I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I still haven't taken down the tree but will do it soon. We had half the family here and I did the requested fried chicken dinner. I made my SIL a traditional tres leches cake. I couldn't believe it would be good.....you pour a quart of mixed condensed, evaporated, and cream (three milks) over the cake and let it soak in overnight. It is topped with whipped cream. I was very surprised at how good it was and not nearly as sweet as I thought it would be. He was very surprised that I made it for him. He is from Honduras.
I may have more guests by January l.................................
Today was a very nice sunny day, a change from what we have been having.
FARM
I have now milked Jewel (Jersey heifer) twice. She lets me milk her without even lifting a leg, but she is very leery of the barn. It takes longer to get her in and out than it does to milk both cows. When I got to the barn this morning DH already had her up the ramp but she wouldn't take that step up into the barn. After about 20 minutes of that nonsense I decided push Willow up behind her thinking that would shove her on. Didn't work. Next I decided to back them both down and make Willow the lead cow since she comes into the barn readily and I thought if I followed (loudly) that Jewel would follow her up and she did! So now we have a new routine. I hope it works next time. If she once gets over that fear of the step up, I won't have to use Willow. We have three bypass stanchions in the milk parlor so I just let Willow in No.1 and Jewel moved down to No.2.
So, I milked both cows and kept the milk separate. I am letting Jewel's sit overnight in a container I can skim easily. Her milk is delicious but we don't want to drink all that rich, golden cream.
After DH came in from checking the cows he said he wanted to take the camera out later and take a picture for me to see the all red calf. I couldn't figure how we could get a red calf from black cows and bulls. We knew the neighbor's bull hadn't visited. He came back with about 50 pictures....he gets carried away but I love seeing all of them. While we were looking at them it came to me: These were from Willow's (she is a red Milking Shorthorn with very little white)bull calf Ferdinand we saved back from over two years ago in August. He is finally breeding the girls. We are delighted.
and here he/she (don't know yet) is with Mama,
I spotted two more reddish ones in the photos,
I kept blaming the neighbor's Hereford bull but couldn't figure why the calves didn't have white faces which is the normal coloration with a Hereford. I have been noticing reddish color for a year now....
The other nice surprise for me (I don't travel over the farm much) was the lush stockpiled grass on the old farm. I bet the cows were pleased once that snow melted.
I still haven't got another shot of Jewel's reddish brown baby but will get one maybe tomorrow.
I may have more guests by January l.................................
Today was a very nice sunny day, a change from what we have been having.
FARM
I have now milked Jewel (Jersey heifer) twice. She lets me milk her without even lifting a leg, but she is very leery of the barn. It takes longer to get her in and out than it does to milk both cows. When I got to the barn this morning DH already had her up the ramp but she wouldn't take that step up into the barn. After about 20 minutes of that nonsense I decided push Willow up behind her thinking that would shove her on. Didn't work. Next I decided to back them both down and make Willow the lead cow since she comes into the barn readily and I thought if I followed (loudly) that Jewel would follow her up and she did! So now we have a new routine. I hope it works next time. If she once gets over that fear of the step up, I won't have to use Willow. We have three bypass stanchions in the milk parlor so I just let Willow in No.1 and Jewel moved down to No.2.
So, I milked both cows and kept the milk separate. I am letting Jewel's sit overnight in a container I can skim easily. Her milk is delicious but we don't want to drink all that rich, golden cream.
After DH came in from checking the cows he said he wanted to take the camera out later and take a picture for me to see the all red calf. I couldn't figure how we could get a red calf from black cows and bulls. We knew the neighbor's bull hadn't visited. He came back with about 50 pictures....he gets carried away but I love seeing all of them. While we were looking at them it came to me: These were from Willow's (she is a red Milking Shorthorn with very little white)bull calf Ferdinand we saved back from over two years ago in August. He is finally breeding the girls. We are delighted.
and here he/she (don't know yet) is with Mama,
I spotted two more reddish ones in the photos,
I kept blaming the neighbor's Hereford bull but couldn't figure why the calves didn't have white faces which is the normal coloration with a Hereford. I have been noticing reddish color for a year now....
The other nice surprise for me (I don't travel over the farm much) was the lush stockpiled grass on the old farm. I bet the cows were pleased once that snow melted.
I still haven't got another shot of Jewel's reddish brown baby but will get one maybe tomorrow.
