A Well Earned Day Out !

After all the sleepless nights awaiting for the calf etc, I thought I would take a well earned walk around Kelso show. Having not been for many years, it was the perfect end to a busy week. Calving in the main herd has carried on with another one just born 10 minutes ago.

Ethel's calf has been registered as Chloanne Dolman Ethel , and I will post his pedigree details when I get them. Here is a photo of my children, Chloe and Jamie, at the show !!!!

And Here's The Proud Mum.

This is Ethel with calf taken just 5 minutes after it was born.

At Long Last ..............!!!!

Well, what a difference 12 hours can make. Ethel has finally calved tonight at 8.45 and it's a little girl. Subject to confirmation, her name will be Chloanne Dolman Ethel.

Busy Week of New Arrivals !

We have had rain every day this week, in varying amounts. Its been a busy old week with about 5 calves born , all doing well. Ethel , however, has STILL not calved although the vet has checked her out and there is no problem with her, so it looks very much like the farmer that I bought her from has got his service dates in a bit of a muddle. So all being well , I shoud be expecting a calf from her on about Sunday. We were milk recording this week and ,as expected, yields were well down on usual. This has been purely down to the weather and the wet conditions. Hopefully things will dry up soon. Moet Formation Gracious is still not in calve yet and I have AI'd her this morning with a bull called Huntsdale Bravo, so fingers crossed that she holds to that service. Chloanne Webster Gracious has only got 2 weeks left of her lactation before she gets dried off. She has milked extremely well again this year and has produced over 1000kg of fat/protien in her lactation which is amazing. I will try to post a photo of her soon.

Wet Weekend !!!!!!!

Not the best of weekends to be milking cows. The exceptionally bad weather is continuing and the "black and white ladies" are more than a little miserable. The best way they know to tell me of their woes is to basically give less milk the following day. So far their little protest is taking effect with yields dropping . This is not good as we are recording this week and this has a knock on effect on their records.Vet visit and a young student too. All a recipe for a disaster ,I'm sure. You will note their has been NO news on Ethel. She will be first in the queue to see the vet as I am now seriously doubting the insemination dates given to me when I bought her.

On-Line Pedigree

On-Line Pedigree

Please click on above link to see full pedigree of Ethel !

Rain,rain and more rain.

Today has just seemed like another of the same. It has either been dull or it's been wet and this has been par for the course for the past few weeks. It can make even the simplest of jobs on the farm a real chore.
We got the silage in last week so at least the cows won't exactly starve through the winter.
Needless to say, Ethel STILL hasn't produced the goods. She is now seriously overdue and that is probably a sign that she is carrying a bull calf. Lets hope I'm wrong !!!
As can be seen from my posts over the last few days, I am mastering the YouTube site and I will try to post items that reflect my relevent tastes in music and humour etc.

Kung Moo Fighting

As you can see, it's not always easy getting milk from cows!

Fit To Burst . . . . . . .!!!

Well, another day and STILL no action. she is looking positively amazing but in all honesty she really should be getting in with the job in hand. I had a rep in this morning and he said she was an awesome heifer that could even be classified VG later on as a heifer. Time will tell on that front. In the mean time , it's really tiresome getting up through the night to check her.

The rest of the gang are milking away in full swing as they are now grazing some of the best grass they will have had all season. We are recording next Mon/Tues so hopefully they can keep the momentum going till then.

Scrubs and Colin Hay

Focus - Sylvia, New Skin Tour

Still Waiting . . . . . . !

Well so much for my last post with the " 24 hours to go" thing. Still no sign of the calf and Ethel is still eating all day.

The rest of the herd are obviously oblivious to the goings on (or not) of Ethel.
The others are;
MOET FORMATION GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE ADDISON GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE WEBSTER GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE HERSHEL GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE MAGNA GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE SPOOKY GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE TULIP GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE GOLDWYN GRACIOUS
CHLOANNE GOLDWYN GRACIOUS 2
CHLOANNE GOLDWYN GRACIOUS 3
CHLOANNE HANNO GRACIOUS
FRANKHAM ROMPER LIZZIE

Photo's of the above animals will appear in later posts.

Formation Gracious is used to all the excitement of having calves as she has now had 7. Hopefully she will go on to have an 8th or even a 9th. More importantly, hopefully she will go on to produce over 100 tonnes of milk in her lifetime which would be a tremendous achievement.

Rear of The Year ,or what?????

Ethel showing her working end to everyone !

This is Ethel ! She is now 8 days over due but as you can see , she is more content on eating than getting on and having her calf.

I would think she will only be another 24 hours before something starts to happen.

Ethels sire is called Pursuit September Storm and her dam is Bricknell Lee Ethel 6.

I bought her this year at a farm sale near Hexham, Northumberland.

The "Leading Ladies" !

With this Blog I will try to put down in words and pictures all the happenings within my little herd of pedigree holstein cattle. I say little as there is only 13 animals in the herd, but all of this has started with one young cow bought way back in 1999. Each cow has it's own "personality" and hopefully through this Blog, everyone can follow all the cows throughout their lives.
At the moment I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new calf. The dam , called Ethel, is now over due. This will be her first calf . About half the rest are pregnant to some degree and they will calve in the next few months. Feel free to post comments / questions !!!