Long Overdue Update

As usual , i have left it way too long since i updated the goings on and happenings with the Chloanne herd and indeed the main herd too !
Well , as mentioned in the mini-post about Chloanne Goldwyn Gracious 2 , she calved and produced a great little heifer calf , definitely one to watch in the future .
She really is starting to milk well and i suppose pretty soon i will need to turn my attention to the thought of "Do i flush her" or not ? Still have a bit of time to decide but these things always have a habit of creeping up on you .
Also to calve was Chloanne Dolman Ethel , she had a bull calf , but she is really looking smart , having been calved a fortnight now . Once again , i am hoping for big things from her , and also the Ethel's in general.
Both Chloanne Hanno Gracious and Chloanne Tulip Gracious have been dried off and they are now due to calve 29/11/09 and 07/12/09 respectively.
The whole herd have been in at night now for nearly 3 weeks and they do seem to be responding well to the extra food and the comforts of a dry , warm bed at night.
The weather here at the moment is horrible and field conditions are starting to look a bit dodgy , so it won't be long until they are in all the time , just a matter of days i would have thought.

I have re-designed the calf unit a bit , i was never very happy with the little individual pens that they were in , they were a bit old and i do like to see little calves running round , showing off their natural ability to run riot !
Therefore , we have got hold of some multi-calf feeders that feed 5 calves at a time and they just suck their milk , all standing in a line , at the same large bucket .
Early indications are excellent , i am really happy with the quality of the calves and like i say , they are running around , stretching their legs and not in a confined space.

At the moment the herd are averaging 27.4 litres/day which is pretty good going for an all year round calving herd and for the time of year too . Hopefully , once they come in all the time ,. that figure will increase by , hopefully , another 2 or 3 litres/day !

CHLOANNE GOLDWYN GRACIOUS 2

This is a photo taken just a day before she was dried off , she has since calved down again , haveing a heifer calf by Ellenneff Storm Johnny, the calf is called Chloanne SJ Gracious 2.
Gracious herself has since joined the herd again and is steadily increasing in yield daily