Posted: Thursday 21 October, 2010
Dan and I were up and about early today and off to Aberdeen to pick up our two Shetland heifers. It took us about 90 minutes to get to the ferry terminal. The calves were loaded yasterday at 3pm and came down overnight, disembarking at about 8am. The staff at the ferry terminal were very helpful and friendly.
The heifers had travelled well and loaded like a dream. We took it real easy on the way back, to the delight of other road users, and arrived back about 11.30am. Again, the heifers unloaded beautifully into the byre. John had washed and laid the stable mats, so we put down a couple of bales of straw.
Within 20 minutes, they had had a bit of coarse mix, a drink and some hay. We left them to settle and the next time we looked in, they were lying down, chewing their cud. They are curious about us but wary, so we'll be spending a lot of time with them over the next few weeks. At least I'll know where Dan is!
Breeze is the elder of the two heifers by about three weeks, but she is the smaller. She's a first calf out of David's heifer. Blizzard is bigger and the boss, but more stand-offish than Breeze. The photos don't give a sense of perspective - although they are well proportioned, they are small - maybe 40" at the shoulder. A mature Shetland cow is 44 - 48" at the shoulder.
We're looking forward to getting to know them over the weeks and months and hope to share this new adventure with you.
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Comments

Rosemary
I love the James Herriot books - I've read them a dozen times at least. Just off to check on them again :-)

Wanda Wood
Congratulations! They will give you lots of fun and joy over the years! How did you come up with the names? Were they part of their registered names? We are all prepared for winter. They say a hard one for us this year.
Enjoy your new calves!
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claire
Thursday 21 October, 2010 at 11:27pm
aww, wee petals. I'm just reading some James Herriot books, lots of lverly cow stories to laugh at.
you'll have a few of your own soon I am sure.