Chicken Scraps Blog

It is with mixed feelings I write this blog post; partly I know we are making the right decision for our farm, but partly I will miss Blossom when she leaves.  Yes, it's time for old Blossy to find a new home.  She has been a great milk cow for almost nine years, but I want to keep her daughter from last year in addition to Buttercup (her daughter from 2012), so someone needed to go. AJCA Registered (grade) Jersey Milk Cow, exposed to to A2/A2, polled Jersey bull Asking $1,000 Video at bottom of page.   Blossom is an excellent example of the old-fashioned Jersey cow.  She is well-built, medium sized, and has a perfectly even, very strong udder.  Her feet are (and always have been) excellent.  Temperament is fairly calm and steady, though she is the top cow in the herd and will put the others in their place if necessary.  Usually very easy to handle; always submits to people.  Stands perfectly for milking.  Has nice long...

     So, you have a young heifer, or a cow which has never been milked before, and want her to be your family milk cow. You grab a bucket and head out to the barn to do some milking, and, lo and behold! she kicks you over and tries to break out of the stanchion the second you touch her udder.  What went wrong?

Have you ever tried to herd a 16 m/o dairy bull?  It can be interesting, even when he is comparatively mellow, like Barbacoa.  Any bull that is sexually mature is potentially dangerous, and the closer they get to 18 months or two years, the more dangerous they are. Now, if you have to somehow move that beast from one pasture, past a 5 month old heifer, through the yard, into another pasture, what is the easiest way to do it? You call a high drive Border collie! Yesterday I tattooed our bull for permanent ID before we sell him, and had to get him into the milking stanchion.  While we didn't get the dragging him into the stanchion adventure on video, my 10 year old brother, Justice, did get some neat footage of Cleone moving him.  As you can see in the video, she is no expert, but that is my fault, not hers.  I simply don't know how to train a herding dog to the high level of skill that many reach, so while she is a great helper for me around the farm, ...

Feldman Family Pansy Pansy is a beautiful heifer with a great temperament.  She is well built, and in perfect condition.  She has been very healthy her entire life, and has been kept on a good regimen of milk, free choice kelp based minerals, grass, and alfalfa hay.  We do not practice feeding grain to our cows, as we feel that grass is their natural food, and the milk is much  healthier if they are fed exclusively grass. Pansy is used to having her udder handled quite a bit, and allows me to "milk" her without much fuss at all, if any.  She also picks up her feet, and leads okay.  (I am working on improving her leading training, and also teaching her to tether.)

Over the last few years, I have been hearing more and more about A2/A2 cattle, and the health benefits of the milk, but I always kind of passed it over as rather silly; I mean, seriously, how can a genetic difference in the cow make a difference in how healthy the milk is?  I also did not like that the company who tests cattle for this gene was also the one doing the research.  But then recently, some friends who run an excellent natural farm in Lake City have started talking about it.  Apparently, a customer interested in buying a heifer asked if any of their cows were A2/A2, and when they tested, they discovered that 5 out of 6 of their cows were. Now, the interesting thing about this, is that quite a few people who have reactions to cow's milk, even raw cow's milk, have told them that they can drink milk from their cows with no problems.  I always assumed that this was because of the high level of cleanliness, and the good quality grass/ minerals they f...

Yesterday Savana and I took a few pictures of Penny.  She is growing well, and I am working on training her to lead, and be more friendly. (Penny is sold.)

Sold  Full-blooded Jersey heifer: Feldman Family Penelope "Penny" Born:  December 29th, 2014 Sire:  Copper Dam:  OA Feldman Family Buttercup AJCA Registration Pending (OA) Dehorned.

Announcing a new addition to Chicken Scraps Shop :  Easy Birth Tea Easy Birth Tea is a special blend of herbs to help with pregnancy, birth and recovery.  It is safe for use in humans, horses, goats, sheep and cattle.  (SOLD AS ANIMAL SUPPLEMENT ONLY.)

There are few things so frustrating as having a full bucket of milk kicked over, just as you are stripping out those last few squirts, and dreaming of the yogurt, cheese, or just plain creamy milk you are going to enjoy.  Even worse is when she kicks you in the nose first, then plants her dirty foot squarely in the bucket.  A kicky milker can cause all kinds of problems, and be downright dangerous.  Frequently, kicking is only a symptom of other issues, such as extreme nervousness.   A nervous cow is a dangerous cow. She is liable to hurt herself and other cows or people.  She may try to jump or charge through fences, and likely will attempt to break out of the stanchion if she is frightened.  This is not an article dealing with nervousness, but I will say that the cure, so far as I have experienced, is twofold:  1).  Lots of gentle, but firm handling, feeding of treats, and desensitizing her to common things she perceives as threats. 2)....

Here is Bluebell at 7 months of age.  She is recovering from a sudden worm attack, after a very wet summer.  Otherwise she is in good health.  She is not hard to lead, but needs some finishing.  Blossom was walking up and down the fenceline behind me calling her while this video was taken. (Bluebell is sold to Katlin H.)

Tonight I went out and snapped a few more photos of Bluebell and Blossom.  She is currently with Blossom during the day, then separated at night.  We milk Blossom in the morning, then they go together again.

  Please note:  Bluebell has been sold.  This posting is for reference only.  Buttercup has been bred to a miniature Jersey bull, and is due next spring. Well, Blossom finally calved.  It was beginning to seem that she would never give that baby up!  And now I like the calf so much that I'm wishing I could keep her.  But...  Two milk cows (Blossom and Buttercup, who was just bred) are enough for us, and we have a limited amount of grass.  So here is some basic information on Bluebell. Full-blooded Jersey heifer Born March 11th, 2014 AJCA Registered (OA) Sire:  Peppy Dam:  Blossom

Blossom is expecting a full-blooded Jersey calf around Valentine's Day next year.  She is bred to Peppy, Buttercup's sire.  Both Peppy and Blossom are quiet and good tempered.  I like what I've seen in Buttercup- she inherited Blossom's gentle temperament (an important point in a 500 or 600 lb dairy animal), she has good conformation, and she is also polled.  The calf when it is born will probably be for sale, and will be dehorned if it is not naturally polled.  If you are interested in Blossom's calf, please send me an email for more information. (  chickenscrapsblog@gmail.com )  I will post here when it is born. Below are some pictures of Blossom and Peppy.  Blossom is currently producing 1  1/4 gallons per day, and has been in milk for a year.  She is not receiving any grain whatsoever, and is eating only grass, a couple quarts of alfalfa or Chaffhaye (usually about three quarts), and sometimes a couple quarts of beet pulp.  ...

Sometimes it is helpful to be able to just set a bucket of milk on the ground in front of your calf, and walk away while he feeds himself.  Since calves don't naturally know how to drink from a bucket though, they have to be taught.  Last night, as I gave Chipotles his first lesson in bucket-feeding, it occurred to me to have Evan record it on video, so that others could perhaps profit by it.  Enjoy!