The last fence post is IN, and my husband, with Emma's help, has started putting up the wire mesh fencing. It shouldn't take more than a couple of weekends to get that done. He has to do the east and the south sides only. The east side is about 2300 feet I think. The south side is much shorter.
No more breakouts through the electric fence.
I think this one will solve all our problems. I will be so relieved.
This matter of having to tie cows grew old a while ago. Fiona has a special knack for breaking hardware and somehow has managed to "untie" some of my very best knots. In fact, I'm just back in from chasing her down.
She is hellbent on getting to Ferdie because we started weaning him yesterday. To put it mildly, she is distraught. My stomach hurts from the stress of hearing her bawling all day. It is the most annoying sound. The further out she stretches her neck, the more grating the sound she produces. Thankfully, Jess the Cat came to my rescue and provided comic relief while Emma was milking this morning. Jess is Miss Congeniality. She hopped on Emma's back and stayed there about ten minutes, mewing contentedly.
Ferdie bawls some, but mostly he just acts depressed--with a capital D. I wish I knew why we have not been able to do the once-a-day milking, where you separate the calf overnight, milk in the morning, then let them spend the day together. Since the time he was born back in April, we have not been able to get more than a 1/4 inch of cream at the top of the jar. Pitiful. Not worth milking for. We hope that once Ferdie has been weaned a few days, Fiona will stop holding back her cream. She used to give two to four inches per quart.
Fortunately, there's no loss to us in all the milk he has been getting. It has been converted to beef for our table. I think he is a finer and healthier calf for getting to nurse this long. After all, veal calves get nothing but milk.
4 comments:
Maybe Jess was hoping to get a little sip! Funny!
Does this mean you will have Ferdie on your table by winter? I don't know cattle cycles.
No, not until he is almost two years old.
Maria has lately developed a fascination with long hair. She likes to tip her head back and feel the ends of her hair, telling me it's getting longer. She was entranced with this picture of Emma. She told me, "When I am big I am going to have hair just like that."
Emily, that's so cute!
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