Wednesday, December 24, 2008

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Well we did herd health a little while ago. For the most part it went pretty well. Had a few big disappointments though.

First though the good. Out of all the cows we preg checked. All but three were safe in calf. Both my Blitz daughters out of Mandy are pregnant. Blitz Mendocino is due in late June early July to Roylane Jordan. I'm as excited as heck about that calf. Her sister Blitz Neon Moon is due a little earlier in June to Citation R Maple.

Both of my Jersey cows that we checked are in calf too. Both Heather and her daughter Hattie are due to Sunset Canyon Mecca. He's the sire of Hazel, who is Heather's daughter, who won her class at the fair this year. So I am hopeful for at least one heifer calf.

The very good news was that Takala, my big black Kenyon daughter, and Encore, Mom's big Chilton daughter, were both bred. They are both two year olds on their last chance breeding. Thankfully they are safe in calf so they will be sticking around to have their first babies.

And now for the bad. Medina Dreaming, my pretty black-red 2 year old is open. I wasn't surprised. But I was really hoping she was carrying a calf. We're short cycling her in hopes she will catch. Keep your fingers crossed.

The ugly...was very ugly... Mandy, my big beautiful sweet but dumb show cow was cystic. Not pregnant. And well she now will probably not be showing next summer. The vet gave her a shot of GnRH to try and get her to drop the cyst. I'm hopeful she will start cycling again. We had already bred her twice to Cousteau. I think this time around I will service her to Roy. If she caught to him and dropped a heifer it should open the front end up some, and give the calf a little more strenght and power, two things Mandy drastically lacks. Time will tell.


On a nicer note, calving has begun. I'm waiting on 4 right now to drop their babies. Cider, Hollywood Kiss, Bonneville, and Spruce are all due or over due. Salt Lake isn't due until January but she is really bagged up so I dont think we are going to be holding off there. Ah well the late night checks have begun.


TO ALL: HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!! Stay safe stay warm and enjoy your time with your families!

4 comments:

threecollie said...

Merry Christmas, sweetheart, we love you

Breezey375 said...

merry 'istmas ishki. drat the bull calf. He needs an H-name.

Will Gilmer said...

I enjoyed finding your blog. There's just not a whole lot of dairy-themed blogs out there!

Paintsmh said...

Thanks Mom and Becky.

WDG, thanks. And yeah there re not many of us out there. Thanks for stopping over!