The cows are home
Posted: Tuesday 6 May, 2014
We brought the cows home on Sunday. All seven - magnificent - have been at our temporary grazing since the four cows were turned out mid-March. But Breeze, Blizzard and Annie are due to calve at the end of the month and it was time that Bonnie wasn't running with a bull, so we brought them home. One at a time - Breeze first (we'd have brought Bonnie too but couldn't catch her :-)), Blizzard (who fills the trailer on her own), Annie then, last but not least, the bold Bonnie.
George and Storm weren't at all helpful in the loading process and Charlie loaded himself at one point - but after a few sweary words (me) and words of calm (Dan), we got them home. Astwood is now a batchelor club. Our plan is to use Astwood for the bullocks and the bull, when he's not working - bullocks will go up there at weaning and stay there until they go to slaughter. Cows and heifers will be mainly at Dalmore.
Bonnie now has a weaning device in her nose to stop Breeze letting her suckle. It seems to be very effective but doesn't interfere with grazing. In fact, we might use it routinely for weaning heifers since seperating them from the cows gives us a bit of a logistical problem.
As usual, Blizzard looks like she's carrying a whale calf; Breeze and Annie are quite trim. Annie's got a wee udder, bless her.
The vet's booked for the 16th May to jag Bonnie to bring her into season, just in case Storm's had his wicked way with her. I'd prefer not to do this routinely but it doesn't seem to be detrimental to the heifer - certainly much less so than calving at 15 months of age. The jag is 98% effective if given between 10 and 100 days of pregnancy - on the 16th, Bonnie could be between 14 and 63 days, so hopefully all will be well.
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