Belle and Daisy the Family Cows

It has been a week! In fact last night I made dinner for the kids and then proceeded to lay on my bed for a quick 15 minute nap so that I would have the energy to milk the cows.

It's been THAT kind of week. Chores, chores, laundry, housekeeping, laundry, cows, sheep, bees....you name it!

It must be spring! :-) The pollen count here has been into the THOUSANDS, and so everything is a yellowish-green color.  This would include all of my furniture and floors in my house since I have been keeping the windows open all day and night.

Now to the nitty-gritty:

The new cows are here! I bought a mama cow and her heifer calf. This here is Belle. Actually her name is Lucy Belle, but I cannot have 2 Lucys...so we are calling her Belle.

 

She and Lucy have become instant friends, as Jersey cows usually are the best of mates.

 

Belle is more of a hand milking type family cow. She actually hadn't been "milked" since she calved in November so we are getting her used to being milked and getting into a stanchion for grain, etc. She's not super kicky, but if she gets startled or if she runs out of food she will panic and kick. Journee has some fine bruises on her own leg as proof!

 

I expect that after about a week she will be more adjusted and familiar with the routine around here. We have been very spoiled with Lucy's calm demeanor as an older cow. Belle is still a spirited soon to be only 4 years old cow.

 

 

We also bought Belle's heifer calf and named her Daisy. She is a very cute little girl and last night was the first night she did not bellow for her mama. We have Daisy out with the steer and ram until she is fully weaned. This made for several nights of listening to Belle and Daisy bellow back and forth all night long. It was quiet last night so I think everyone is adjusting some.

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We've had a couple of nights of heavy, heavy rain here It makes for very wet and muddy paddocks but it also has made the grass green up quite quickly. I think after we get through a little cold snap tonight (Dogwood Winter:-)) we will be well on our way to warm days and nights. The garden is tilled and my vegetable plants are slowly hardening off.

I can honestly admit that I sometimes think I might be wishing for punishment with all of these activities going on but I also know that I feel like this EVERY spring! It will all get done eventually and I will have some days to sit by the pool and relax...eventually:-)

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The sheep will arrive at the end of this month! We re-strung the electric fenced area and made 5 paddocks that are a bit smaller. We will rotate grazing each week in order to force better grazing and to help keep pests like worms (sheep) down. I plan to run my pasture chickens through these paddocks as as well to clean up and scratch in manure. This is a huge benefit of having electric fencing that can be moved around and adjusted. This will allow us to see how this new grazing system will work, and we can change it a bit if needed. So far the cows have done a much better job thoroughly grazing an area.

Athena got a good scrub down and bath this week too. Journee spent an hour scrubbing and brushing her to get the rest of her winter coat gone. She then spent a good while riding her around and working with her.
We did discover that our "bomb proof" horse has at some point been shocked by the electric cow fence and is now scared to be on that side of the property. Oops!
Journee will have the pleasure of working on that fear with Athena. Good thing Journee can hang on well:-)

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My plans this weekend include finishing a knitting project and maybe getting the pollen cleaned off my front porch! It might also be a great weekend to fire up the grill for dinner.

If anyone local is up for a rodeo, feel free to stop by at milking time:-)

Have a fabulous weekend!!!