Our first cows

So, with the pasture fencing done and the cow shed started in earnest we went ahead and bought some cows.  We wanted to get one that was about a year old that we could butcher this coming fall and then possibly one more that we could try taking through the winter and butchering fall of 2014.  We found the big cow, Carmel, about 30 minutes away, and she is a mix of red Angus and Limousin.  She is probably around 700-800 pounds.  Fortunately we were able to borrow a livestock trailer from a family member and go pick her up early Saturday morning.  When we got home we fenced off a small area in our pasture with a single strand of electric to give her a smaller area until she got use to the area.

Here she is waiting in the trailer, she was pretty agitated!

As soon as we released her from the trailer she ran through the pasture and right under the electric wire.  It was a little too high, so  lowered it and we got her back in there once but she ducked under it again.

Here she is on the wrong side of the yellow electric wire.

Jennie and I were really nervous and were praying a lot as Carmel raced around the pasture.  I was sure she was going to try and blow through the fence and then we would have to shoot her.  She calmed down a little bit, but hid at the bottom of the pasture in some trees.  We had already setup a time to pick up some calves the same day, so we headed off to get those.  It was probably not a good idea to schedule picking up so many cows on the same day.

We had found two Brown Swiss calves on Craigslist, and the owner suggested that they always do better with a buddy, so we got both.  We hauled them home in the back of the van, which was a bad idea on my part.  They did not stay on the tarp as instructed and we now need to shampoo the carpet back there.  The hour long drive home was done with the windows down to try and overcome the smell.

The first night the little guy did not drink real great, but the next morning he did fine.

The halters we had bought barely fit the big guy and would not work for the smaller one.  So we ended up getting a rope halter for him that we can adjust.

We cleared out a stall in the barn, and put in a bucket for water, one for granola (calf starter) and an old milk crate that holds orchard grass.

Purely coincidental but the big cow is #17, and the little ones are #18, & #19.

We started out by just having the boys hold the bottles for the calves, but they kind of push every once in a while, which apparently is to help milk start flowing when drinking from their mother, but if you are not braced for it they could probably push you over.  So, after a week of bonding with them by holding the milk bottles I broke down and bought these wire holders.  It is still fun sometimes to hold the bottle for them.

During the day the kids take them out to a small fenced area just below the house. It borders the pasture and after a few weeks Carmel has finally noticed them.  The first day she spent quite a few hours laying just on the other side of the fence from them and just watching them.  

Here is Carmel at the gate and also in the cow shed where we have placed a mineral block.

She really is a pretty cow, as far as cows are concerned.

This is a sizable investment in livestock, unlike our chickens, so we are hopeful that it will go well.  We are going to try and keep track of the costs so we can see if raising calves from babies is cheaper versus buying a year old calf and just raising it through the summer.  We will probably need to purchase some clover and hay for this winter, but we are a little unsure of how much.  We already like the calves more, because we are working with them and training them to the halter so we can lead them around, and can actually walk up and pet them.