One of our own- a heifer calf!

Last night (March 12th) there was excitment as Garry and Max pulled a heifer calf- a very Holstein-looking calf from a Holstein-looking cow (she was busy eating this morning when I went out for photos- ready to make some milk.) Garry says it was so big, Luba said it was male, but he looked and said "no- female!" (in Russian, of course.) The last four heifer calves will soon be weaned (done drinking milk) so its good to finally have another female calf- I don't even want to think how far off a 50/50 ratio we've been running over here (so far- I'm sure it will swing back someday!)




Today's forecast is for ten degrees C so you can see Garry was taking that seriously as he was outside forking brewers grain in his t shirt this morning- of course the ground is frozen yet- the mud and puddles are hard. I was comfortable in my sweatshirt while taking pictures- it feels like spring, and sure enough the crocus are up by the driveway- even the tips of the daffodils are peeking out of the ground when Polo and I went to look. You can see Luba in one photo- she was feeding the big calves milk with Yana- they are wearing more clothes for milking time than Garry. I did see people walking yesterday afternoon without hats, so spring must be here.




Yesterday Garry decided to put all the heifers and a few dry cows outside- last night while I was cooking pizza, Seth and Jonah had to help him capture some escaped heifers- poor Jonah fell in the muck twice during the chase, sliding on ice, and Seth got his hand squashed between a heifer and a wall. Seems that the hay pile has pushed the fence down in one spot. Rememeber the heifer Garry bought last year because she wouldn't stay in a fence? There she is getting her own corn silage this morning. Guess she may get tied up in the barn again (like she was on Friday when I took her photo.)