeny from last year for those that didn't know about the life Twister and Teeny had before and how extra special that makes all the recent calvings. Enjoy your weekend!!!

[dosthouhavemilk]

They look wonderful!

Isn't it amazing what a change can come about in less than a year?

[JeffNY]

Teeny has a nice udder, welds right to the front. Was she ever classified? If so, how high?


Jeff

[willow_girl]

Thanks everybody! I am just getting caught up here as I've been gone most of the week (my first full week of herd testing! But that's another story!)

Both the mommas and babies are doing fine. The calves are growing FAST!

Jeff, nope, Teeny was never classified! Mark culled her in the beginning of her first lactation. I think she had been in milk about 4 months when I bought her. Her bag is not real big and she doesn't produce a whole lot of milk. Her mother is actually a much better milk cow than she is! In her 4th lactation now, and holding up pretty good. She is a cow I call Stacy and I may be her too someday if Mark ever culls her, just because she is Teeny's mom!

Stacy was pregnant with Teeny when Mark bought her so he doesn't know who her sire is.

Twist is a Metro cow and they supposedly have a tendency to not have the greatest udders! So far she is avoiding mastitis in this lactation; I think having the calf around to clean her out helps.

Gary only milked 1x a day while I was away, so the cows aren't producing much beyond what their babies need. I will be gone again the early part of next week, too ... Darn! The timing on this new job sure sucks, but what can ya do?!

Oh well .... the cows and calves are happy and healthy anyway! Oh, Gary said he noticed Twist's calf also nursing from Teeny, so I may just buy a little steer and put him on her ... sounds like she may accept him. Hopefully Twist will, too ... sometimes she behaves rather oddly ... for instance, she sometimes pushes Teeny's calf around, for no apparent reason! Cranky old witch. I think he has learned to stay out of her way, though!