Meet Daisy

Our new cow!! She was a little more than my cheapskate price, but I guess you get what you pay for, so...I had to do it. Especially since we have learned a lot with Mabel, and know a little more what to look for.

We took a road trip to drop the sheep off at my parents house yesterday, and on the way went a bit out of our way (about a hundred miles south of them) to look at a couple of Jersey Cows. One had just calved a week or so ago so she was in milk, but her calf had been sold already, so we would have just gotten her, for a little more money, than this cow pictured above was...and while this one isn't in milk, she is with calf! We think we will call her Daisy...we don't know if she had a name, the guy who had her had only had her for a few months, and we doubt he knew.


We bought her, even though she was a little more than what I had really wanted to spend (after being a cheapskate with Mabel, I figured maybe I shouldn't be quite so cheap this time, if I wanted to get one that might not have some of the bag problems that Mabel has). We took her to my parents house, and stayed overnight, (figured maybe Mabel could stand to miss a milking or two since she has slowed down so much) and brought her home today.

Daisy isn't fond of that tiny trailer we have, and when we would stop, she would move around a bit...but we finally made it home safely, after a short stop at our Vet, to have him check her to see if she is with calf, like was promised. SHE IS!!! Course the vet said he thought she was about 5 months along, and the guy had told us she was due in May sometime he thought....which would have put her at 7 months along, but least she IS with calf, unlike Mabel. (Oh yeah, we got the blood test results late Sat night, and they said that Mabel wasn't going to have a calf, it was disappointing to say the least.)

At least, sometime in July, maybe, we will have a baby calf running around our pasture. The only bad thing is, it's not pure Jersey, an Angus Bull got out I guess...which resulted in Daisy becoming pregnant. LOL However, I'm not to unhappy, that baby will probably end up in our freezer next year (once it grows up of course)....maybe....which means we will have enough beef for a while. Plus it will bring Daisy into Milk, which will hopefully result in MORE milk than we have ever gotten from Mabel, since Daisy appears (now anyway) to have a lots better bag.



I thought this photo of Daisy and Mabel greeting each other through the fence was kinda cute, especially since Mabel was giving Daisy a "kiss". DH has them separated for now with a fence, they will be together once Daisy gets used to the place. I did think it was funny, later on after we had taken Daisy in to feed her in the stanchion and tried a couple halters on her (which were too small....so we are going to get her a new one, cause she WILL allow us to lead her, unlike Mabel....Yippee!! LOL) we pulled the truck out of the pasture, and went to unload everything else (we also brought home a couple more ducks and a tom turkey, since the three turkeys Dad sent us home with last year ended up being all girls. LOL) Anyway, I looked over at the cows, and saw Daisy laying down and Mabel was standing with her back to her, almost like she was Mad at her. Not sure if she is happy about having a "sister" now or not. I guess as long as she figures out she is still going to get the extra goodies she loves to have a couple times a day inside the barn, maybe she will be ok with the new family member.

I really like Mabel's face, but Daisy's is nice to, better than the other choice we had for sure. I don't mind black on their faces, like Mabel has, but Mabel has a lot of brown on hers too, the cow we didn't choose had a lot of black on her. I liked Daisy's whiter face better. And we are so thrilled with how she leads! *giggle* At least so far she will follow right along, if she has a rope attached to her...even though she isn't real sure of us yet. Mabel just stands there and laughs at the human trying to pull several hundred pounds of stubborn Jersey around with a rope halter, when we tried with her.

More trip photos on flicker.



All in all it was a good trip, and a beautiful day today with warmer temps. This sunrise was how I started my morning even after a short night. DH ended up bringing home some bee hives that Dad used to use, but doesn't anymore, and an old welder of my brothers. (Yes he wants to get honey bees eventually...probably not this year. LOL) As usual my family was generous with their love and their bounty, which helps us out everytime we see them, one way or another. I am so lucky to have been raised by such wonderful parents. :)

I did stay up far to late talking to my Mom last night (since we couldn't spend to much time there *cry*) so now I'm ready for bed....and it's not even dark out yet! *giggle* I guess I'll have to catch up on e-mails and all for the next couple hours...and then go to bed early. Going to be a busy week this week, I think, with some extra baking for Unleavened Bread and catching up from being sick...and whatever else we get into. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, it was good to see my family, and even my Niece was able to come over so I was able to see her for a short time.

Between the early birthday gift my Mom gave me of some of my FAVORITE dried fruit snacks (that can be hard to come up with at times) and the early birthday gift of the cow (even though it's DH's too, I do get to look forward to the fun I hope to have late summer and on with the milk, if all goes well) I almost had a "birthday" weekend, and even had cake that my Mom baked! :)

Even though now we are broke for the most part for a while, we are both happy I think. And yes, I think we have enough cows...for now...after all, we have a bad case of CALPC. CALPC = Cows are like potato chips ....ya can't have just one! *snicker*

Have a great week! :)