And about those due dates.....

So, as far as my experience goes, being 4 years owning registered Holsteins and 6 years with the miniature Herefords; if you know when your animals are bred, and keep track of the breeding / due date, more often than not, if the calf comes earlier than the due date, it will be a heifer (don't ask me why...) and if the cow goes to the due date or beyond, chances are good it will be a bull. At least that has been my experience over the years.

Of course I have a breeding / due date calender taped up inside my kitchen cupboard next to the dinner plates, and most of my family calendar is my girls appointments, sport schedules and cow breeding dates (with repeat breeding dates penciled in so I don't forget to be extra vigilant to watch....). That being said, I usually (but not all the time...) know when and whats going to be happening here (for the most part.....)

So thats kind of an interesting observation I've made over the years I thought someone may find interesting...

I'd love to know if anyone else has had the same experience....

Polled Miniature Hereford bulls; Hawkeye prodigy for 2011

Little Misty, born Sunday August 14. Polled heifer. Sire: Hawkeye

Onyx and Goliath...Half - brothers. Sire: Hawkeye . These young polled bulls are being offered for sale. They will make anyone top rate herd sires. Please contact me for additional information. They are halter broke and tie. Hand gentle and calm.

Onyx. Registered Miniature Hereford polled bull; excellent outcross bull @ 4 months / weaned.

Goliath, registered Miniature Hereford polled bull, out of herd matriarch Miss Piggy, also @4 months / weaned.

Meet the Newest and Last Miniature Hereford Calf of 2011

Here is our newest and last calf for the season here on the farm; meet little Misty Storm...born on a Sunday, August14th,between 9 and 11 pm. It was a stormy day, with thundershowers; the next morning dawned foggy (hence then name....) It was dark when I went out after the 11 o'clock news to double check the gate to the barnyard where I had the mom-to-be for the night. As I walked out toward the barn I heard that all too familiar soft mooing from the cow; the flashlight beam found momma and a little white face, already up on its feet. I tried to get close enough to see if it was a heifer or bull, but momma wanted no part of that strange blue light walking toward her new baby...they seemed to be fine, so i left well enough alone until next morning, windows open in case any sounds of distress....

I must confess it was a bit like waiting for Christmas morning; waiting to see what I really got as a gift...dawn finally came and i was delighted to find a lovely little heifer up and about in the barnyard, mother close by her side.

This is another Hawkeye calf, and, as all the others, she is polled.

Blessed :)

Veterinarians

Thank goodness for our great veterinarians we have out here....I don't know how I would function without them. Although I rarely need them for the mini's, when I do need them, I can even request a specific vet (shown here, veterinarian Rob Wilson of the Perry Vet Service, Perry NY, with a final year vet student assisting) to come out to the farm. Rob has been my vet of choice since the first day he showed up at the farm...I was and continue to be so impressed by his gentle and patience manner in handling the cattle, and trust me, there has been a time or two when we had an impromptu mini rodeo here...!

If theres a question about a medicine, dosage, or anything, their very capable staff in the office relays the info to the right source and I get a phone call from the office staff or the vet himself.

I've had to deal with other folks from other locales and cannot believe the hassle and grief some of these folks have to deal with when getting vet work done.

When its time to ship out of state, the vet will call the office staff, ask what tests and blood work / shipping papers are required for that particular state, they do the research, the vet does the work and we are ready to ship within a week to ten days.I have never had to chase down paperwork or test results ...I guess I'm pretty spoiled!

Here the vet is giving the weaned calves their vaccinations... and might as well have 'em do the tattooing as well (I HATE doing that ...figure if they are here anyway.......) .

Another day with the miniature Herefords

Early morning: up for water and hay.

Been enjoying the mornings and afternoons watering and feeding and taking pictures.

I am anticipating our last calf, due to be born here soon. Her due date is Aug. 20th, but looks to me like she may go earlier...and thats a good thing, as, from my experience, early usually means heifer...and I could sure use a heifer this year...(since its been a bull season so far )

Miniature Herefords, miniature everything...

I just had to get a picture to post of our neighbor (the one we buy our hay from, etc) who so graciously offered to come over last night and help us finish cleaning out the barn and barnyard from (yes), last winter.

If you recall, it rained so much this spring we had to postpone the clean out (we started) because it was simply too wet to even drive on the fields...

Now that we've dried out, its time to finish the job.

So my neighbor came over with one of his "smaller" tractors to load what was left of the manure / bedding into our ground driven spreader (that we pull with our 4wheeler).

Needless to say, its obvious EVERYTHING is pretty miniature here....