Hi all,
I 'm Dottie and live in eastern PA. I grew up on a working Holstein dairy farm on the edge of Amish country. I was the one who was always out with the cows and my dad had me raising the calves all through my teen years. My 5 kids were involved in dairy 4H for 15 years and generations of cows. We raised the babies at home -grazing from birth-on 3 acres,but it was the era when no one wanted to board anyone else's cows and we had to sell most of them as they calved. Times change. Now they milk anything they can!
I've had loads of different experiences with cows of different breeds and am still with the local Dairy Princess milk-promotion group. I even handmilked a family Jersey for 2 years while my kids were teens and we drank a LOT of milk!
A bad storm trashed my cattle shed 5 years ago and since then I can't afford to rebuild it, so .. no more babies here. Couple that with the super high cost of heifers and it's just not in the budget for me. My one son lives 3 miles away on a 16 acre farm with beefers. Daughter and her hubby also just got their first beef heifers.
Different breeds have different personalities and I really miss my dairy girls. Mom's rule was that every calf had to answer to mom --just in case they got loose while the kids weren't home-- so they were my babies, every one!
Dear honey talked me into chickens hoping to distract me so we have 4 Ameraucana hens just starting to lay. Eh.. they're chickens.
My best distraction is my 100 lb Black Russian Terrier who is a rescue. If I can't have a calf, she's a great substitute ( quote from my understanding daughter!)
