Wow

Man am I beat. Four animals at the fair and I am as tired as if I had a dozen or more (been there, done that got the tshirt, so I know). It has been such a long week. But I have been tied with some great people. One of which keeps going every morning and bringing me back coffee. I am too exhausted, and desperately need to head to bed so I can head back over to the fair early again tomorrow for the last day, or I would put up my own post.

Instead, why don't yah all head over to Northview Diary, and check out all Mom's posts on the cows and show time. She's got some lovely photos of Mandy.

Over Head...

Dad, Alan, Becky and I went over today to get my straw and hay into the fair, set up the stall signs, and do up the beds for the cows. It only took about an hour to get everything in and set up. We made up some good long beds, so that the cows will have plenty of room this year. And if I do say so myself the over heads for the cows look pretty nice. If I had known I would have so much space this year I would have made up a second set of lattice for over top, but not knowing there was no way I could. Oh well. Next year.

The whole stall top.

Me, trying to figure out which signs still need to be straightened.

The farm sign Mom painted many years ago. Sorry, it was kind of glary in the barn, so it didn't come out so good.

An example of my animal's individual signs.

Pictures from Past Fairs

I know I have mentioned this before... but I have got one truly awesome older brother. See, recently he was apparently cleaning, and came across a bunch of photos he had taken of me and the rest of the family showing at Altamont. They're from 2005, when Mandy was a two year old. It is kind of creepy, the one picture I mean. It is nearly identical to one he took last summer of Mandy and me. I've got to admit I am thrilled to have them, because the ones we took didn't come out half as good. Thanks big bro, can't wait to see you at this year's fair (and no, we don't need you to show, so you are safe, no need to wear sandals like you threatened last summer)!!

Senior Two Year Old Class

On another note, I got a letter from the college yesterday. I have apparently received the SMART grant again. Which is kind a Christmas in July kind of thing. Makes me very much less stressed, because books for 21 credit hours don't come cheap.

Senior Showmanship

Stuff that makes for a really long day...

I finally decided today was the day...

...To start getting this spring and summer's calves registered...

...And to get the fair entries done...



...And finish my scholarship application for Pennfield Feeds (which really wasn't too bad, I just had to proof it a bit)...



All of which lead to mammoth headaches.

The whole bunch of work.

See, for starters, Holstein Association USA's registration forms are not known for their ease. They are down right complicated. They have this EZ program for the computer, but that is actually even worse than the paper blanks. So I tend to shy away from the computer program, unless I am in a real hurry. One big problem with the EZ program is that we have young daughters on both really really old bulls from AI studs, like pre 1980, and from our own bulls that Dad has bought and raised. If the sire of a calf isn't from the studs over the last say fifteen years, the program is determined the bull is not a legitimate sire, and causes all kinds of grief until the user manages to over ride what ever the problem is. Which tends to put me in the one headache too many category to use it. Plus I am really not all that fond of computers. They are great...when they are actually working, but I tend to manage to make them not work.

A finished registration paper. What the end product looks like.

Then there are the Altamont Fair entries to do. They really aren't much easier. Mostly because this season they decided to put everything on the web. From entry blanks, to rules and regs, all the necessary information is on the net..in pdf form...which our computer hates. So it took me more than three days just to get stuff to load between error messages, and having to get into contact with the actual fair office to get all the pages I needed to do my cows entries. Then I had to transfer them from this computer to the one in the main office with a printer. The other one has internet capabilities, but is slower than molasses in January. And naturally the printer didn't want to cooperate. Guess who I went to with that issue...My wonderful Mommy. Who fixed the problem. I printed out two sets of the blanks, even though I needed five or so, and then just used the copier to get everything I needed.

Heifer list so I know which calf goes with which cow.

At which time the even bigger headache causing activities started...



Acutally doing the entries themselves. Which required finally picking which animals were gonna get entered. And this year I was smart. I put at least one animal in all my immediate family's names (nyvolfan, darling big brother, we would like to include you in this list, no you don't actually have to show, I do know better than to try that one any more (yeah right, and if you believe that I got a bridge to sell yah), but we need your signature on the blanks) so I could get everybody passes. And so Frieland Ex Spec Camry (Dad), Frieland Ex Spec Junie (Mom), Frieland Ex Spec Lemonade (Becky), and Frieland C Alpha Zulu (Alan) were entered for everybody. I have the blunt of the string, as this is my project...aka my vacation. I entered Frieland Z Mandolin Rain, the new mommy, her yearling daughter Maqua Kil Blitz Mendocino, Frieland Zander Foolish, Maqua Kil Zander Spruce, and Frieland Chilt Blink for myself. Then I put up the fees for Best Three Females, and Daughter-Dam. I don't plan to actually take the majority of the ten animals, should I enter one for big brother too. I kind of just want a small string this year, so I am not so totally stressed when school starts up. Plus with just four or five, I can relax a bit more, hang out with my friends and enjoy my 'vacation' as much as possible.

