More calf pics

[Lannie]

I'm obviously still learning my way around this board... I wasn't sure where to post pictures, and Anazazi PM'd me the other day asking what ever happened with my brindle, Bandit, and her calving. She's the Jersey/Hereford I was asking about last summer as far as pre-calving condition. Anyway, she had a beautiful little heifer calf on September 10th. I named her Cricket and she'll be staying on here as a second milker.

Here's Bandit going into labor at 4:00 pm.

Her water broke at 5:55 pm, and by 6:00, we had hooves!

At 6:05, we welcomed Cricket to the world.

Trying VERY hard to get up (Bandit kept licking her and knocking her back down! LOL!):

She finally made it up and stayed up, and found the spigot!

Of course, it was pouring down rain during this whole time. :roll:

Here she is the next day, all dried off with a full tummy:

Mom standing guard:

A few more cute pictures:

She's gradually been getting darker, and is now brindling like Bandit. Cricket's daddy was a grey Jersey, so I wasn't expecting another brindle, but I'm NOT complaining! Here she is at 4 months old. Bandit is telling her cow secrets (probably how best to aggravate her gramma and not get caught!) - LOL!

She's 5 months old now, and a total teenager. I'm telling you, she tries my patience. I never had any children of my own. Now I'm getting a taste of what I missed. :roll:

~Lannie

 

[Lannie]

Oh, and by the way, Bandit is 3 months bred to an Angus bull now, due in September again, this one bound for the freezer!

~Lannie

 

[Jogeephus]

Thanks for the pics. It was neat watching her grow up. Need to add to it when she calves so we can see the whole cycle. :nod:

My curiousity is killing me. In the last picture there appears to be rows of varying type of plants planted. Is this done for some special purpose or just gardening?

 

[alacattleman]

thats a nice looking cowfor her makeup, fine looking calf.

 

[Lannie]

Jogeephus, those are our shelterbelt trees on the north side of our property. The first row you see (deciduous) are all Carragana (Siberian Pea Shrub), and behind them are rows of red cedar. Way in the back are what's left of the dead cottonwoods (they got too big for the available water). They're supposed to blunt the full force of the wind whipping across the grass plains, but this winter all they did was catch snow. We got a LOT of snow this year. All the fencing on the other side of those trees is under snowdrifts, and we had to put up a temporary fenceline to cut that whole section of property off from the animals' access. They could just walk right out of here otherwise. We have shelterbelt trees on the east, north, and west sides of the property, but that northwest corner got hit the worst. There are sections of our east fence that were completely under drifts, too, but we were able to put up temporary t-posts and wire into the drifts in those spots to deter any wandering. Spring can't get here soon enough for me! Honestly, though, I think we'll still have vestiges of these snowdrifts until July or August. The largest drift was about 15 feet tall and 600 feet long. My dogs have been on the "honor system" all winter! LOL!

This is part of the east fence (that's 5' tall field fencing).

These pics were taken about 2 weeks after the blizzard, and you can see how the weight of the snow is pulling the fences down. I have my fingers crossed that the fences will survive, even if they look a bit saggy afterward!

This is part of the fencing in the north shelterbelt area - it's 3' field fence topped by a strand of barbed wire at 4' but the snow is pulling it all down as it melts.

This drift crossed our corral fence, and buried our gate. 'Course it was easy enough to just walk across the drift to get in and out of there. The horses finally figured it out, so we had to dig that all out with shovels. THEN we got a snowblower! LOL!

And the really BIG drift that runs the whole length of our property. That's my husband up on top. We figured that drift is about 15' high and it crosses 5 sections of cross fencing. It's a real mess.

I hope we don't have another winter like this one for a LONG time!

~Lannie

 

[CKC1586]

Wow, great pictures! Thank you for sharing. :wave:

 

[LoveMoo11]

Cricket was an adorable baby! Looks like Bandit did a good job raising her. Hope the next one turns out just as good!

 

[Jogeephus]

Thanks for the explanation. That is really some kinda snow.

 

[cowman30]

Damnit boy someone's trailer was nearly buried. Now that is snow there.