The Departure of Lili

Lili is Maggie's little heifer.  She's a pretty little thing and is almost seven months old. We chronicled her birth back on September 19, 2013 and you can look at that post, if you wish, by clicking on this link: Lili's birth  Lili is still nursing on Maggie along with Amy.  Lili was Maggie's first heifer and her milk is rich and has allowed Lili to grow strong.  Her lines are good and she has a nice long frame.  She has a gentle disposition and is halter broken.

Our little 3 acre pasture is just not large enough to provide enough grass for our growing Jersey herd.  We've always sold any little bull calves that our cows have given us.  This was the first time that we've considered selling a heifer.  Registered Jersey heifers are a hot commodity and it didn't take long to locate a buyer.  We know the purchaser and know that Lili will have a good home.  Since the family that purchased Lili shows dairy cows, we'll be able to see Lili from time to time.  Saturday morning the transfer took place as the purchaser was bringing his trailer to the house to pick her up.

Lili

I put a lead rope on her and walked her out into the front yard to make it easier to load her into the trailer. While we waited she wanted me to take some glamour photos in front of the blooming azaleas.  She's so vain.

Lili amidst the azaleas (with a matching lead rope)

Most of the animal family lined up at the gate to bid her adieu.  Lili's mother is the third cow from the left in the photo below.  Lots of moo-ing ensued.

The Farewell Party

Little Amy (Rosie's heifer) will be lonely, but I don't think that will last as the benefits of being the only child will quickly out-weigh the camaraderie of having Lili to cavort with in the pasture.  Now Amy will get ALL of Maggie's milk and will grow quickly with the increased quantity of milk along with the sweet, Spring grass.

Amy

So Lili was loaded up in the trailer and her halter and lead rope was removed.  

Sad eyes, turn the other way, I don't wanna see you cry...

Tricia and Benjamin were not home for this ordeal so I wanted to capture this moving moment when the "little bird left the nest."

The Trail(er) of Tears

As the truck and trailer made the corner and drove out of sight, I could only think of one thing...

I remembered the "so long" song that Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence and Tim Conway sang at the end of every Carol Burnett show:

"I'm so glad we had this time together,

Just to have a laugh or sing a song,

Seems we just get started

And before you know it,

Comes the time we have to say

So Long."  (So long everybody...  *tugs ear)

So Long Lili!

The little heifers are growing up!

If you remember, back on September 18 Maggie gave birth to her little heifer that we named Lili.  A little less than a month and a half later, on November 1, Rosie delivered Amy.  After about a week of allowing them to nurse on their mom's at will, we began sharing the milk with them.  We try to separate them from their moms so that we get the milk when we want it and then give the little girls what's left over. There is plenty to go around.

We've experienced success in the past with this arrangement, but with these young uns, we're having trouble. After milking out the mommas at 5 am, we allow the calves to nurse on their moms and then we put them in a separate paddock than the moms, so we can get afternoon milk from Daisy.  The thing is with these girls, they go from mom to mom drinking milk.  In the past, our cows would only let their own calves nurse, but not with these girls.  They seem to go from mom to mom drinking milk.

Lili (on the right in the photo below) is well-behaved.  Amy (on the left) sees herself as some sort of a Houdini.  At around 4 o'clock she'll get hungry and start moo-ing.  Somehow she's figured a way to get through 3 strands of electric fence and get to her mom and will empty out Daisy as well.  There is a device I've used in the past that you attach to their nose that hinders their ability to nurse.  It works pretty good, but past calves have figured out ways to pull it out.

This device is used for weaning.  The problem is, we're not ready to wean them yet. Weaning is a big step. When you wean them, then you must milk the cows twice a day, every day.  This definitely limits your movement as you must be home every morning and night to milk.  Ah, the travails of a dairyman!

Amy and Lili (growing like bad weeds!)

The picture below shows the 3 strands of electric fence the Amy gets through.  All the strands are 'hot.'  In fact, the other morning I accidentally brushed up against it with the milking bucket and it popped me - hard! I screamed out loud.  The photo also shows Amy with her tongue up her nose.  What a neat trick!

At 4 pm, I'm bustin' this joint.  Alcatraz can't hold me...

I have a goat halter on Amy's head right now, but I'll soon have to purchase a couple calf halters as I intend on halter breaking them before they get too big to handle. These girls are registered Jerseys and if they are like their Mommas, they'll be good milk cows.  Our current plans are to let them grow for a bit and then sell them.  Our little 5 acre farm is just not big enough to maintain any more animals than we currently have. 

They sure are some cute little heifers!

An Update on our new calf, Lili

Calving is always an exciting time on the farm.  Even though we've raised quite a few calves on our place, for the first several days we check on their progress quite a bit just to make sure that everything is okay with momma and the baby.  We want to make sure that the calf gets as much of the colostrum as possible and that there are no problems.

First time mom and newborn calf

I wanted to make sure that Maggie's motherly instincts had fully kicked in and that Lili figured out where the milk comes from.  First thing Saturday morning, I got my answer.  Lili found where the breakfast buffet line started.

