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
The Kitchen's Garden 
62 responses to “Elsie is Here”
She is gorgeous. Greetings to her, and warm wishes for the farmy.
She’s a good looking cow and contrasts the others (in colour) nicely 🙂
Welcome to the farmy Elsie. Hope you will soon understand what a wonderful place you have come to live. Aunty Del was lonesome, apparently and wanted to meet the new neighbor! Thanks for the lesson on the difference between Belted Galloways and Dutch Belted. Was Elsie bred to a Dutch Belted bull? It will be exciting to see her calf, whenever it comes.
Yes she has been bred to a Dutch Belted though i am unsure of his name quite yet. They are so rare that it would be a irresponsible to cross a cow.
She is very pretty and Elsie is a great name for her. Aunt Dell made me shudder jumping the gate. She had better be more careful.
We are blanketed in snow today, I guess winter is here to stay.
Have a good day getting to know Elsie.
The thing will Del is she cannot bear to be alone, and with Queenie gone she has been unsettled.. I think she will settle down now. Fingers crossed.
A big welcome to Elsie! She’s a pretty thing and looks right at home on the farmy.
I like this new theme for the farmy, black and white animals. Elsie is beautiful. She has a very pretty face with her big black eyes. I like that she didn’t freak out when she arrived, calm is good. I guess Aunty Del definitely wanted to meet her! Maybe Elsie’s calm will rub off on Aunty Del. We can hope at least. Stay warm.
Welcome Elsie ! What a pretty cow she is. X
Oh she’s a lovely breed. Welcome to the farmy Elsie. I’m learning so much by having you in my life Celi. So, in the hopefully not too distant future organic farm, I’ll have my Oxfordshire sandy and black pigs, one of Tima’s babies (Which Chloe is insisting on), and a beautiful Dutch belted for a house cow. 😀
What a fantastic future!..c
I had no idea cows could jump! What a pretty new cow you have. Well they are all pretty. 🙂
Oh yes, when Daisy was young she regularly jumped the ELECTRIC fence, and every other fence as well..
Welcome Elsie! She is a lovely girl and quite intelligent looking with those eyes searching directly into the camera. I think Aunty Del may have been a wee bit excited for this new arrival…I see BFF bracelets for the two of them soon.
She fits right in! I think I’d be replacing that gate with a door! Or a moon!
that’s an impressive gate jumper you have there!
hello Elsie..its a good name. My sister in law was called Elsie and she was a bit of a ‘tart’ but a tart with heart,
Welcome to the Farmy you will be very happy there
My great aunts name was Else too. We called her Aunty Elsie. Now we have Aunty Elsie, Aunty Del. Next is Aunty Mid.!
is there to be another cow gracing the fields of the farmy
I am still hoping to buy a Guernsey but they are hard to find and expensive so i am not sure the farm can afford one, though with pigs and calves to feed I am not sure i can do without one.. c
Bienvenue, Elsie. You look as beautiful as all the other Farmy inhabitants. I’m sure you will be very happy, and let Miss C milk you without kicking her.
I’m sorry to see that snow so early.
Love,
ViV
Morning Viv, not kicking would be great. I know more now, so i am sure Elsie will be easier.
Welcome Elsie! I didn’t realize they could be bred/milked for so many years! She is a beautiful example of her breed, even if her belt doesn’t go all the way round. I hope she has lots of ‘belted’ calves and do her little bit to keep the breed going. So sad when you hear of many animals on the extinction list these days.
Mainly they had been cross bred and of course the bigger dairy breeds are more popular.. now they are working on getting the pure breds up and running. I got the number off the internet so I am not sure if it is accurate but it had been updated this year. There are a few herds in NZ too. They look gorgeous in the fields. c