Sunday, August 8, 2010

Cow chaos

A neighbor brought over his Black Angus heifer, Cowabunga or Cowzilla or something like that, so our red Dexter bull Gimli could breed her. (She's the one with the white star on her forehead.) You'll notice Gimli didn't waste any time becoming familiar with her backside.



Then chaos ensued as everyone tried to establish a suitable pecking order. And the chase was on...






We finally put everyone into the big pasture just to give them something different to do.


By the way, this is why I'm not bothering to milk Matilda lately. We have four calves this year, three of which don't belong to her. But does she care? NoooOOOOOooo. I'm surprised there's only two on her at the moment.


There's a reason we call her our "universal donor." She's never met a calf she didn't nurse.

Cowzilla or Cowabunga or whatever her name will be with us for at least six weeks (two breeding cycles) so make sure she gets bred. Gimli doesn't mind!

6 comments:

  1. Poor Matilda...she's such a giver. :)

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  2. My neighbor had a cow like Matilda when I was a teen. That cow must have had an extra maternal gene, lol. She would meander through the pasture with her own *for reals* calf, and *adopt* every unattended calf she would come across---much to the consternation of the other cows! The farmer said he caught her one time cleaning off a new born calf before the mama cow even got a chance to turn around!

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  3. I dunno why, but I was instantly reminded of this song!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQIlGbNDBAw

    Bill Smith

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  4. That's a mighty good mama cow.

    I have a soft spot for Matilda anyway...as a kid I did the evening milking for a while, and my favorite was one just like her. She didn't even need to be hobbled.

    A. McSp

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  5. So glad you have a Matilda. They are a rarity and are so good to have around on those rare occasions that you end up with an orphaned calf, or a calf whose mother just won't accept it. We raise beef cattle....it happens once in a great while. :(

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  6. Maybe Matilda is such a good mother, perhaps she could hatch the eggs that Cluck/Hen-rietta/KFC Reject can't??

    Anonymous Twit
    Oregon highways have no shoulders.

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