Is this cross would make a good family cow?

[Farmerboy]

Here she is in her new home!!!

Is it possible to tell this point when is her calf due?

One of my 5 sisters.

Me giving her a back scratch. I am 5' 8 1/2'' tall, so she is not a very big heifer.

We gave her lots of grass from our yard, and ate it from out hands.
She would not touch the hay that was already there, so I got a different type of hay for her from a hay farmer that I worked for last summer, and she really drove in to that hay. While she was eating it, I had combed her down completely, and was able to ''milk'' her. She shifted her back legs while I was ''milking'' her, so in a week or two, she might stand still for me. Got a good deal on the hay that she really likes! 2.50 a bale of very high quality hay, but its a bit musty, hence the reason I got a good deal! Got only 5 to see if she likes it first before getting around 40 more bales.

 

[redtailgal]

Great! She looks good.

Looks to me like she has a while before she calves, hubby and I both agree at least a month. You may or may not see more udder forming. You'll know shes close when the head of her tail is very prominent. Her girl parts will get VERY soft and squishy looking (even jiggling when she walks). The girls parts may even sag open a little shortly before she delivers. She may get a little "snarky" a week or so before she births, so watch for attitude changes. Be patient, but dont take any crap off her either.

Go ahead and "milk" her for now, but as she gets closer to delivering let her udder alone, to prevent infection and to allow it to develop normally, you dont want to over stimulate and cuase her to start leaking colostrum.

 

[Cricket]

She is a cutie! She looks so mellow for having just made a big move. She also looks in better condition than she did in your first photo. It'll be good for her to have a little time to settle in before calving. Are the calves close enough that they can sniff at each other through the boards?

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

She looks like she is fitting in well!

 

[Farmerboy]

We named her Bella!

redtailgal
Great! She looks good.

Looks to me like she has a while before she calves, hubby and I both agree at least a month. You may or may not see more udder forming. You'll know shes close when the head of her tail is very prominent. Her girl parts will get VERY soft and squishy looking (even jiggling when she walks). The girls parts may even sag open a little shortly before she delivers. She may get a little "snarky" a week or so before she births, so watch for attitude changes. Be patient, but dont take any crap off her either.

Go ahead and "milk" her for now, but as she gets closer to delivering let her udder alone, to prevent infection and to allow it to develop normally, you dont want to over stimulate and cuase her to start leaking colostrum.

Thanks, that is what I thought. I work at a dairy farm, and I have seen Holstein heifers freshening before calving. But I am sure that Bella's udder will never be as big as a Holstein's! I was looking online and the way Bella's udder looks, it looks like the Angus type. So would her udder and milk production be like the Angus'? Her father is an Angus, and I read somewhere that the cow get her udder and milk production from her father's mother. Is that true?

Cricket
She is a cutie! She looks so mellow for having just made a big move. She also looks in better condition than she did in your first photo. It'll be good for her to have a little time to settle in before calving. Are the calves close enough that they can sniff at each other through the boards?

Boy, she was very antsy in that trailer! While they were backing the trailer to the cow shed, I could see the trailer rocking hard. As soon the owner opened the top trailer doors, she half jumped over the bottom doors. She was stuck with her front legs over the doors, and we were trying to push her back in, so we can open the bottom doors. But, we ended up letting her finish the jump, and she walked right into the shed. But a few hours later, I had noticed a gash between her udder and right back leg. She must have scratched it while jumping over the trailer door. Last I checked on that wound, it had scabbed over, and it looks ok.
Once in the shed, boy, she wanted out, and I had nailed 2 of the 2 by 10 boards over the doorway of the shed, so she can't jump out. She kept pacing back and forth, but she had calmed down alot now. She does not pace anymore. And waits for us to bring her grass and other tasty greens. Tomorrow morning, I will be letting her out of the shed! The calves are in the other pasture, and they cannot access the cow shed and the pen.

Stubbornhillfarm
She looks like she is fitting in well!

She is now!

And we got an other addition to the farm yesterday!

