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kadebg1988
128 Posts
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 Posted - Apr 19 2015 : 12:51:48 AM
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Spent yesterday out getting lambs taken care of and getting things lined out on our contract with a clothing designer over seas that is wanting to purchase our wool we produce for a clothing line.....I think my wife is more excited than I am, Because guess who gets to shear all these sheep....Correct, ME! Anyway in the midst of all the chaos I noticed that our little heifer Tiger Lily was starting to turn into quite the beauty after the long miserable winter we had, see my opinion is when calves reach about 5-6 months old you need to just put a paper bag on their heads and not look at them until they are like a year old, the teenage stage is the most horrifying in my opinion but that's another topic all together.
Let me give you a little background on Lily. Her mother Blossom was the first calf out of our Bull Adam and the 5th calf from Valentine. Well anyway when Blossom was 8 months old we sold her to the greatest couple we could have hoped for in Idaho, Picture perfect ending.....Or so we thought  Two months later I get a call from them saying that Blossom isn't acting normal or look normal. I asked them to please send me pictures of her and I would give her a look over. After I received the e-mail with the pictures, I was SHOCKED! Blossom had an udder and was HUGE ! this couldn't be she wasn't even a year old yet. I told them to have their veterinarian come out ASAP because she looked like she was only a few weeks out from calving, they were as in as much shock as I was, I kept going back in my head thinking, How?, When? Who? And then I remembered we had taken Valentine to a friends who had our Brindle mini jersey at their place. Well these folks failed to tell me that he had escaped and was running with the cows for most of that day but told me this when I called and asked if anyone had escaped while the cows were at their residence, anyway. Blossom was bred at the age of 5 months and no one knew. Until now! The vet came and confirmed our worries that yes Blossom was in fact in calf and was going to be calving anytime. We were on edge that whole week until I got the e-mail stating
"Hi Kade,
We had a baby heifer this morning! They both are doing well. I looked as if she had just been born when we went out to the barn around 7:30. Have not weighed or measured her yet.
Talk to you later,"
Debbie .jpg?v 27872037)
Oh I was tickled, she had the calf without any problems and she was being a wonderful mother, what more could anyone ask for especially from such a young girl herself. So as the day went on I kept waiting for a update e-mail as to how the little heifer was doing and her mama but they had been so busy with the new calf that I didn't get an e-mail for a few weeks, but when I did this is what I saw..jpg?v 76435290)
She was beautiful, and the best part was...They asked if we wanted to buy her....YAY!!!! I had to have her, she was a half sister to our cow Ella, and the granddaughter of our cow Valentine. She was going to be great!!!!
So as we waited and waited for Buttercup ( her name before we named her) to get to weaning age we made preparations for our trip to pick her up and in that time I had been speaking with Mary Jane about needing another bull and we purchased her little Milky Way son Cassidy. So that was it we were going to make a long road trip and grab our little heifer and Cassidy all in one big round trip. Well as we prepared for the trip I received another call from the folks without heifer saying she looked very strange " you have got to be kidding me?" No she was not bred LOL! They called because she was changing color! The pretty little red heifer was getting stripes and they were unsure what to think, (her sire was a brindle) Anyway this is what they sent. .jpg?v 62144710)
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That was icing on the cake for us, We love our cows no matter what color they are! Sorry for my long story just to get to the main reason I was writing this. March 27th marked the date of birth of Tiger Lily formerly Buttercup but after you see her, you will know where the name came from. We took pictures yesterday of her in her winter woolies and then I grabbed the clippers and shaved that heifer down, I wanted to see her dairy conformation under that hair oh and of course her stripes ! We couldn't be more pleased with how she is growing and I wanted to share with everyone our pretty little accident.
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Apr 19 2015 : 05:05:03 AM
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| Wow Kade. Shocked about a pregnancy at 5 months of age. Thankful she managed to have calf without difficulty. The coloring is really amazing on Tiger Lily. Yep, you named her appropriately. Tiger Lily. I don't believe I've ever seen such a brindle coat in all my years. Unique. And congratulations on your selling your wool for clothing line. Thank you for sharing story and photos. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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kadebg1988
128 Posts
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Posted - Apr 19 2015 : 05:20:07 AM
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| Yes we were shocked as well, It brought a new outlook on when we could breed our cows. We were just happy like you said that there were not any problems. But we could not have been happier with the results, it just could have waited 9 more months before taking place. ;-) |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Apr 19 2015 : 8:45:14 PM
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| A story with a good ending...the best kind in my way of thinking. Love her name, Tiger Lily. Thanks for sharing and your news about your wool is also exciting! |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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![[flourish]](/images/flourish-txt_mobius.png)
Tiger Lily growing well!
![Heritage Jersey Organization [logo]](/images/HJO-logo.png){kind=logo}
