Wednesday, March 7, 2007

First Jersey

I've always liked Jerseys. Dad SWORE he would never have one on the farm while he was alive. Fortunately, I did eventually convince him to let me get one. We bought the first one from a local farm, who has very nice and really well known cattle. And so Dreamroad Extreme Heather came to live with us. She's a real nice looking six year old aged cow now. Course, she won't come into heat, and so we can't get her bred. Hopefully, when everything starts greening up again, she will come around. We had troubles with her as a heifer too. Heather didn't have her first calf until she was over three. That first one was our first 'house' cow. It was so cold, and we had already lost a nice Holstein baby, that Mom decided to be a softie and let me bring her inside (Thanks Mom). Hattie (the first calf Heather had) is due back for her second calf sometime in early May. Last May she had a son, and I am hoping this year to get a female. Heather's second daughter was born while I was off having fun in California in March of 2005. Hooter is due to have her first calf on (we think) the 18th of this month. It's hard to tell. Jerseys spring up early, so she might be due to another service, but if that is the case, the baby is going to be absolutely HUGE. That little bugger inside of her makes her belly jump like crazy. I personally think we might have a future acrobat or something similar coming as opposed to a cow. The baby girl in the family is Heather's April daughter Hazel (a former 'name the calf' contest individual). Hazel will be a year in just less than a month, same day as another show calf, Mendocino AKA Blitz (who is Mandolin Rain's oldest daughter). We've already put together the matings (what sire are we gonna use on these girls) for their first babies next year. I think we have made some good choices, but only time will tell.

I would like to add in that for the most part, any and all photos were taken by my mom. I did take the one of Hazel though!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great blog and pictures!!!!How about you add some Brown Swiss to the herd. I was good friends with a kid who showed some nice Swiss.

Paintsmh said...

Uhh, I guess I didn't quite get across how difficult it was to get dad to let me buy the jerseys. He would SHOOT me if I went after a brown swiss. Though I did almost buy a calf one time. Maybe someday. The herd is getting fairly 'all inclusive' so to speak.

Breezey375 said...

if you get brown swiss i get an oreo cow.