For the past three days I’ve been looking for the cows. They belong to the neighbor but they sometimes visit us. I knew there were four moms and four calves. Every time I passed a window, I looked for them. A dozen or more times each day I went out looking. Hadn’t caught a glimpse of them. Didn’t hear a mooooo . . nothing! Vince came home at lunch and said “Did you see the cows?” NO! They were right out at the dge of our driveway.
I sure didn’t know girl cows had horns! I’m sure there’s a whole lot more that I don’t know.
I see milk! Fresh, raw milk. Lots of cream on top! I said to Vince “Let’s milk her!” I told him he could hold her still, I would do the milking. He wouldn’t!
This one looked at us and I think she was saying . . bring it on if you’re brave enough to try it! We didn’t! I was joking . . no way am I going anywhere near those cows.
They look like pretty nice cows! The guy who owns them said “the red one”, which I assume is this one, doesn’t like dogs at all but Speck never goes out when he’s not on a leash so he’ll be fine. Once the garden is done and the chicken coop is built, I’m going to work on getting a fenced area where I can get a couple of goats just for fun.
Roberta says
Don’t want to mess with beef cows, unless they have been trained might not be too friendly. Goats sound like more fun!!!!!!!!! Can’t wait to see what breed you get. 😉
Hugs!!!!
vickie van dyken says
you guys are jumping into farming with both feet 🙂 Good Luck!! I think it is a good thing 🙂 My husband was a dairy farmer, before he started driving truck. His brothers are still dairy farmers….so he said we couldn’t have cows?? Guess he was tired of them….but we got pigs. Okay I am from LA (not lower alabama) He left me to go trucking and one night I heard squealing in the front yard…the pigs were loose?? Now what…I called a friend that raised pigs and had lots of experience…he came over with 5 kids and his wife with pieces of plywood. Those kids were efficient! they herded the pigs back into the pen in short order!! LOL LOL Uhhhhh soon after the pigs were sausage. It cost so much to have them butchered and the meat packaged that I said ….no more pigs!!! I will buy my bacon from now on….and not worry about animals escaping again. ROFLOL. It really makes me laught still, those kids were the best pig herders ever!! Not that I had seen a lot of that sort of thing in Los Angeles…I don’t mind the animals but when hubby leaves, well I refuse to be in charge. 🙂
Your cows look nice. I think they must be nicer than pigs????Hahahaha What do I know??? I’m from LA???
Bobbie Schneider says
I’ve always wanted fainting goats, but we live in northern Wis with the wolves, coyotes, bobcats, and a rare cougar. I don;t thing fainting goats will work.
Sharon says
Good for you Judy I think this is wonderful. I love reading your adventures….
lw says
The cows are beautiful! I’d be tempted to milk one, too.
Pamela Johnson says
Judy,
I LOVE reading your blog!! You always make me smile :-)…..I also, used to think that ‘girl cows’ didn’t have horns….made sense to me! So I totally get your surprise at finding out different…
Looks like really good cows too….hope you and Vince have a blast with your new found “farmer” status!!
Pam
Richland Chambers Lake in East Texas
Candy says
If I remember right all beef cows have horns but not dairy. Nor do you want to get to close to a beef cow they don’t like people. Now if you want raw milk you need to get a dairy cow.
Personally if it was me which it isn’t but, if it was I’d have a cow to milk and a pig along with those chicks.
Trish says
No … that is incorrect. Horns can occur on beef OR dairy cattle, male OR female. Beef cattle like people if they are used to being around people. Generally, though, beef cattle are left alone to graze while dairy cattle are milked every day. I raise beef cattle on two farms. They are used to me and are very docile and tame. They don’t like strangers, though.
Erin says
What great pictures! That red one is so pretty! Home on the range you are now!!!
