My niece has 2 regular size Jersey calfs. They are ‘bottle babies’ & so cute!! They are actually good meat cows so they’ll have a really good life for the next probably 2 years or so.
This niece has the goats. One of the original 2 Nubians & the Dwarf Nigerian are expecting in about 2 weeks and “are huge”. I told mom when the goats (8 of them) have had their kids, I AM going to see them - she can stay home because she hasn’t wanted to make the trip for just a visit. Surprisingly, she’s now insisting she DOES want to go with me LOL.
The 5 Nubian does that were born last year were bred to a Dwarf Nubian buck. This will result in kids that look Nubian & are good milk producers, but they will be small ‘mini’ size. Plus, it will be easier for the first-time mamas to birth their kids. Evidently, this is the new ‘hot’ goat to have. She’s doing all the blood draws & testing to have healthy goats & to be able to sell them. She sent me a video of “draw day” .... the goats are unappreciative of the fact they have an RN expertly drawing their blood!
My other homesteading niece wanted a certain breed of miniature sheep, but they also cost thousands of dollars each each so she ended up with 2 free Dwarf Nubian wethers.
CC: The downed cow may be alive- it looks like her head is up, but otherwise she’s not moving. Once the farmer arrives to do his morning check, I will see what happens. I can only see so much with the binos. There ‘may’ be a new calf with another cow but there’s another fairly small one in the herd already & it could be that one I am seeing. The brand new ones stick pretty close to mom & this one has wandered away just a bit.
My maternal grandparents had a dairy & I have always loved cows. On one visit, I woke up on Sunday morning to be told my very favorite cow ‘Redford’ had a calf the night before - so exciting! Poor Granddad - once my brother & I named our 2 favorites, they were always there when we visited because I don’t think he had the heart to sell them & have to explain that to us.
Sweet stories all around. I’ve never been around much livestock, but they sound like fun, until the work aspect settles in. Like gardening only more so.
Today is a rainy day, thank goodness, so I hope to get some inside chores done. I have a lot to get done before heading out to Oregon on Sunday.