Recent content by AnnBledsoe

Think ostrich, emu, llama, alpaca. They were all fads that sounded good at the time -- many people jumped on those bandwagons and lost their shirts. Ann B

While I do tend to agree that the climate appears to be changing, I don't necessarily agree that we're the cause. Here's an interesting article linking the Tunguska Event of 1908 with global warming. Makes a lot more sense than Al Gore's movie. http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/tunguska.shtml...

I have a cow right now, 7 years old, that was allowed to get fat as a heifer, has been down to a BCS of 1 (when I purchased her as a 4 year old), and she still has fat in her udder. This cow gives 5 gallons a day, but her sisters all give in excess of 7 gallons a day. She's an Old World Jersey...

But Dun, that's just it, it's NOT a dead subject -- yes, they're saying that the program will remain voluntary at the Federal level, but at the same time they're pouring money into the states for mandatory state programs. Heck, some Florida feed stores (Deland) are getting paid by the USDA for...

Since FMD isn't fatal to cattle and isn't transmissible to people, is basically an economic issue since the cattle recover in a few weeks, wouldn't it make more sense to VACCINATE? Disease concerns are a smoke screen -- if they were worried about disease, they wouldn't allow OUR chickens to be...

Currently I am raising 2 Jersey heifers (3-1/2 & 4 months), they have not yet had a bite of grain -- but they are still on milk, graze with the cow, get 2 lbs of alflalfa pellets daily, and free access to grass hay. Over the years that I have raised both beef and dairy calves, what I have found...

I save all the extra colostrum from my Jerseys from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd milking, marking it as such. 1st milking is the best, 2nd and 3rd milking are okay, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th milkings get fed to the chickens, or mixed half and half with the milk for older calves. I have successfully...

There is nothing at all wrong with such a program as a producer-driven, VOLUNTARY program, that BENEFITS the producer. There is a LOT wrong with such a program as a MANDATORY program. As a mandatory program it becomes a license to own animals -- a license to produce your own food. The...

Tag or no tag won't affect the incidence of BSE in the least -- BSE is NOT a contagious disease, it's foodborne. Quit feeding cow parts (including blood products) to cows and BSE would eventually disappear. We'd be better off if they'd track the IMPORTED cattle -- makes no sense to me why they...

Hmmmm -- strange. Especially since the Jersey Island breeders of the 19th century used to feed as much as a bushel a day of carrots to their cows to keep the butter nice and yellow through the winter. Ann B