And a Bull Comes 'A Courting

We currently have 1 cow (Rosie) and 2 heifers (Elsie & LuLu) on the pasture.  We have watched their activity of when they come in heat and marked it on the calendar.  At least we have for Elsie and Rosie.  They come in heat this week.  We don't really know when LuLu's cycle is.  Cows have a 21 day cycle.  It is important that you introduce a bull during this time for obvious reasons.

I called our neighbor that has a Jersey bull and asked if we could bring our 3 girls down to his place.  Unfortunately, he told me that he just sold his bull.  That's too bad for us.  It was only a short 7 minute drive to get to his home, unload the cows and have them bred.  We made some phone calls and it just so happens that some neighbors a little further down the road have a Jersey bull.  He was agreeable to allowing us to use him.  He told us we could pick him up from his farm and take him back to our place.

Today after church, we did just that.  Russ hooked up the cattle trailer to his truck and we made the ten minute drive, backed up to the chute and prepared to load him up.  After some cajoling, he was in the trailer heading to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  The bull is gentle, but he's not halter broken.  We got him unloaded into the pasture, but we're scratching our heads on how we're going to load him back up in the trailer when he's finished his work here as we don't have a corral or chute.  We'll cross that bridge when we get there.  We'll have to be real careful having him here, though.  Dairy bulls are a dangerous thing to have around.

We unloaded the fellow and he began checking our his new surroundings.  He's a young bull, but he's larger than our animals.  He very slowly walked around, taking it all in, scoping out the ladies.

Rosie, Elsie, and LuLu circled around him and he got acquainted with them.  There's no romance yet, but in a couple of days, things should start happening.  And if all is successful, we'll have late July/early August calves.

The friend who offered to let us use the old boy said, "We're glad he's able to serve a purpose.  He was kinda taking up space around here."  We're thankful to have him around and we'll be watching the courtship take place in the pasture.  We didn't even ask what his name was!  We might have to make up a name for him for the short time he's here.