Wednesday 27 July 2011
Last year on 31 August I wrote a post entitled ‘Ferdinand’s Firstborn’ (you can find it here) about our first new British Friesian heifer whose name is Nancy. Her mother, number 38, gave us no clue as to her due date and so surprised us with a little bundle whilst still in the milking herd. This year we had no date for her either but as she got fatter and her milk yield dropped Daniel dried her off to be on the safe side and she retired to the canal bank with all the other ladies-in-waiting. This morning she went for a swim in the dreaded ditch but clambered out on the other side away from the rest of the cows and continued to wait until this afternoon when Gordon brought her back to the farm. Apparently there were back feet protruding where there should have been front ones and a nose, so Gordon and Daniel drew the backwards calf to speed up the process. She’s now the proud mother of another little heifer called Nancy 19.
This is the fifth heifer we’ve had in July, four of which were born this week. The others are Whitesocks, Heather, Milly and Grace. Heather and Grace (the mothers) are the only ones of that name left in the herd, so the birth of daughters will keep the line going. It brings the total number of surviving heifers to twenty-seven since the end of August 2010. We had two in at the beginning of 2010, and two in 2009 so you can see why this would cause excitement.
CONGRATULATIONS
[...] Unfortunately last week we lost Heather who sadly had to be put down. Luckily she had a daughter last summer so the name will stay in the herd. This year we’ve had quite a few who’ve needed [...]