Drover

Drover - big, black mutt. We gave him away once, but he came back. I would give him away again, but we need an outside dog all night. Dover is the son of a dog we took in when the owner died. He is just over a year old and weighs around 70 pounds. If you don't know him, he can be scary. He is mostly tied up, but I let him off to run while I do outside chores in the morning and evening. If the state road yard next door is open, sometimes he goes in there and runs up and down their big gravel piles. He is fast. Drover is obedient when it comes to the command of "come". Many other things he just doesn't understand. He wants to play with the little kitties, but they think he is too big. Drover likes eggs, and has been caught helping himself to them. Now I either pick up eggs before I turn him loose, or keep a real close eye on him. Drover also likes to catch chislers (ground squirrels) and that helps the neighbor if he doesn't dig in the alfalfa field. Drover's name was Dribbles when he was little, but we were hoping that he would outgrow the reason for the name - but he hasn't.

Little Cow - my favorite

Proverbs 27:23 Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for you herds (NIV)
My boss at Rosedew Dairy must do that because we have some great old cows.

Little Cow is officially known at Rosedew Dairy as 585. That is the tag she wears in her left ear. Little Cow is eleven years old now, has been milking over 500 days in this lactation and still giving over six gallons a day. Little Cow has over 200,000 pounds of milk in her lifetime production. I don't have exact figures, but I am sure it is less that 1% of dairy cows in the United States that last long enough to accumulate that many pounds of milk. Little Cow must weigh only 900 pounds, while the herd average is probably closer to 1300 pounds and we have a few big cows that weigh over 1800 pounds. Little Cow is what you call efficient. She can milk over 100 pounds (12 gallons) a day when fresh. Little Cow needs her feet trimmed, but her udder is the most fantastic soft udder in the herd with no extra fat or meat or scar tissue in it. Little Cow just minds her own business and doesn't want anyone fooling around with her.
Keep going Little Cow.

Old Goats

This morning before the heat was too much for me, I did some cleaning (never ending job) in the south goat pen. Blackberry and Carmel live there. I turned them loose while I worked in the pen. They even behaved themselves for a big surprise. Normal for Blackberry and Carmel is to go to Lollipop's pen and dare her to fight through the fence. I don't dare let Blackberry and Lollipop together for long for fear that they will cause each other physical damage. They both want to be the queen. So today, Blackberry and Carmel just checked out Lollipop and then wandered on to eat grass and weeds. All the other goats and sheep on the farm looked on with jealousy.

Blackberry and Carmel are seven year old twin Alpine does. We bought them when they were 16 days old. Blackberry has kidded six times for a total of 16 live kids. Carmel has kidded five times but we have lost some of her kids. Both of these does had live triplets this year in March and they have been weaned. The wethers (boys) have been taken to summer camp (a friend's guest ranch) to be "pet me's" for the summer. The little doelings are still living here, but in a different pen than their moms.

Who's face?

The cows, the goats, the sheep, even the chickens that live around me have personalities. So that is what my blog is going to be about - at least most of the time. I have had cows for more than 45 years. I have fun giving them names (look out friends, if my cow or goat has a personality like you, I could name them after you) and caring for them every day of the year.

My very first calf was General. He was a Guernsey bull and we lived in Selah at the time. His mom was Peggy and she was a cull cow from a dairy, but plenty good enough for my family. The next year he had a sister born that I named Jenny. Both General and Jenny got eaten. After that I got involved in 4-H and bought a registered Brown Swiss heifer named FanLee Joy. I sold her for college money. There was a trail of cows then -Cricket, Jem, Jewel, Sindy, Sebastian, Irene, Patsy...

Now I am a part time milker at a 100 cow dairy down the road. I get to name those cows too. I have four milk goats, two bucks, ten kids, one ewe and four lambs.

But now I have to go start supper.