Hope to see everybody there. This promises to be yet another crazy and fun filled fair. As of yet none of the actual events are up for the fair week itself. But I can say that right now it looks like the dairy classes will again be held Thursday morning and night (with just Holsteins we're only showing in the evening), and beef will be late Friday. Be sure to stop by and sit a spell with us if you swing through the grounds. We're happy to sit and chat awhile. And Mandy is almost always looking for a few more pets.

And of course my ever present cup of coffee. It is about the only thing that will give me enough energy to keep going.

Hmmm...Babies sure do get big in a HURRY!

We had an interesting morning. For the most part it was relatively routine. Get up, milk cows, feed calves and such. We were down to the last bit of milking, and Mom and I were sitting on the concrete bench like thing that runs along the one back wall, talking about making up some stalls for the babies in the main barn. This will require moving some older heifers out into pens, and then moving the little calves into their stalls.

The talk moved to which animals would be put in pens and where. One former 'Name the Calf' contest heifer, Takala, will just be run in with some other yearlings, as she is no where near ready to breed, along with Magma, our first and currently only red Holstein. Then there are two others, the Blitz and Medina, a big March yearling by Kenyon (who is also Takala's sire). We breed most of our replacement animals either Jersey or Shorthorn, based on calving ease as a result of the calves being so much smaller than the average full blooded Holstein.

But these are two of my best babies. Medina has a lot of potential, and I am really fond of her sire. The Blitz is just a wonderful animal. Big and sleek, she is really fairly correct and I am anticipating a decent show season with her if I can keep her growing the way she is. I really really want to breed them both to an old Holstein bull, Cal-Clark Board Chairman. Pretty much anyone familiar with the Holstein breed knows him. He was the sire of To-Mar Blackstar. Who was one of the most influential bulls the Holstein breed has ever seen. I've got one other Board Chairman daughter left. A coming five year old out of my old Straight Pine Elevation Pete daughter.

Mom told me I'd better weigh them both, as she was uncertain as to whether they would both be big enough to breed to a Holstein and be able to safely have the calf. Blitz we figured HAD to be big enough. She stands next to her mammoth dam, and looks good there. Medina we weren't to sure on. She looks big, but looks can be deceiving. We figured if she was over 675 or 700 lbs we could be pretty safe.

So after milking I dug out my weight tape so that I could get a relatively accurate assessment of their actual size. I figured first I better do Medina. She can be a bit screwy at times, though all in all she is nice to work with. I slid the tape around her barrel, made sure it was good and tight, and checked the reading...

And darn near fell on my head. She weighed in over 900 lbs, just barely, but over none the less. I thought maybe she would be over 800, maybe up to 850, but not THAT heavy. I told Mom who was coming to see what I had gotten for a weight, and she didn't believe me.

So I weighed the Blitz to see where she fit in. Because if Medina, who is the smaller of the two, weighed that much, Blitz was gonna be big. The Blitz's weight equaled 968 lbs, with me rounding down.

And then our next question became, if they are THAT heavy, what is Mandy, the tallest cow we have, weighing in at. Well we got our answer of 1468. She is a big girl. Alan wanted to weigh Bayberry, his show cow, who came in just a bit lighter than that, around 1430. We have some heavy cows. And yet they are still extremely dairy. My goal is to one day have a ton plus cow. It will be a long ways off, but I'd say we have made a good start.

And both my babies are DEFINITELY getting bred to Board Chairman. Now if they'll just settle and give me some heifers...

Bulls For the Next Generation

I have started picking the bulls that I am going to be using for my next generation of cows. Most are not new or young animals. To start off with, I have decided to try and get 5 straws of the Canadian bred and Semex controlled bull Silky Cousteau. Cousteau is a Juniper Rotate Jed son, out of a very good 87 point Cletius followed by a EX-90 point Valiant, and another 87 point scored Elevation. If all goes as I hope, I want to use him on Mandy after she calves in June, Becky's two year old Extra Special daughter Lemonade, my 5 year old Cal-Clark Board Chairman daughter, and hopefuly Junie after she calves in September. Then I should hopefully have one unit left to use on some other cow. This should also spread the calves out so that should I get enough heifers, I could in a year or two have a junior or senior get of sire. Which I have been lacking the last few years.

The next bull I am looking at is a Select Sire Power animal named Creek BWMARSHALL Dakota, a BW Marshall out of a Rudolph. He's been gender selected, and I think I might try using him on Mandy's Blitz daughter from last year, Dixie's Andre granddaughter Dixon, and my Kenyon yearling Medina. Hopefully I can get just three or four units, as I don't have a use for more.

