This week we got our cow, Elsie. She is a Dexter, about 15 months, and is expecting in March. Then we will have fresh milk! We are all so excited, it has been hard keeping kids out of the pasture. We are looking to get another cow, and the one I picked was thought to be due in October, which would have meant that we would have milk all year long as we could stagger the breedings. Now, the owner is not sure she is even pregnant, and I am trying to make a decision as to whether to get her, or another possibly bred heifer. I know that I do not want another one with horns and the two that I would consider do not have horns. Although Elsie is a sweetie, she is still a cow, and the horns make me nervous. I'm not sure about having them removed at this stage, but any babies will be having their horns removed.
The agony? We lost 2 of our meat chicks in one day to predation. Not quite sure what got them, it may have been one of the egg chickens, but I don't think so. We forgot to put them under some shelter and they are white and show up really well at night. So, could have been an owl that misjudged how heavy they are? Possibly a skunk? One of them was dead when we found it, but the other one was only mortally injured. We tried to give it a fighting chance, but then when it just seemed so miserable, Nick put it out of its misery. The realities of homesteading *sigh*.
