Miniature Hereford

Summer pasture.

Motherhood

I just love this cow.
Everything about her.... her kind eyes, perfectly turned horns (natural, no weights) broad nose and huge bulk, flawless coat...no nonsense but sweet disposition and excellent mothering...
Miss Piggy (aka Kentucky Ranger) is queen of the barnyard and pastures.
I feel blessed to have this beautiful, gentle giant of a miniature Hereford gracing my property.

More Miniature Herefords...Peaceful days in fresh pasture

Been enjoying a break from the heat and humidity of last week....a refreshing breeze is coming from the north, and its almost as if one can hear the grass, corn, cows, collectively breathe a sigh of relief. Here are some pictures from this morning as the cattle were grazing in the new pasture that was formerly an overgrown field of brush....

(this field had been mowed (brush hogged) about 45 days ago, and has been frost seeded over the years as well).

From top to bottom:

Herd on grass

Miss Piggy and bull calf Goliath @ 4 months

Onyx @ 4 months

Miniature Herefords on New Pasture!

Finally, the fence i began in summer 2009 has been completed! We had alot of rain last summer, so the pastures were in good shape all season; this year its a different story. My girls went to summer camp for a week, and I FINALLY had the uninterrupted time to work on completing the fence....getting the wire up, insulators, gates, etc, and doing it right, which takes time.

Best part by far is calling the cattle as I walked through the gate into the new pasture....they come running when I call them, regardless of where they are...they know something new (or food) is in the offing when I give the "holler". The trotting turned to full out running and bucking, stopping to SEE the fence, sniff, then more running and bucking as they explored a brand-new never before pasture field for the very first time

.I have to say, they didn't settle in to eating for about 15 minutes...

.Here are some pictures from the initial first few minutes.

A very satisfying morning!.

Miniature Herefords and NO SOLICITING..

You know, this has been bugging me for quite a while now, so much so that I feel it must be addressed.It just burns me when certain people use this web_site to hawk their business "wares" .

I don't have the time to scroll through my e-mails sorting out legitimate inquiries and an ever-increasing amount of "spam".

Please folks, if you want to contact me about the cattle, or content of this web-site or blog, by all means feel free.

For those who cruise the Internet looking for web-sites with contacts, please, get a life, and STOP using other peoples hard work and shared interests as a jumping off point for your sales pitches...

Please; NO SOLICITING.

Thanks

Miniature Herefords: The Morning Feed

A quiet morning, it has cooled off a bit. Animals in the barnyard for hay and water. There are cattle across from the barn also, not pictured.

Onyx and Goliath at the right of picture.

It is one of my favorite times of day.

Miniature Herefords, heat and drought

So first , this spring, it simply would NOT STOP RAINING. It rained all through April I recall, and the fields remained super-saturated with standing water for weeks it seemed. Finally the fields began to dry out, and slowly the farmers got their corn and soybeans in, a good 6 weeks late.

Then, it STOPPED. Raining, that is. The last time it rained was June 22. Really. Which for here (Finger Lakes New York State) is a bit unusual......so, now we have drought. Which, for here, is also a bit unusual.

And it got hot -- REALLY hot. Upper 80's and yesterday marked Rochester's first "heatwave" of 2011, meaning 5 consecutive days with temperatures over 90. (rare here...) Yesterday hit 98 (and remember, we get that fabulous humidity with the heat, too) and winds up to 45 mph, so it felt like a blast furnace when one walked outside....which I did as little of as possible. A small town 40 miles south of us hit 101, another, 100....which again, is just darn hot ANYWHERE.

So of course, I'm concerned about my animals...I get up real early, run cool water into the tubs, feed hay, (the pastures are pretty much dormant, not much growing going on....) fly control....by 8 they are down for the day.

I thought I would document exactly what my cattle do on those hot days....they just find a shady spot, and sleep through the heat.....they seem to like the spot out back under some pine trees along my neighbors stockade fence...its breezy, shady and soft dirt. And there they will stay, until about 3 or 4pm, when they'll head back to the barnyard, check for water, get fed again, and begin their evening / night grazing.....

And sometimes the Cowbirds help with the fly control as well....the cows don't seem to mind at all....

First picture is our neighboring farm / farmland in the summer haze....you can see the wheat fields that have just been harvested. This farm (Neenan Farm, Lima NY) is where all our hay and straw comes from for our livestock. We are fortunate to have them as our neighbors; they are award winning area farmers and great stewards of the land; growing corn, wheat, oats, soybeans and hay. They also raise Holstein replacement heifers and Angus for the beef market.

Onxy, polled miniature Hereford bull calf for sale...

Here are some pictures of Onyx.

He is just short of 4 months old here. His color is darker than when he was born (his sire is a very rich deep burgandy...) and he looks to be balanced and thick (so far...).

Onxy's mother is a DLT Red Pride daughter. His sire is Hawkeye, whose bloodlines can be seen on his sale page link.

This bull would make anyone a fantastic outcross bull, and, he is FRIENDLY!!

Onxy will be available after weaning, and, will be halter trained...

Thats his buddy Goliath with him.

Miniature Hereford heifer and her dam

Well it has been a while since last post, and I do apoligize to those who do check in to see what is up here on the farm!

Been moving cattle here and there, over and across the driveway; penning, sorting, vaccinating, etc etc.

Things have been pretty quiet, the two polled bull calves are growing beautifully, filling out, they both look to be superior herd sire prospects (I wouldnt keep them as bulls if they were not up to my standards....). Our vet even commented on how nice they looked...and (again) that the animals are a bit on the fat side....but since they get nothing but pasture all summer, I guess theres not much I can do to keep them from eating....

I have finally figured out my new camera, so hopefully I will have it with me when I go out to tend the animals and stop taking the pictures with my old BlackBerry.....(sorry...)!

I would like to post current pictures Hawkeyes offspring....3 so far, and one due next month.

I am more than pleased with the quality of his babies, and every one has been polled. They are friendly, frisky, well balanced and smaller than their dams! What more could one ask for?

Anyway, here are two pictures; the top picture is a fine heifer, Sprite, out of Hawkeye, at 15 months. The next picture is her dam .