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Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Clover is growing up

Clover
Clover enjoying the warm weather and sunshine.

Clover was the first heifer born on our farm. Not the first calf mind you, but...the first little girl we were so excited to have born here. She is just over a year old now, it's hard to believe it was just a little over a year ago that she was born.



Enjoying Summer in Winter
Clover with her Mom in the background.

She was born to Mabel (the cow in the background) but mostly raised by Daisy...although once we got Honey, she really had three Moms, cause they all claimed and protected her. Daisy was the most insistent about it though.



The Plight of the Mommies
Clover as a young calf, being taught to lead.

Ever since she was born, she has been getting a little training here and there to be a working member of our family cow herd. She had lead training...maybe not as much as she should have, but she had some so she can be led on a rope. She has also had stanchion training, including having hands touching her udder area, so she gets used to being "milked" and hopefully won't be to hard to, once we are able to.



Clover
Clover standing up after her rest time.

A week or so ago DH informed me she needed to be bred, once she came into heat again because she was old enough. So this last weekend, when we saw the steers paying more attention to her than normal, we called up the AI tech we've been using who lives just a few miles away from us and scheduled an appointment for that evening.

This was her first time, and I didn't go out to the barn to watch, as it was suppertime, but DH told me she did pretty good. She came running in to the barn when he called her, even though she had just been in there for her evening feeding. She stood and maybe moved around a little bit, but not to bad, and even let DH show the guy that she will stand with him touching her udder. The AI tech was impressed with her, said she looked good and was a good size for her age. That's all good to hear, cause we are still kinda "new" at this cow thing, even if we have had them for a couple years now. She IS our first one to raise up for milking purposes, so we are still learning.

The AI tech even said her coloring isn't to odd for a Jersey. LOL I've always thought it strange she was so dark...course I was really hoping she would look like her Mom, cause I think her Mom is the prettiest of our cows, although I still prefer Daisy cause of her cute attitude. I'm kinda hoping the all dark body comes from Clover's Dad's side, so maybe we can bred Mabel again and get a lighter colored calf out of her...and hopefully another girl, since I'd love one that looked like Mabel to keep.

Anyway, all this to say, it appears like Clover is growing up nicely, is fairly well trained for being a milk cow, especially for us not knowing exactly what we should be doing, AND if we are lucky, will be giving us a calf in 9 months or so! I am praying she took anyway, won't know for sure for a while yet.

How cool it will be to have a 2nd generation baby born on our farm! Gotta love any of our farm babies, but I especially love them when we've raised their Mommas from birth. :-))

2 comments:

  1. Wow! Time is flying! Keeping my fingers crossed for y'all. Considering how well behaved she seems - looks like everything's gonna be just fine! Now ya' gotta start thinkin' 'bout names, again! LOL

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  2. It seems like she was just born a few months ago... She can't be that old already! *lol*

    http://multipleblessings.wordpress.com/

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