No Bull

Yesterday, hubby had to take a friend back to where he got the calves a couple weeks ago, to pick up another one. The friend was the one who got the other three the last time, but one got sick and died, on them...so with three girls wanting one for the fair, they had to get another.

The friend had no way to get one home, so DH took him in our truck.

He gets there and sends me a photo he took, of a really cute little one, that was lighter colored with white spots. It was a Jersey/Guernsey cross, and seemed more gentle, and DH said..."I want it"! LOL He fell in love with it at first sight. Course I did too, cause I loved the lighter color and spots.

So after discussing it, and waffling back and forth I told him to go ahead, and we could try to sell the other one...or raise it for our freezer. We both wished it was a girl at first, but the dairy we got them at doesn't sell their heifers we were told, only the boys, so we couldn't see if they had a girl that looked about the same.

We decided that THAT cross in a boy would be ok, yes it would give us all crosses, not full Jersey babies, with our girls, but we didn't really care which of those two breeds we got, when we went looking for cows, so figured it didn't matter if we got that cross out of all of our cows once it was at breeding age. They would still produce good milk and cream, that would make great butter and cheese, so...we figured he would work for us just fine.

We were still getting a little extra milk even with the other one having attached himself to Honey, between Honey and Mabel, so we figured we could hopefully have enough milk to raise both for at least a couple weeks, if not longer (if we couldn't sell the "extra" one) although it would mean we wouldn't have ANY extra for us.

We put the newest addition in the barn, when it got home, and after lunch, DH gave it it's bottle...it didn't eat much, but it was still getting over the car ride, so we weren't surprised. While I made supper, DH went out to milk the cows and feed the baby, and came in with a story to tell.

It seems, after the new baby had it's bottle, it decided it had to go to the bathroom. Imagine his surprise, that when it peed, the stream came out from under it's tail, not under it's body. Hmmmm, NOT what a "bull" should be doing...Heifer yes, Bull...Nope. Hehehe!

We confirmed the "sex" this morning...it's a GIRL!!! It had a messy back end, so it had to get cleaned up before we could really see, and we had the vet check to see if she was open and not a free martin too, just so we didn't raise her up expecting babies out of her, only to find out later she couldn't have any. Course he couldn't guarantee she would give us some...but he is pretty sure she should be able to.

Who knew the people at the dairy wouldn't get it right...they deal with cows everyday, one would think they could tell the difference. We just took their word for it, and didn't check. In their defence, there is a Tuft of hair where her umbilical cord is, that hangs down and kinda "looks" like boy parts are hidden there, but there isn't! *giggle*

So looks like we got our girl after all...and looks like our other "bull" will stay our bull for now. He just better behave himself if he wants a long life, he does tend to get a little aggressive with the bottle...and Honey's Udder. LOL

Maybe God thought we needed another girl...so he made sure we got one. I think we are pretty much at our limit now, with 6 girls...but guess now we can start thinning out our herd, as we raise more up, and end up with ones we really like, who are well behaved & good producers. We will see what the next few years bring, and who stays and goes, as we have more babies. Daisy is pretty safe, as long as she keeps giving us a baby now and then, cause she is my favorite and well behaved...not sure which ones DH wants to for sure hang on to.

God does works in mysterious ways...so who knows why he brought this little girl to our farm, but We will sure enjoy watching her grow up, and seeing what her babies look like, as she has them...we are loving the white spots she has on her. Now the lead training begins...didn't plan on doing the boys, but do like the girls to be lead trained.

Still giggling about the mix up...and doing a happy dance. Love getting girls that will give us cream and milk, since we can make so much out of those products, especially butter and cheeses. :-))