Milk.  It does a body good!

After breakfast, Lili started imitating Maggie to see what this green stuff on the ground was.  Before around 3 - 4 months old, a calf's rumen is not developed yet.  Their bodies just can't digest the grass, so while they might imitate mom, their nourishment comes from mama's milk.

Like mother, like daughter

Speaking of grass, after Lili ate, she found a nice spot in the grass and took a little nap.  I walked up to get a closer look.  Ah, this is the life!

Do Not Disturb

I spotted some evidence in the grass right by her that proved something that I was looking for.  Sorry it is not in better focus, but the yellowish substance in the grass below is Lili's stool.  The reason it is bright mustard yellow is due to the colostrum.  This proves to me that the little girl got what she needs as far as microbes, antibodies, amino acids, and minerals are concerned.

Exhibit A (evidence of colostrum consumption)

A cow will produce colostrum for her calf for the first few days.  After that time, her milk is pretty much normal.  Because it is healthy, Tricia drank some colostrum, but didn't really like the taste or consistency. We try to save some colostrum and freeze it in the event that we need it to bottle feed an orphan calf.  You can see how bright yellow it is (as opposed to milk) in the photo below that I took of some of Daisy's colostrum we froze after she calved Bully back in May.

Frozen colostrum from Daisy

Little calves are so darn cute and trusting.  They'll walk right up to you on their long, spindly legs, curious as a cat...

Add caption

With Momma closely scrutinizing that you aren't going to hurt her baby, of course.

The funny thing to watch calves do is that they sometimes get confused as to which end of the cow milk comes out of.  Here you can see her going to Maggie's front end as Maggie looks on and seems to say, "No milk here, baby.  Try the other end."

Try again, Lili

Now she's getting closer.

Almost...

It is hard work being a calf.  After filling her belly with milk, she plopped herself down next to the electric fence and lazily spent the afternoon lounging about.  Isn't that what Sunday afternoon's are for?  

A Day of Rest!

I snuck up on her and she gave me "the eye."

Our little Lili - She's a cutie!

I think if I'm not mistaken, she seems to be smiling - a happy calf!

Maggie's Baby!

Maggie is our two year old Jersey heifer whose due date was September 28th.  Several posts ago, I mentioned that according to the Farmer's Almanac, the full moon was on September 19th at 6:12 am.  I wondered if the full moon had anything to do with calving like the old timers say?  Well, yesterday, September 19th at 11 am, Magnolia (Maggie Mae) went into labor and delivered her calf.  Proof or anecdotal evidence?  Who knows?

What I do know is that it was a neat home school biology lesson for Benjamin in Home School yesterday! Enough of the chatter.  Let me show you some baby pictures.  Here is a newly born calf in the pasture with a new Momma standing over this wet thing on the ground as motherly instincts started to tell her what needed to be done.

A new baby on the farm

Pretty soon, Maggie started licking her baby and cleaning her up for the baby pictures.  What a shock it must be to fall out on the hard ground from three feet up!

Baby's first bath

The last three calves that have been born on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm have been bull calves and we have been praying for a heifer.  So the first thing Tricia did was to lift up the calf's leg to see what Maggie had produced for us.

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Yes, a little girl.  We're elated.  All of our cows on the farm since the matriarch of the herd, Mama Cow, died have been named after flowers.  We have Daisy, Rosie, Magnolia...  And now, Benjamin named the baby heifer, Lili.  I like that.  It is very feminine and pretty.

Tricia watched Maggie and Lili interact all day and although Lili stood up on shaky, long legs, she couldn't ever see the baby calf nurse on Maggie.  Maggie's bag was engorged and it is vitally important that Lili drink the first milk, or colostrum.  Colostrum is loaded with antibodies and other nutrients that baby calves need to give them a good head start on life.

Last night when I got home, Tricia and I headed out to the barn to see if we could help Lili find the "milk spigot."  We put Maggie in one of the milking stalls and clipped her so she couldn't back out.

A new mama

Cows are pretty messy in birthing.  Her back end was filthy.  Today it is raining (finally), so she should have a nice bath.  You can see how her bag is full.

Full of milk (colostrum)

I squirted a little bit of colostrum out and lifted little Lili to one of the teats.  Maggie kicked at first since it was the first time she's had a calf nursing on her, but she quickly settled down.  Lili latched on like a pro and nursed for a good while from each of the four teats.  I'm convinced that she got what she needs to give her a healthy start.

You can lead a calf to milk and you CAN make her drink!

After Lili was done I took several baby pictures.

Sticking out her tongue

She was fat and happy and full of milk and decided to sit down by the gate and rest.  Life is tough!

I think I'll rest now.  My belly is full.

I zoomed in for a closer shot.  She's a pretty light brown color.  She has a shiny coat and looonnnggg legs.

Lili (Born 9/19/2013)

Even Grandma Daisy showed up to check on her little grandbaby.

The nursery

Welcome to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm, Lili.  We'll take good care of you.