Lynn says
Like the first commenter said – don’t mess with beef cows. First off they probably would run away and if you got them cornered they would run head first at you or kick you and you could get injured pretty badly, I live on a farm and know how strong and wild they are. Second a cow has to be trained to milk and beef cows are not trained, besides their calves need all the milk to produce. Usually the dairy calves are taken away from their mothers and then the cow is used to milk for human consumption. By the way the general herd are called cattle, females are cows, heifers are female that have not had calves, bulls are the reproducing males and steers are males that have been castrated. Steers and heifers are raised to be beef to eat. Just a little Ag. education from a farm girl from birth.
Betty says
Not all beef cattle have horns. There are variations in the breeds that are “polled”….meaning without horns. My biggest “concern” when looking at these pictures is the large utters on the cows…..that tells me that they have recently had their baby calves. DO NOT mess with the calves or get between the cows and their calves unless you are very used to these animals. Momma cows are usually very protective of their calves and don’t get that we “didn’t mean” to get in the way. Also if calves are very young…Spike might be enough to set a cow off to feel threatened…even on a leash. It’s their job to keep things away from their babies. (Same as us human Moms) Respect their size.
Betty says
Calving season will be starting soon at our house so these things are fresh in my mind. I have seen new momma cows come at my husband big time when he is just trying to get a new calf to drier ground or on a better place, etc. I grew up around beef cattle and have great respect for them at calving time.
Joan says
Thanks for the cow pictures! Mooooooo!
Gail says
I’m surprised that they came around today, the day you were grinding beef. Maybe they wanted to see if they knew WHO you were grinding!LOL
Barbara says
Years ago when my husband and I were doing a lot of things you are doing, we bought Oberhasli goats. They were the sweetest pets.
Pat C in Washington says
Once upon a time I had a spare car (’72 Dodge Colt station wagon) and a deputy sheriff friend of mine had a spare steer. We did the old switcheroo. I raised “Dinner” at a friend’s house who had some fenced pasture land and then grained him out for awhile to get some good marbling in the meat. Had the farm kill guy come out and take care of business and take him to the butcher shop to be all cut and wrapped. We were having dinner one night and our tender-hearted son asked “is this dinner?” My husband and I thought “oh dear” and said, “yes, this is the evening meal” and he said, “no, is this our steer, Dinner?” So we had to admit that it was indeed Dinner. He said Dinner was delicious.
marion usborne says
Great fun , Judy. Can’t wait for the goats, they are darling and more your size.
Kristy says
Loved our goats. The milk was great (and they are much easier to handle than a cow) but what we REALLY loved was the ice cream and cheese. We had Nubians & they were very friendly, but very ornery…kept getting out of the fence & eating my flowers. Trying to talk the family into doing the goats & chicks again. So far, no luck.
Sandra Neel Hutchins says
Be very careful around those cows. I grew up around large herds of cattle. They may look docile, but they can cause serious injury very quickly. Even my dad had to climb a few trees to escape a cranky cow from time to time. I have been charged more than once. My mom and I once spent the afternoon sitting on top of an out building until a kindly neighbor man with a large truck scared off a cow with very long horns! Yes, it was a female! Our neighbor on one side has a herd of hundreds of dairy “milk” cows. His large flat bed truck is beat up along both sides from the cows charging and pushing at feeding time. Sometimes even the gentle ones get very excited if you let them see food, even “contented” milk cows. Please be very careful, even if you are on or in a vehicle. Keep that barbed wire fence between you and those new mothers because they are especially “cranky” when they have a new calf.
Beth says
Wow, Judy, that is a very serious fence that ya’ll have . We just need 4-5 strand around here in Arkansas! haha
I echo the sentiments of everyone else, don’t mess with these cows with the young ones until they are used to you. We have a very small herd of beef cattle, and some of them we could probably milk, but I ain’t going there!
Another caution, the little ones may be very curious about you, and their Momma doesn’t make any distinction between you going toward her calf and her calf going toward you. (ask me how I know).
I know you will really enjoy your ranching adventure, you seem to enjoy everything.
Speck seems very cautious and in this case, that is a good thing.
Love reading about all you do.
Beth