Inside the barn

Well here are those barn photos, taken right after milking. As you can see we had had a number of fresh cows (ones that recently had a calf) However I believe the count to be 8 bulls, 3 heifer calves and one freemartin. You can see why Garry wants to trade bull calves for girls! A freemartin is a female born twin to a bull calf. Almost all are infertile, because their female organs do not grow properly, there are supposed to be fertile females in 10% of female/male twin pairings, but I only know of one that ever had a calf... don't worry this doesn't happen in people, just cows.

The set of twins that was the marvel of the village shortly after Garry came home this month, are really like two bull calves. At home we grow the freemartins up and then when they are old enough to breed, they get turned into steaks after the vet checks them out and says that they are infertile. However, no one here had seen twin calves before, they are much rarer here in Ukraine. I think they are all hoping for two calves for the price of one now.





Check out our cute little red calf in the pen. She was racing around while I was taking photos, her mother is one of the red cows in the barn. The cow lying in the pen had trouble getting up on Saturday, Sunday they were going to put her in the pen but she got up when the tractor got close to her and walked there. She seems to be feeling a little better today, hopefully she's back to normal soon.


Garry sold a three week old bull calf for about-correction 140 dollars on Friday (he added on the milk fed to the price) It was supposed to get traded for something that has not happened yet, and Garry decided that the guy could get the next one born instead, so there would be more milk to sell. Last week he drove 4 bull calves down to Yana's parents place in the back of the Lada- the day before he picked me up at the airport- he says he plastized the rear really well first and tied the calves up. It didn't seem to smell when we put the suitcases in anyway.


Garry tells me that they are feeding the cows at two in the afternoon nowadays, and getting the corn silage inside the barn for the next morning's feeding- you can see in on the other side of the gate where the calves are; along with a scoop of brewers grain in the bucket of the tractor to feed in the morning when it is still dark. parking the tractor inside means it will be warm enough to start and the brewers grain isn't frozen. Since its supposed to be cold later this week they are going to move some brewers grain from the tubes into one of the pits. Right now only 4 inches around the outside of the stuff in the plastic tubes is frozen, but when it gets to -20 at night a lot more freezes. It stays warmer in the pit in the ground, less surface area.




Maxim and his brother found this little black puppy yesterday afternoon shivering in the snow and she seems to be enjoying life in the barn today, although Polo and Mint seem to be ignoring it for the most part. Maybe it can be Max's guard dog at his new house when it grows up.