Tuesday, September 28, 2010

'Til the Cows Come Home...

Its been a long 6 months of planning, searching and locating an appropriate farm to relocate my cattle to, but now its all complete.  I can finally exhale.

This year was a tough one with the humidity, the horrible flystrike, pinkeye problems and trying to find a place to live where I could have my cows nearby.

Additionally, the drought seriously caused complications and I had to find immediate temporary pasture for my herd in late August, since there was no grass left in the southern region of the state because of lack of rainfall since May. The lack of grass had an affect on the amount of milk the cows were able to produce for their calves, plus the cows were having a hard time maintaining their own body weight.   Keeping cows happy and healthy is not easy.

With some help from Mother Nature, the "girls" and their calves finally arrived at their final destination on Saturday.  Lots of town folks heard about the cows arriving and came up to this farm to take a look at them.


Their new fields here have lush grass, and plenty of it.  The cows ate for a straight 8 hours and in that time their udders filled up with lots of milk to feed their calves.   The calves were so busy eating the grass they hardly remembered to go for a drink until their moms called them and urged them to do so.


The length and amount of grass here is unbelievable.  This secluded area of Vermont got some reasonable rainfall this sumer and it shows.   What a diffrence of 2 days of grazing made for the cows.  They look and act so much better. 


I kept my herd separated from the other small herd that lives here until we were sure no one was going to fight, escape or head back to the original farm ( which some cows do ).          So far the girls are only concerned with grazing and giving many body baths to their calves.   Its all good.


It's a new beginning here for the TailGait Farm herd and me.  
 I could not be happier.

Home is Where the Herd Is.

Janis

5 comments:

  1. So happy for you that everything worked out.The pics are beautiful.

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  2. Glad everything is looking up for you!

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  3. Are you close by too? It looks like just a beautiful place and the grass looks beautiful.
    I hope this is where you get to stay for a long while. :)

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  4. Why is it we feel so good around our cattle? Always glad to see happy cows no matter who they belong to.

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  5. I'm so happy for you! And the girls and the kids look wonderful! I hope your rent is in line.

    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

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