Our Jersey cows hail from the Isle of Jersey in the British Isles. They don't deal well with the summer heat and humidity in South Louisiana. Just for grins, I looked up the average summer temperature on the Isle of Jersey. Daily highs in July is 71 degrees Fahrenheit and lows are 59 degrees. I guess that may be the temperature that their genetics are programmed for and why they struggle so in this tropical environment. I mean, I feel sorry for them.
Here is LuLu seeking shade under the barn, praying for a breeze to blow in order to bring a respite from the heat. On days like this, they remain inactive during the day and you'll see them at night grazing under the moonlight after the sun has tucked itself below the horizon.
Here is old Rosie. Rosie is 17 years old! She's playing a game the animals all play. They seek out small areas or pockets of shade under the live oak trees, patiently waiting for the shadows to grow as the sun lazily works its way across the sky. Over the course of the day, they know just where to be to enjoy the shade found on the eastern and western sides of the pasture, depending upon the time of day.
Finally, here's Elsie. Elsie has hit the jackpot. Underneath a small live oak tree I raise from an acorn I picked up in Tallahassee, Florida, she's enjoying a little patch of shade, but the shadow made by the tree comes with a bonus - mud! In the hot, baking sun, laying in a mudhole cools the old girl off. She gets absolutely filthy. It is fortunate that she's not in milk right now or we'd have to give her a bath before milking time.
In the summer, they just enjoy rolling in the mud. In addition to cooling them down, I'm sure it also helps with the mosquitoes, flies, horse flies and deer flies. This is the last little mudhole they have left, but have no fear, more rain is expected for the next several days and that will ensure additional mud holes in which to lay in just like a pig.
I look at Elsie as she pants in the heat, with drool running down her nose. I won't even tell her that she's got all of July, August and September to go before she can expect any sort of a cool down.
She doesn't know where her ancestors are from, but I bet if she had the opportunity, she'd rather be living on the Isle of Jersey than in her home on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm in Jennings, Louisiana.
