The new heifer, Aunty Anna, was allowed out into the field with the others for two hours yesterday to eat some fresh green grass – then back into the barn with her new friends. She has eaten a lot of grain in her short life so her belly will need to be slowly introduced to the rich spring pastures that my cows are on. We do not want a calf with bloat on top of everything else. To compensate I gave them all a small bowl of my special grain mix. It is 1/4 each of oats, barley, wheat and corn. All local grains and chopped and bagged for me at a local mill. To this I add dried molasses and dried seaweed. Usually this is only for fattening pigs but the cows can have it as an occasional treat.
Cows love to be part of a herd.
It makes them feel safe.
Lady Astor on the other hand is being kept off the rich spring growth and any grain at all, and is locked up in the barn with her calf every night. Her calf still seems to get left behind. Lady is on dry hay because we do not want to cause an increase in milk production quite yet, I don’t want her udder to be pushed until it is back to peak condition. Three quarters have drained properly but one quarter though smaller is still swollen and hard. It is softer after milking but I am sure it is not draining properly yet due to the swelling.
It is generally believed that the swelling from an engorged udder can take up to two weeks to go down but I still feel anxious.
But we are working on it. Bobby T, her calf, has a full belly every time I check and his digestive system is working the way it should so that is a good thing.
Good morning. It rained all day yesterday and is raining again today. We are soggy. Very soggy – another reason to keep the cows in.
I hope you have a good day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
35 responses to “Aunty Anna”
You should write a book on how to run a farm like yours. A farm where humans care about the animals and study their behavior.
She is just gorgeous C. You have to love a redhead! I’m curious…what are those long round tree trunks?? nailed to your fence? Are they there for a reason or just decorative? Or both? And so nice to see you today! 🙂
Left by the last fellow who farmed this field – old telegraph poles.. c
You are so kind to explain so much to us greenhorns! I’m a farm girl but I didn’t grow up with much livestock and certainly not for dairy purposes. I love that you help us to understand why it is you do the things you do. May your weather be bright and sunny for a while, to dry things up a bit. We stayed clear of the wicked weather just south and east of us last night. The storm shelter we ordered can’t get here soon enough!!
There certainly was some weather around over your way! Terrifying.. c
Yay…lovely shot of you!
Are cows subject to colic like horses if they get too much rich grass in Spring?
The cast of characters is growing. When you have time, would it be a good idea to do an update for new readers?
Delightful pic of you – and of course all the others.
love,
ViV xox
Finally. You are on Discover. So well deserved. Enjoy.
Celi, you have our rain while we basked in glorious sunshine two daY’s on a row. 22°C yesterday that dropped to 19°C today. Alas we are on the slide again and it might cool down to 10°C by the weekend. Lovely peaceful photos today. Good to see you with the happy herd!
Rain, rain…. go away!
ur blog is awesome 🙂
I think we all, more or less, need our herds, eclectic as they may sometimes be. Love the pic of Ton and Lady A.
I loved reading this. Reading about Lady Astor’s engorged udder made me cringe though. It brought me back to my early days of breastfeeding and remembering how uncomfortable that is. I hope she is back to 100% soon.
I loved reading this and your pictures are gorgeous!
I never thought about the difference of a grain diet to a pasture diet and the problem it could cause! I’m hoping Lady’s utter gets some relief…I have been in that same situation breastfeeding, I can only imagine the discomfort.