Jane update
July 21, 2011
Jane at 14 months.
Jane is getting to be a big girl. 53 inches at the hip and weighing in at about 800 pounds. Any thoughts of waiting to breed her to calve at three years old are out the window at this point. Handling a cow in heat for another year is not going to happen. Plus I want the milk. Sometimes waiting works well, sometimes it doesn’t.
Lana and Lanasen.
I bred Lana last summer to calve as a two-year old and she is doing great.
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Food Renegade
Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op
What a beautiful girl Jane is!
Jenj, Thanks!
Wow! Jane is starting to look like a cow!
You have probably already documented this, but you have other cow-calf pairs. Why would you not use another as your milk cow ’til Jane is ready? Is it the hand-raising, to be very gentle?
Marilyn, none of my beef cows give enough milk to justify me robbing the their calves of milk. I milked Lana’s mom for a while but only until the there was no surplus.
Jane’s turned into a lovely young heifer! But BIG! I bet you can’t wait for the milk.
Susan, it seemed like a long way off and now it’s getting close. She has grown up so fast.
AI or a Hereford bull?
Sheila Z. jury is still out on that one! Definitely beef though.
It’s hard to believe that Jane is already old enough to be bred…it doesn’t seem like that long ago she was just born! She’s a beauty. Good luck with the breeding. I hope you’re getting some heat up there…we certainly have had more than our fair share here in Kansas. This is our 27th day of triple digit temperatures and no rain even before then. Send us some of your PNW rain PLEASE! Have a great day.
Maura
Maura, I know I can’t believe she is at that milepost already.
No heat yet, just lots of rain, but I do see the sun this morning and the weather forecast is for a few sunny days. I hope you get some relief from that awful heat soon
Jane is like a bovine super-model – long legged and gorgeous!
Coco, I tell her you said that! She is looker for sure
Yay, I was just wondering when we’d get another Jane update! She is gorgeous and so leggy. What is your breeding plan for her- Guernsey or something else?
Claire, she looks like your Isabel! All legs, thanks to Mr. Luck. For now I will breed her to beef until I want a replacement. Then I will work on smaller stature like her mom.
Too funny…I clicked over here from Soule Mama because I just recently was given two cows (about 8 months old) and saw your mama moo and baby moos…(Lana and Lanasen)…
Imagine my giggles when I thought…HEY! THAT’s ME!!!
Lana, that’s too funny! My Lana is a sweet girl and her children always seem to have her disposition. Congrats on the new additions!
Would waiting until Jane is 3 not risk her being too fat and/or having some other fertility problems? I can’t believe she’s so big already!!
Kristin, I have never seen that with a naturally reared and grassfed heifer, but I have seen the grain fed ones get too fat to breed. She is a big girl and I think she will do fine as long as I breed her with a low birth weight bull for the first time. It helps when they can calve unassisted the first time, as far as mothering goes, or at least that has been my experience. I’ve done both and it just depends on the heifer, some are late bloomers.. I think the full dentition is a real concern especially when people try to calve in winter or early spring. Calving when grass is plentiful can allay a lot of problems.
Hi Nita, you’ve probably told us Jane’s breed but I’ve forgotten. Is she Guersney or part-Guersney? Cheeky last photo! LOL
Rhonda Jean, She is purebred Guernsey, A1/A2. I agree, that calf is a little hazard, and the personality to make a good cow.
That little calf is so cute. I had horses, but never cows to take care of. – Margy
Margy, cows are a little easier than horses
14 months is not too young with good care. Will use breed her to a beef bull or to a dairy one?
Wendy, I will breed her to a beef bull, I like the mix for cows or meat. And I agree she will be easy to care for separately if she needs a nutritional boost, since she is not in a herd setting. Her mom had her first calf at 27 months and did fine.
What a pretty girl Jane is!
Susan, she is starting to remind me of her mom, in the face anyway. She is one tall drink of water though.