Got Milk? Yeah.

One Mo is a week old now. We have been trying to get both the Jersey cows to accept a leppie or two, to insure they are adequately milked on the days we have to go to town to buy groceries, see doctors, or whatever. As any trip off the ranch takes hours of driving we are usually gone from before dawn, to midnite or so. It makes for a long, hard day.

Emma Lou has not been happy about sharing her bounty with another calf, but has relented somewhat. Dolly has too much milk. I would like to limit her to two calves, Mo and one leppie, but they can’t seem to get the job done. The leppies gorge themselves to the point of real concern and Mo doesn’t nurse very heartily. They all go for the same teat so that is also a problem. Our only solution so far, has been to feed the cows in the headgate, and bring out a calf or two to dine, then selectively choose calves to finish off the job, twice a day. It’s a lot more work than it ought to be.

It will get easier, and it would certainly be easier to just milk them, but this Saturday is the ONLY day in quite some time, we will be free to leave the ranch. We have had a great deal of company lately, and more to come. We are very, very excited about our final ‘little person’ coming to see us, so we MUST go to town and resupply.

That means somebody else (#5 and our nephew) will have to come take care of the cows, leppies, bottle calves, and chickens for the day. That doesn’t SOUND like a very tall order, but seeing as how they normally work 10 hours a day, and there is a branding that day, its going to be pretty tough.

Nonetheless, it has to be done. We will give them quick instructions, pray for the best and I will spend a day of high anxiety waiting to get back and make sure my cows’ bags are in good shape. They have problems already as Emma has a sore, and Dolly has a rather large wound on hers. Babies are going to have to learn to take bottles once we get back, as they need to be healed up before they can take the abuse of calves again.

"I ordered a side salad with this...."

Feeding frenzy

Cow Hooters/Calendar girls

 Moose has graduated from goats.

Since both my angus/jersey heifers were born with testicles, (in otherwords, they were bull calves instead) I am naming this heifer "Hugh Heifer". She is a bottle baby. They tried to graft her on to Nurse Ratched, but the nasty old thing traumatized her so badly, she won't go near a cow now. She just likes me, so she can be another future nurse cow.

A Happy Dolly and Mo. What a beautiful couple.

 

Hang in there Mo