Here is our "new" milk cow. Such a doll!
You see, Gramma cow Sweety did not come up with a calf this year. Sweety cow certainly has a big fat belly, but Jerseys usually DO have bony hips, and wide, wide belly! Nobody knew when to expect a calf out of her, we waited...but no calf! Eventually this past fall, Sweety was no longer milking and turned out to pasture.
My dear husband simply cannot live without drowning his breakfast in cream, cream in his hot chocolate, bananas with cream. Milk to drink by the glassful. Without a milk cow, we found ourselves filling the grocery cart with dairy products at the store, which gets expensive, fast! We missed fresh milk and cream.
After shipping calves early on in November, I begged my husband to pull Thumbelina out of the herd. She is a granddaughter of Sweety cow, 3/8 Jersey, and raised a nice BIG steer calf once again.
Because she was a milk cow's calf, Thumbelina was raised around the barnyard. After weaning, milk cow heifers are raised with the replacement heifer calves and then run with the main cow herd, raising calves of her own. They always bring in a nice large healthy calf in the fall at shipping time.
So Thumbelina has never been hand milked before but was already very familiar how the routine works. Didn't take too long for her to discover that being milked each day means her own large helping of grain! She is downright enthusiastic about getting into the head catch!
You see, Gramma cow Sweety did not come up with a calf this year. Sweety cow certainly has a big fat belly, but Jerseys usually DO have bony hips, and wide, wide belly! Nobody knew when to expect a calf out of her, we waited...but no calf! Eventually this past fall, Sweety was no longer milking and turned out to pasture.
My dear husband simply cannot live without drowning his breakfast in cream, cream in his hot chocolate, bananas with cream. Milk to drink by the glassful. Without a milk cow, we found ourselves filling the grocery cart with dairy products at the store, which gets expensive, fast! We missed fresh milk and cream.
After shipping calves early on in November, I begged my husband to pull Thumbelina out of the herd. She is a granddaughter of Sweety cow, 3/8 Jersey, and raised a nice BIG steer calf once again.
Because she was a milk cow's calf, Thumbelina was raised around the barnyard. After weaning, milk cow heifers are raised with the replacement heifer calves and then run with the main cow herd, raising calves of her own. They always bring in a nice large healthy calf in the fall at shipping time.
So Thumbelina has never been hand milked before but was already very familiar how the routine works. Didn't take too long for her to discover that being milked each day means her own large helping of grain! She is downright enthusiastic about getting into the head catch!
My baby milk cow, Molly, is almost exactly the same color as Thumbelina. Molly came from a friend's dairy herd. She is 3/4 Jersey, and should have her first calf in July. When I disturbed her breakfast to snap a few photos, she complained out loud! Funny girl!