Jersey Heifer Project

[Farmerjon]

Not knowing your facilities, when my girls were first starting 4H I put in 6 old style milking stanchions. This way they could mess with their calves all day while I was working and I didn't have to worry about a calf getting himself hung. The stanchions are back in use with out grandchildren who show the dairy beef steers we sell for freezer beef. The jersey steers are notorious for kicking. What we use is a broom. A regular broom and a cut down (narrow) push broom. I am a firm believer that their kicking and not contacting anything and not getting any punishment creates a non kicker sooner . We don't have waterers at our stanchions so the kids are supposed to halter and lead their calves to water every two hours. Those short (probably 300 feet each way) walks with water at one end and some fresh feed at the other are great teachers for calves to walk and want to go where they are being walked towards. Just a suggestion.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Not knowing your facilities, when my girls were first starting 4H I put in 6 old style milking stanchions. This way they could mess with their calves all day while I was working and I didn't have to worry about a calf getting himself hung. The stanchions are back in use with out grandchildren who show the dairy beef steers we sell for freezer beef. The jersey steers are notorious for kicking. What we use is a broom. A regular broom and a cut down (narrow) push broom. I am a firm believer that their kicking and not contacting anything and not getting any punishment creates a non kicker sooner . We don't have waterers at our stanchions so the kids are supposed to halter and lead their calves to water every two hours. Those short (probably 300 feet each way) walks with water at one end and some fresh feed at the other are great teachers for calves to walk and want to go where they are being walked towards. Just a suggestion.

Thanks for the tips!
This lil gal has never offered to kick, thank goodness. May change when she comes in milk. Idk.
She absolutely does not like having her head or face messed with. And won't take cubes from your hand. She will allow petting/rubbing on her back, sides, lower neck etc..

At this point I'm not sure who's leading who! She likes to go much faster than I walk. Like a dog pulling you in a leash. I usually slow her down by leading her in a circle several times and then we go again.

I'm sure alot of this can be overcome by me spending more time with her. I really have no real facilities. She will stand tied to just about anything.

She is always so dang hard to catch. Very skittish and leary of everyone and everything. The reason she's still dragging that halter. She will not allow haltering/unhaltering. If I take it off, it's a fight to ever get it back on her. She will not stay still. Not an in your pocket type cow.
I don't think that is ever gonna change honestly.

 

[Farmerjon]

When her feed, water and ability to get that are dependent on you supplying it to her she will see you in a different light. She still has the upper hand. If she gets away from you she still eats and drinks. Put her in a dry pen and let her find out you are the source of all that she wants. It will change her tune. I am not in any way shape or form telling you to starve her, but allowed to get thirsty and you taking her to water, tying her and grooming her with a broom you will find out she will kick. But you need to be the top of the pecking order to get her attention and you aren't. If you only want her to be a producing cow, she is tame enough, but for a family milk cow, her uppityness will only get worse once she has a calf to defend. A week of her being dependent on you for feed and water and she will look forward to seeing you and will soon meet you at the gate. It is time consuming but will be rewarded many times over as her being a useful family cow.

 

[MurraysMutts]

 

[Travlr]

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She sure has a lot of leg for a Jersey. How tall is she? Maybe it's just the camera angle.

 

[MurraysMutts]

She sure has a lot of leg for a Jersey. How tall is she? Maybe it's just the camera angle.

Shes about 14 or 15 months old now.
In heat again today.
I'd guess height at her back about 4 feet?
I need to work with her some more. I'll have to get a tape measure. Now ya got me curious!

 

[Travlr]

Shes about 14 or 15 months old now.
In heat again today.
I'd guess height at her back about 4 feet?
I need to work with her some more. I'll have to get a tape measure. Now ya got me curious!

I wonder if the place she came from was using a Brown Swiss or half BS clean-up bull. To me she doesn't have a typical Jersey head.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I wonder if the place she came from was using a Brown Swiss or half BS clean-up bull. To me she doesn't have a typical Jersey head.

Did you see the pics on the first page as a baby?

Yeah, idk. I figured she was full jersey. She has gotten a lot darker too!

 

[Travlr]

Did you see the pics on the first page as a baby?

Yeah, idk. I figured she was full jersey. She has gotten a lot darker too!

Yeah, she was pretty smooth and looked really leggy in those first pics. And the color was off. My first thought was somebody was using a bull with some Chianina in it. But those recent pics make me think Brown Swiss.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Yeah, she was pretty smooth and looked really leggy in those first pics. And the color was off. My first thought was somebody was using a bull with some Chianina in it. But those recent pics make me think Brown Swiss.

Interesting. I can kind of see it now that you say so.
Too bad she lost some ear year ago February. It would've been neat to see if she had those frosted swiss ears.

 

[MurraysMutts]

She really REALLY needed to lick her tail!