We got some hogs! American Guinea Hogs! We got 2 sows, a gilt, a boar, and 2 non-breeder quality gilts. The gilt gave birth to 6 piglets the day before we brought them, and the two sows are expecting soon! The 2 non-breeder quality gilts will be pork in the fall.

They declared war on the nice grass right away, and ate them all before the sun went down. This morning, the pen was one muddy, turned up ground.

 

[redtailgal]

Congrats on the pigs, they are nice. and the babies are adorable!

Be careful with around Bella for a few days, it'll take her some time to not be so antsy.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

We named her Bella!

redtailgal
Great! She looks good.

Looks to me like she has a while before she calves, hubby and I both agree at least a month. You may or may not see more udder forming. You'll know shes close when the head of her tail is very prominent. Her girl parts will get VERY soft and squishy looking (even jiggling when she walks). The girls parts may even sag open a little shortly before she delivers. She may get a little "snarky" a week or so before she births, so watch for attitude changes. Be patient, but dont take any crap off her either.

Go ahead and "milk" her for now, but as she gets closer to delivering let her udder alone, to prevent infection and to allow it to develop normally, you dont want to over stimulate and cuase her to start leaking colostrum.

Thanks, that is what I thought. I work at a dairy farm, and I have seen Holstein heifers freshening before calving. But I am sure that Bella's udder will never be as big as a Holstein's! I was looking online and the way Bella's udder looks, it looks like the Angus type. So would her udder and milk production be like the Angus'? Her father is an Angus, and I read somewhere that the cow get her udder and milk production from her father's mother. Is that true?

Cricket
She is a cutie! She looks so mellow for having just made a big move. She also looks in better condition than she did in your first photo. It'll be good for her to have a little time to settle in before calving. Are the calves close enough that they can sniff at each other through the boards?

Boy, she was very antsy in that trailer! While they were backing the trailer to the cow shed, I could see the trailer rocking hard. As soon the owner opened the top trailer doors, she half jumped over the bottom doors. She was stuck with her front legs over the doors, and we were trying to push her back in, so we can open the bottom doors. But, we ended up letting her finish the jump, and she walked right into the shed. But a few hours later, I had noticed a gash between her udder and right back leg. She must have scratched it while jumping over the trailer door. Last I checked on that wound, it had scabbed over, and it looks ok.
Once in the shed, boy, she wanted out, and I had nailed 2 of the 2 by 10 boards over the doorway of the shed, so she can't jump out. She kept pacing back and forth, but she had calmed down alot now. She does not pace anymore. And waits for us to bring her grass and other tasty greens. Tomorrow morning, I will be letting her out of the shed! The calves are in the other pasture, and they cannot access the cow shed and the pen.

Stubbornhillfarm
She looks like she is fitting in well!

She is now!

And we got an other addition to the farm yesterday!

We got some hogs! American Guinea Hogs! We got 2 sows, a gilt, a boar, and 2 non-breeder quality gilts. The gilt gave birth to 6 piglets the day before we brought them, and the two sows are expecting soon! The 2 non-breeder quality gilts will be pork in the fall.
http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/9/92/600x450px-LL-9262be5b_DSCN2015.jpeg

They declared war on the nice grass right away, and ate them all before the sun went down. This morning, the pen was one muddy, turned up ground.

http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/f/f8/600x450px-LL-f8a97607_DSCN2008.jpeg

http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/7/73/600x450px-LL-734b71e1_DSCN2005.jpeg

http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/4/43/600x450px-LL-4390eced_DSCN2011.jpeg

Awesome! Congrats on the pigs. We have 4 piglets coming next week from Penn. Do you have electric around the bottom of the hog panels or just the panels?

 

[Cow Owner Wannabe]

Those are the some cute hogs!!

 

[Farmerboy]

I had let Bella out of her shed last week Tuesday, and let her out in the main pasture yesterday. She is very happy to be out!! The steers are in the other pasture.

Last week-

Yesterday-

I was weed wracking the weeds under the fence, and Bella saw what I was doing, and came running to find out what I was doing.

One more week before she can go in the pasture where the steers are!! They have been mooing at each other, and I would find them eating grass together along side the fence.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

She looks like she is going to be an awesome cow!!! I think you will be very happy with her!