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...

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.)

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.