After that I intend to work on using up the rest of the semen I have sitting in the tank. I've got semen on bulls like Zenith, Zander, Kenyon, Rain, Kingdom, and so many more, including some of those bulls breeders like to call the "Golden Oldies'. If anybody has some more suggestions on bulls they think I should look at, please feel free to let me know. I am always open to suggestions, though I admit I don't always pay a lot of attention.

Some Oldies From This Summer's Fair

The New One...AKA FRIELAND SIN RIPTIDE

This is baby Riptide. I promised a picture of her. Sorry it isn't so great. Her neighbor, Blink, decided I looked like a tasty snack, so I was trying to keep her from eating me at the same time I took a picture. Not an easy task. She joins two older sisters, Frieland Swain Mandarin, and Frieland Sin Hollywood Kiss.

Herd Health...

We had fun today. And it is called Herd Health. Our favorite vet, Kris, comes in every few months, to vaccinate, dehorn and preg check animals. Out of my animals all but three that were preg checked are indeed carrying babies. One who I was really hoping would be pregnant but wasn't was my six year old Jersey, Heather. She is unfortunately open. Oh well, she was really lame and sick this summer, so I am not really too surprised. Not to mention, the bull she was serviced to doesn't seem too have all that great a conception rate. He only caught one of the cows he was bred to in one breeding. The second cow is a lower end milker that has never really done very well. And the third one is old Star. She is coming up on twelve, so she can be cut some slack. On the upside, Mandy, Junie, Foolish, Lakota and Hattie are safe in calf. So are a whole slew of my parents animals. And Alan's cow, Bayberry, is indeed pregnant...to a bull that was big time FIFTY years ago. Talk about being able to really store semen. Figures that she would catch to him after being serviced about a half a dozen times.

I have a new nickname... and it is 'bull roper', guess it is better than some of the others that have been thought up over the years. It's a long story, but suffice to say that my dad's coming yearling bull, Frank, had to be dehorned. This meant that he and my bull Heath had to be caught. Heath wasn't a problem. He is way overly friendly for a bull. Frank was another story. He had pretty big horns, and a "Hmm, can I get you with these?" attitude. After the follow around the pen trying to convince him I wasn't so bad complete with a nice big scoop of grain, and getting the halter over his head only to have him pull it off with his feet, I got a bit, um, not so happy. SO, I employed the, 'I am getting pissed off at this animal but I don't want to upset him any more than I have to' method. This involved the lariat that we keep for pulling cows feet up when we need to hoof trim them. Anyways, I threaded the end through, and roped mister big bad bull. And I do mean roped. Then mom and I snubbed him up good and tight and got a halter on him and I pulled him out into a stall. Hence my new nickname. I think I might actually like it.

Whoo Hoo!

From time to time, I like to get onto dairybulls.com, just to check and see if any new preliminary bull proofs have been added. I use a large number of young sires, primarily form Select Sire Power, and preliminary proofs are a good way to know if you can expect a bull to be ‘released’ from the stud. This means that they get added onto the price list and put into the stud books, and are available to be bought so that breeders can use them in their herds. One bull that I started using about three and a half years ago was Ocean-View Derry Zander. I got three pregnancies, two of which resulted in heifer calves (Foolish, and Spruce). Zander has a preliminary proof consisting of 35 daughters in 25 herds for 491 lbs of milk, and a 70% reliability. Not too bad. USDA really hits bulls if they are over a certain percentage of inbreeding, which he is. But I like him pretty well. I would definitely get some more semen if I could.

Fustead Emory Blitz-ET

I was surfing through the photo gallery of Select Sire Power's website, and decided to take a look at Blitz's page. He is the sire of my second place April calf, Mendocino. Hopefully, her mommy (Mandolin Rain) is carrying another calf by him. Anyways, I am always impressed by his daughters. They're long, tall, lean, and darn good milk cows. And to top it all off, they do very very well in the show ring. Talk about your all around cows.

Mandy is by another Select bull, Ocean-View Zenith-TW-ET. I got to visit Ocean-View a few years ago on a college field studies trip that went to California. I took lots of pictures of their outstanding cattle. I will have to scan some in and post them. The cows were absolutely stunning.

Top Photo: Frieland Z Mandolin Rain and me in the Senior Three Year Old class. Photo courtesy of my big brother.
Bottom Photo: Maqua-Kil Blitz Mendocino with my brother in the Junior Exhibitor's Herd.

The First Calf Has Hit the Ground

Well, old Eland had her calf this morning. Big ole bull calf. Figures. I should know by now to never get my hopes set on a heifer. The cows will nearly always disappoint you. Mom has a picture of the little bugger over on Northview Diary. Hop on over and take a little look see.