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Post by willowgirl on Oct 30, 2018 20:28:21 GMT
All went well; she walked right onto the trailer -- easiest cow we've loaded yet! -- and stayed upright for the trip. All of the other cows came running to greet her (except for fat old Lil, who doesn't run for anything, lol). She seemed happy to be on grass (well, mud) instead of concrete and danced around a bit. Went for a trot up the hill with her new buddies. When we left, they were all around the hay ring, having lunch. Whew!!!
We were so busy trying to get a little more paint on the barn (rare warm day!) that we didn't even get any pics, but I'll post some over the weekend.
Edited to add: she was fine at midnight feeding time! She followed the rest of the herd to the feeder and pigged out with her nose in the air. Doesn't look like they went down to the barn at all today. We left the lights on in the main part just in case they go in there tonight. It's still very mild so I imagine they'll probably sleep in the open. They've become regular range cows these days!
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Post by grannyg on Oct 31, 2018 15:18:45 GMT
Sounds like a barn party....LOL.....glad she is doing well
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 1, 2018 6:02:27 GMT
I had to work all day (and half the night, lol) but Numb got some pics today! Here she is ... And grazing with her old herdmates Shady and Roz.
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Post by LauraD on Nov 1, 2018 13:22:55 GMT
Wow! I love her coloring!
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 1, 2018 13:50:53 GMT
Thanks! She looks so much like her mother, the late great Lizzie Sr., except her black patch is on the opposite side of her face. Here's a pic I took of Lizzie Sr. about a month before we lost her.
Edited to add: Looking at the previous pic, I just realized Roz and Shady are getting FAT!
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Post by Woodpecker on Nov 1, 2018 19:10:07 GMT
She is so different looking...I love all those black spots. She sure does look a lot like her mother. It’s so touching how you love & care for your cows! They’re one herd of very happy cows🐄🐄🐄
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Post by Daniel on Nov 3, 2018 0:14:42 GMT
I absolutely love her. I have been trying my best to find someone to fence in at least one of my pastures. It's so hard to find anyone to do any kind of work, and I live in the county with pastures all around. I'm going to get these pastures fenced and I'm going to get me a couple of cows.
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 3, 2018 4:50:24 GMT
Oh please do Daniel! You'll never regret it. There is no better friend in the world than a nice old cow.
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 3, 2018 21:07:32 GMT
She's fitting right into the herd and seems to be enjoying her new life. Lillian was lying down on the slope and didn't make it into the picture.
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Post by LauraD on Nov 5, 2018 14:00:27 GMT
Shady and Roz look soooo much alike - I assume they are related?
I bet every one of your cows think they've died and gone to cow heaven!
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 5, 2018 15:02:06 GMT
LOL, no, they're not related so far as I know. I would have to go back in the record to be sure, and usually I only pay attention to dams and not sires since we're all AI-bred, so I guess it's possible they had the same baby daddy, lol. That's a really common coloring pattern for Holsteins, though; in fact, if I were to put Marianne in that herd, they'd look like triplets. We left Shady's eartag on so Numb could tell her and Roz apart. He has trouble keeping names straight (brain injury) so he calls them Eartag and Non-Eartag, lol. And yeah, they are happy girls. I love watching them frolic around, especially knowing what their fates would have been otherwise!
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Post by countrymom22 on Nov 6, 2018 23:31:38 GMT
Glad the move went well. And of course the girls are getting fat, look how lush and green your pasture is! Happy, happy cows.
Welcome home Lizzie!
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 8, 2018 12:58:45 GMT
You wouldn't know they're fat if you could hear the pathetic bellowing when we show up with their TMR! Even Lizzie worked up the courage to give one small "Hurry up!" moo on Sunday (as if to say, "Are we allowed to do this?") You'd think they were staving to death. We set a new round bale at the far end of the pasture yesterday and once they realized what we were up to, they came galloping and jumped over the creek like horses. Numb calls feeding time "the hunger games" and dubbed Lillian "Fatness Neverlean."
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 26, 2018 0:58:16 GMT
Lizzie had developed a real liking for Numb. She went up to him today while he was working on the fence and started licking his face. Ha,,,I remember when it used to gross him out when the cows licked him. Now his spirit has been broken, and he just accepts it as a token of their affection. She's a smart little cow, too! She's superseded Shady at the head of the pack at feeding time. Today when we put out hay, all the other cows gathered at the round bale feeder, while Lizzie went and stood in front of the trough, having correctly figured out that we were going to put out pellets, too. The bigger cows try to push her around a little but she holds her own at the trough. (Numb calls her "Mini Moo" because she's shorter and skinnier than the rest of the girls.)
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Post by willowgirl on Dec 3, 2018 13:37:06 GMT
We got Lizzie's final 303 report from the DHI and she made a total of 25,818 lbs. of milk, mostly in her heifer lactation plus the first two months of her second, before she got sick. She was a nice little cow -- her butterfat averaged 4.3% and protein 3.7. What a shame that mastitis took her out of the game! Looking on the bright side, she's putting on some weight now and seems to be enjoying her new life as a range cow.
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