The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: monkeysox on June 15, 2011, 03:54:15 pm
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Hi all,
Just a quick hello, first post on the site. My fiance and I have just purchased our first home together (an ex farm cottage with 2 acres). I have been in agriculture all my life and brought up on a dairy farm so am good for cow knowledge! We have both worked in various guises within conservation too.
We are hoping to have some chickens, geese and grow our own veg to begin with. Hoping to use the site for valuable info and knowledge sharing.
:)
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Welcome monkeysox and congratulations!
I have a Jersey house cow so there's sure to be things I'll ask you can help with.
I'm in north Cumbria. It's a cold, wet, windy place at the moment. Should be making hay at this time of year but I'm going to need my long johns for evening feed tonight!
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hello and welcome from fife :wave:
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hello and welcome :wave: :)
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Hi and welcome from hot and humid Carnoustie :wave:
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Hi welcome, 2 acres, plenty of room for chickens and may be a couple of pigs for fattening???? ;D ;D
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Jersey cows are my speciality! I was herdsperson on 200 jersey cow unit after finishing agricultural college, so do ask if you need anything. On a purely geeky note who is your cow by? the herd i worked on was sold and i was made redundant 6 years ago so i'm always trying to find relatives of my girls, they went all over the country.
Ali
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Jersey bore warning - this post of little interest to anyone not fairly obsessed with Jersey cows...
Hillie is Wheelbirks Impulse Scent. Dad is Q IMPULS DJHB (the Danes have such interesting names, huh? Not.)
A neighbour used to have one of the top-performing Jersey herds in the country and talks about them often, clearly still missing them very much. One day she talked about a bull she bred for the AI, and BH said that if I could track down a descendent of that bull, I could have my house cow.
Well that bull didn't get used a great lot but I did follow the line of another bull bred from one of her cows after it was sold and found that several cows carried the bloodline at Wheelbirks. I love Wheelbirks, it's a lovely Jersey dairy farm and now shop and cafe, selling raw milk & cream, fabulous ice-cream, and their own Jersey beef. (Best burgers I have ever had.) So I told them the story and asked them if there was any chance of buying a cow or heifer with that bloodline. Hillie is the result, and I was very very lucky that her first calf is also a heifer (my atavar - not the most flattering pic, mind!) Plenty's dad is DANISH RY FREDERICK DJHB.
Whereabouts was the herd you used to look after? Would any of your girls have made it up here to Cumbria?
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Hi there and welcome from Worcestershire. I shall watch this thread with interest, over the years I had several Jersey house cows, though sadly not at present.
My first "Buttercup" came from The Queen's herd at Windsor, she was very lovable though a determined little madame. They are so full of character
All the best
Sue
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hi and welcome from moray :wave:
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I worked with the Brackenhurst herd at Brackenhurst College in Nottinghamshire. I own one of my girls and she is kept on my uncles dairy farm. Our herd was sold at very prestigous sale in March 2006 (broke my heart if i'm honest, I'll never forget watching the last lorries go up the drive and away) They went all over the place, The old Smiddiehill Jersey herd brought our the majority of our best show cows but the rest went all over the place. I dare say there is youngstock out there in milk now. Our herd number was 141901 and the prefix "Brackenhurst" A good friend Richard Saxby has a lot of them still too.
Your girl has good breeding - I have AI'd with Q impuls many a time, so know doubt aided the generations of his daughters! Alot of our dry cows that were sold were in calf to Q impuls, Q viq etc. Genus must have had a deal on for Danish semen at the time!
Was she ok at being on her own? Jerseys are such sociable little cows, i'd love to have mine at home but I don't think she would be happy on her own (despite her confidence and out going character!)
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Oh, Hillie's not alone. We have a small suckler herd (30 breeding cows and followers); Hillie's running with bulling and in-calf heifers (they're only a bit bigger than her!) and is of course the boss. Mostly they follow her up to the farm twice a day, wait for her to be milked and returned to them.
I completely agree, no cow should be on her own, they need their bovine mates (no matter how much they like their onwer and his / her company ;).)
Now you'll think this sacrilege but I have my reasons - I was trying to get her in calf to a Red (North) Devon, but she's just returned again and the AI guy has used up all the Red Devon semen he got for me. BH said to use a Jersey (and has promised we can rear and eat a bullock, and keep or find a nice home for a heifer); the one the AI guy had was Chilmead Fjords Marshall. If she doesn't hold this time she's going to have to visit the neighbour's good Galloway bull!
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Hi from me in Clackmannannanann, central scotland...I think I overdid the "n's"?