Elsie is Here

My new house cow, Elsie has finally arrived. She is a Dutch Belted Cow. The Dutch Belted is still on the Critically Rare list with around 300 registered pure bred animals in the country.  I was lucky to buy her at a very good price becase her owner had shifted to a property with less land. Also (though pure bred) she does not have a full white belt. 

She came in the midst of a silent snow fall that made her arrival feel cloaked and secret.

The man backed his stock trailer up to the gate,  opened the door of the trailer and Elsie just jumped right out, looked around and then began to graze. There was no running about or wild behaviour.  She was not spooked at all. We quietly herded her into the corner pen in the barn so she could get her bearings.

With Aunty Dell watching her closely from over her gate.

Elsie ate hay and water for a while and had a wee lie down and once I was sure she was settled I opened her door and let her out into the field for a munch. Aunty Del could not bear to be left behind so she JUMPED her gate and galloped out into the field as well. (Look back to image Number 2 to see how high that gate was – sigh).

Elsie wandered about for a while and later in the evening I put her  (and Aunty Del) into the corner pen again with the big door shut. I always treat new animals like Homing Pigeons and teach them where home is first so she will have the door closed at night or if I am off the property, for a few weeks yet.

(Just for your info: The Dutch Belted is not the same at a Belted Galloway. The Belted Galloway is sometimes called an oreo cow. The Belted Galloway is a beef breed from Scotland. It is on the “Watched List’ . It is assumed that they ended up with the white belt after having been crossed with a Dutch Belted many many years ago. The Dutch Belted are Dairy cattle, originating around Austria and were the favourite herds of Dutch nobility.  Now they are critically rare. )

Elsie is just over 6 years old, (it is not uncommon for Dutch Belted cows to calve and milk right into their teens) has had three calves already with no problems and is bred (though she was with a bull so we do not have any dates).  Until now she has always raised her calves and has never been milked by a person so I will need to train her to be a house cow.  Not yet though. First she will learn to come to her call and let me touch her all over.  In a few days  I get out the brush. 

Also yesterday John collected 30 bales of straw for me. This was piled high against the walls  of both pig pens. The barn is quite drafty so each year I use the straw as insulation. Pigs are such house proud animals that we can use straw like this and it still stay clean for bedding later  on.  So it was a busyish day.

For some of us. I hope you all have a lovely day.

Your friend on the farm

celi