 

[farmerjan]

You posted a couple days ago that she was in heat again.... yet the picture shows way more udder than a virgin hIeifer that is just showing heats. I think she needs to be preg checked... I had a jersey cow that got bred, checked preg and then proceeded to show heats several more times... and everytime she was confirmed preg and calved on the due date of the first breeding she was preg checked to. Besides, if there is a chance she is a free martin, they can show heats and will often get "fatty udder syndrome" as we call it here...

I don't like to see a fatty udder on a heifer...open or short bred..... they often don't milk as well when they do freshen...Is there any chance someone has been sucking on her??? If so, it could ruin her and she may come in with next to none, or no milk.....

 

[farmerjan]

I don't see any swiss in her...

 

[MurraysMutts]

You posted a couple days ago that she was in heat again.... yet the picture shows way more udder than a virgin hIeifer that is just showing heats. I think she needs to be preg checked... I had a jersey cow that got bred, checked preg and then proceeded to show heats several more times... and everytime she was confirmed preg and calved on the due date of the first breeding she was preg checked to. Besides, if there is a chance she is a free martin, they can show heats and will often get "fatty udder syndrome" as we call it here...

I don't like to see a fatty udder on a heifer...open or short bred..... they often don't milk as well when they do freshen...Is there any chance someone has been sucking on her??? If so, it could ruin her and she may come in with next to none, or no milk.....

I've been thinking about having her pregged!
The ONLY bull she's been with was lil Dumbo. He was the one I could not get to take milk from anything. Not saying he wasn't fertile. We ALL know how that goes. But he never really got much bigger than a grasshopper.

She will not allow anything to nurse or try to nurse. Even when I had all those lil projects in there with her. I never saw anyone nurse. Mabel would let anyone who had a mind too tho.

I've cut the feed just a bit. She is in there with the big brown heifer that goes to butcher in November. I've wondered of that may be part of it. Fed too much?? Idk

If I think about it, I may catch her and have her checked this Saturday.

Here's another pic from this morning.

 

[Buck Randall]

Her udder looks alright to me. If the only thing between her and a breeding bull is barbed wire, I'd consider her exposed.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Her udder looks alright to me. If the only thing between her and a breeding bull is barbed wire, I'd consider her exposed.

Only bull here was Dumbo.
Lil fart.
But I agree! If he bred her, wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

He was probly old enough. Maybe 6 months. But she would've had to laid down. Non growing-est lil twerp I've had

 

[Hereford2]

Did you get your jersey heifer preg checked? She has more udder than I've seen on an open heifer.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Did you get your jersey heifer preg checked? She has more udder than I've seen on an open heifer.

Somehow I missed your post @Hereford2

But big news!
I have every intention of having her preg checked July 9th. If she's bred I'll start working on a stanchion and training her to eat in a head catch.
If she's not bred.....
Well, I guess I'll put her with Big Sexy.


Anyone betting on whether Dumbo bred her?
He's the one I fed a while and never steered. He didn't have much for nutz. Heck he was probly only 250-300 tops!!

Heck I'll go find a picture of him...

P.S.
Ain't she pretty!!!


Edit...
Ok. So I got him August 12th as a bottle calf. Weight about 115lbs IIRC.
He was with her until mid March at the latest of this year. The last pic will be the latest pic. The picture I have of him shortly b4 he left. He definitely had enough age to breed. But he never grew well!
This pic he is second from the right. Next to her actually.


Sniffing the goofy one in the trough.

Smallest one here.

Just before he left here....

 

[MurraysMutts]

The day has arrived!
We will know something by end of day. She's certainly grown a bit since I got her. Had her almost a year now.

We've had some good times I reckon.

Here she is with Dumbo the baby bull calf.
Is she bred?

 

[MurraysMutts]

2 quick stories here.....

I really figured this heifer was a freemartin.
I had planned on butchering her with the brown heifer I have had with her for company. SHE IS BRED!

Sale was pretty busy today for a small sale. I got the trailer backed up so the man could preg her when he had a chance. They sent a lot thru guaranteed open.
He never saw the heifer. Just that I needed one pregged.
He asks if she's gentle.
I said o yeah. But she's a touch skittish in New surroundings.
Let's just run her around thru the working area backwards and down the lane he says.
I go get in the trailer to grab ahold of her. He takes off one way, the helper man takes off to grab gates and wait for me to let her out.
Anyway. Didn't take much fuss. I grabbed the lead rope and out we came.

Gate holder yells "O hell! Shes halter broke!"



Anyway! While he was at one end doing his thing, I fixed her halter. For some reason it's gotten bound up on the right side.

He seemed surprised when he told me how far along she was.....

It lines right up with when Dumbo left.
Said she's 3 months bred maybe 4!

He was the ONLY bull here at that time.
Pics of him are a couple posts above.