Mandy Has Calved

Yesterday during morning milking, Mandy decided it was time to have her baby. Right on time I might add. First time EVER in 5 calvings that she has not been at least a week overdue. But anyhow...
By the time I got done milking my last cow, Mandy had little white hooves sticking out of her butt. This for me is a happy thing. I have been up all night with her for over a week keeping watch. She is one of my most beloved cows, and was bred to Roylane Jordan. I already have one Roy calf on the ground, out of Mandy's 3 year old Blitz daughter, and I was hoping for another.


Within a half hour of finishing chores Mandy had her little one out to the ears, and my sister and I helped her finish getting it out. It was unfortunately a bull. However, Mandy was happy with him. I was happy with him because while I was lifting him up in front of her he tried to stand up. Any calf that can be trying to get up within a minute of birth is A okay with me.

And my major benefit from him being a bull...I get to KEEP HIM! I am thrilled to say the least. Mandy is a darned good cow in her own right. Champion both years as a calf and yearling at the Altamont show. She throws big stylish calves that go on and do spectacularly. As a 2 year old Blitz out did every cow in the herd by more than 8 thousand pounds. Plus Mandy is a real, for today's standards at least, not necessarily our own, long lived cow; she will be 7 in less than 3 weeks. Not to mention, little man's sire is Roylane Jordan. Roy is the sire of Harvue Roy Frosty, who was the World Dairy Expo's 2009 Supreme Champion cow.

So he gets to stay.If all goes well he will be a future herd sire so to speak. We'll raise him, and send him out to Dependabull to be collected. Then I will start looking for a big sale to put him in. Or perhaps sell him privately. I'm not sure which. Hopefully I can take him to the OHM show next year. 2 years ago they reopened the under 1 year bull classes at the request of several of their prominent exhibitors. Mandy's son will be in the fall bull calf class if I can/do show him.

Oh and his name? Maqua-Kil Tumbleweed Town. Tumble for short...He does take some serious tumbles....

More of the new calf

Do you remember the "Bobwehadababyitsaboy" Commercial?

Well today it was Blitzwehadababyitsagirl! A beautiful inky black Roylane Jordan heifer. With a big wide chest floor. And you know what? Roy's 6 CE worked well! The calf prolly weighs maybe 90 lbs or so. Compared to the normal 100+ from this family I am thrilled. Blitz had her totally on her own. Something else to be grateful for because I checked her at 10:30 am, and she was doing nothing. When I went back out at 11:15 she had already delivered and started cleaning off the calf. Anyways here are some pictures of the new one!Three generations of the girls. Mandy, her new grand daughter, and the new momma (l-r)

The new baby

Please Welcome

Maqua-Kil Mecca Shameless

And...

Maqua-Kil Mecca Shamrock

This is the last of my Jersey calf crop for the year. We went 4 for 5 with just Henchman Bill for a bull calf (we're keeping him at least for now as a possible bull to use on the Holstein heifers). Pretty darned nice if I do say so myself. Started it off in January with Snickers, then Scotty (the 1/2 Jersey, 1/4 Holstein 1/4 Shorthorn), then Hench, and finally this month the last two, Shamrock born to my matriarch Heather, and on Mothers Day Shameless born to Heathers oldest daughter Hattie. I am really pleased with all 5 calves. They are growth good tempered babies. I'll put a video of Shamrock up later. She's a funny little girl!

Still Unnamed

Some photos by me, some by mom over at Northview. Little still unnamed Jersey calf is hyper and CUTE! We're gonna take the camera over tonight, and take a video of her drinking her bottle. She wags her tail SO hard and fast that it makes a thwack thwack noise on the calf coat she has on against the brutally cold for this time of year weather.

The Two Newbies

Above two photos: Maqua-Kil Sin Syracuse

Above three photos: Name The Calf baby

She's Such a Cutie...

Here's a few pictures of my new girl with her momma, Mandy. I'm gonna have to come up with a name. I may stick with Margaritaville, though it isn't quite 'her' if you know what I mean.

Awww, Another Newbie

Well, big old Foolish had her calf. Who am I kidding though, she's two years and two months, so not really old. The baby is a very cute little Holstein-Jersey cross heifer. Unfortunatley as we are currently very over stocked she will probably end up being sold.

All in all though we had a very interesting morning. Saturday morning is traditionally my time off. I don't normally have to milk. But we are having some serious problems with Hooter, who calved the night of the final day of the Enterprise event. She got really bad mastitis in two quarters, and we have been having to treat her, with little result. And as a consequence she is a real bother to milk, so I am the one doing it. Which means I get up and milk her, every single milking. Fortunatley for me she is out of the tank, so I can wait until they are done Saturday morning, then go over and take care of her.

The interesting part was that Foolish started calving as Mom and I were leaving the barn. She was out in the yard with all the other cows, and it was only the two of us left at the stable. So we figured we could just split her off enough for me to get a halter on her, and move her over to the shed that we cleaned out yesterday, fill it up with straw, and let her have her baby.

Then, as I went to get said halter, Mom noticed that Takala, Lakota's Kenyon daughter from last May, was in a raging heat, and the older and much bigger cows were beating her right into the ground. So we had to try and catch her up too so they couldn't kill her. And from there it became a two person, fifty cow and heifer rodeo. Tak was all spooked up and skittish, so once I managed to get her pared off I drove her into the sawdust shed where we were going to put Fooolish, figuring she is an old show cow, so getting a halter on her shouldn't be too big an issue. Well, between her wanting to stay with the other cows, and being in the starts of labor, she was not feeling any need to let me near her. And then Tak jumped OUT of the sawdust shed.

After about an hour of me and mom trying to catch the two of them up, Alan and then Dad finally showed up and we were able to get them both settled in. Takala in a calf stall in the barn, and Foolish in the pen.

We literally went over to the house, I grabbed some toast and went back out to check on Foolish to see how she was doing, before Mom and I went to get some Black Locust saplings from a friend, and the baby was already there. What a morning!

Another New Baby Jersey Cross

This little girl is ETrain's new baby. She goes back to Trixie, who was Dixie's dam. It really is a small world...

Maqua-Kil Moments Hicktown

Baby likes to make faces...and make me laugh....

We Have a Name

It has been an interesting (and just plain crazy) day here at Northview Dairy. Check out Maqua-Kil Farms Blog to find out more!

Lookie At What I Bought

Aint she just the absolute cutest? Tried to buy her dam too, but she went a little too high for my tastes.

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.