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Shaina
32 Posts
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 Posted - Feb 16 2016 : 08:51:53 AM
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Hello to all Jersey lovers!
I just found MaryJane's website and the Heritage Jersey Organization less than a week ago, and am super excited to be a new member! I am looking forward to getting to know all of you, and learn all I can!
My husband and I have 3 young children, ages 5, 3, and 1 year. My husband and I want nothing more than to raise our children on a small farm and teach them all we can about animals and nature.
We live off-grid on 40 acres with our dogs, cat, chickens, and our newest member, an 11 month old A2A2 Jersey heifer named Cinnamon! She has been with us for about a month now, and already we adore her. What a sweetheart she is!
I was raised with many different animals, but am quite new to cow ownership. So any help and/or advice offered is greatly appreciated!
I am searching for a bull to breed to Cinnamon. I have been looking at MaryJane's bull, Samson, who is posted on CraigsList (leading me to MaryJane's website and the HJO). But I am having a difficult time finding an AI Tech in the nearby area. I am considering learning to do it myself. Maybe I could learn and get the needed equipment in time for next years breeding.
Thank you MaryJane for your time and help concerning Samson and breeding!! It was greatly appreciated!!
Shaina |
Edited by - Shaina on Mar 08 2016 10:07:40 AM |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Feb 16 2016 : 09:32:07 AM
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welcome shaina! i just got my first cows in October so am new to the life as well. but my hubby and i are having such a great time with it on our little farmstead.
we have a large vet practice only 15 minutes away that caters to the livestock farmers around here, so we will have them do the AI when it comes time. so i dont' have any advice for you on that front, but I do know that mary jane herself took an AI course and she may have some words of wisdom for you ;>
look forward to seeing you around here. everyone is so generous with their experience and advice, it has helped me so much.
- cindy |
_(199x300)_(66x100).jpg?v 93697001) Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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NellieBelle
11217 Posts
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Posted - Feb 16 2016 : 11:40:53 AM
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| Welcome Shaina. Nice to have new HJO family join in. Congratulations on your Jersey cow, Cinnamon. I'm sure everything will fall into place with some preparation and you will be having a pregnant Jersey cow before you know it. You will find a lot of good help and information on this site. So nice to have you. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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Ron
4666 Posts
Ronnie
Peever
SD
USA
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Posted - Feb 16 2016 : 1:23:34 PM
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| Welcome...sure sounds like you have a wonder filled life...your an inspiration....glad you made it....pictures? We love to see new cows....hint hint |
With a moo moo here and a moo moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo. |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Feb 16 2016 : 2:02:09 PM
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Welcome Shaina! It is a lot of fun to hear from others who like the same sort of things! My family and I live in northern Idaho. We love our cows and just started with one little heifer calf a few years ago. Well, now Clover has given birth to her own calf and we currently have five cows! Love all things fresh milk and love learning from this chat room. It's a great resource to learn from, share experiences, get advice, and get wisdom and "atta-boys" when you need one!
Welcome and please don't be shy about jumping into any conversation!
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Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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Sydney2015
1156 Posts
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Posted - Feb 16 2016 : 4:16:40 PM
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| Welcome! I have a year and a month old Jersey heifer named AppleButter. Cinnamon and Butter(AppleButter's nickname) are pretty close in age. I too am looking for a bull to breed AppleButter to. I would love to see pictures of your farm! It sounds a lot like my family(we have a little bit of everything)! |
A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing - Laura Ingalls Wilder
I live on a small farm of seventy acres called Green Forest Farm, with 10 horses, a donkey, 5 beef cows, 2 beef heifers, 3 Hereford heifers, around 60 chickens, 8 dogs, my amazing cow, AppleButter, and her little Jersey calf HoneyButter! |
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Andrea0509
155 Posts
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Posted - Feb 16 2016 : 4:18:18 PM
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Welcome!
Sounds like you and your family are embarking on an awesome adventure together! Living off grid, that's so fascinating! How long have you lived on your homestead? Did you start from nothing, remodel an old home, etc? So awesome, would love to hear more.
Your Cinnamon sounds like a sweetheart. I had my cow Miss Persimmon bred to Samson via AI this past October and she took the first try :) Would highly recommend using him. Far as AI techs go, perhaps you could try calling area dairy farms and asking who they use?
I'm also a total newbie to cows, so you're in good company here. Your kids will learn so much in having a family milk cow, and its an experience very few kids get to have anymore. I have young kiddos like you; 4.5 and 2 years old.
You'll love this community; I've learned SO much and everyone is so encouraging and helpful! |
Hobby farming with my husband & two kids in beautiful Michigan ~ 1 Jersey; Miss Persimmon, 2 Olde English Southdown ewes; Lula & Clementine, and chickens to come Spring 2016. Loving the adventure! |
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farmlife
1413 Posts
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Posted - Feb 16 2016 : 6:02:10 PM
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Okay, this is funny, Shaina, but I'm going to bet a quarter that you got Cinnamon in Havre, MT. I'm a mind reader, right? I may have been the second buyer if you had decided you didn't want her. :) She sounded like a sweetheart. Congratulations! I was on a mission to find a second cow and just did. It worked out perfectly for both of us.
As far as AI techs go, you should check with the closest universities around you and find out if they do an AI training course. I know MSU Bozeman does a class several times a year. I think it is somewhere around $400 to take the class if you are personally interested in being trained. However, even if you don't want to do it you may want to call them and find out if they can recommend someone in your area who has been through their program. Also, don't be afraid to call someone in your area who sells bulls. They may know of AI techs in your area.
One more idea for you. There is a guy in Kalispell right now who has a bull on Craigslist.
http://montana.craigslist.org/grd/5376429833.html
I talked with him about a cow he was also selling. It sounds like he has quite a few Jerseys. This bull might not be his only one. He may be willing to let Cinnamon come and be bred, or maybe he knows an AI tech since he advertises AI genetics. Good luck on your quest! Sometimes in the middle of beef country it is hard to find dairy people hiding. :)
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Feb 17 2016 : 03:29:26 AM
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So very pleased to have you join us, Shaina.
Decision, decisions. This is the place to be. When it comes to your first cow, there's a learning curve and that's where friends come in. Welcome! There isn't any question you shouldn't ask. I remember many years ago wondering if the term "heifer" was a breed of cow like Holstein. Cattle language itself can be very intimidating.
I took a 3-day hands-on intensive AI course at WSU, https://heritagejersey.org/chatroom/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=301
I never got around to doing AI myself, partly because I think in order to get the hang of it, you have to do it routinely and I don't have that many cows, but mainly because the investment in the equipment is spendy. Our instructor pointed out why you need two tanks, one to transport to a filling station for filling with nitrogen every few months that you bring home and dump into your good tank where you have the semen stored in a stable place/situation so as not to harm the semen. (He talked about filling station novices doing a poor job filling a tank that has semen in it.) A good tank can cost $1,000 or more. And then there's the semen warmer, wands, etc.
I decided I was better off bringing a good AI tech to my farm on occasion. I also learned that it needed to be someone who I trusted took very good care of the semen and was routinely AIing plenty of cows in order to maintain their skill level. Think of it like bowling. If you're the kind of person who can walk into a bowling ally, close your eyes and get close to a perfect score, you're a candidate for doing AI. I suspect, as in many professions, there are those who hold themselves out as AI technicians, but aren't that good at it. Make sure whoever you use comes highly recommended by cattle owners who've have the technician successfully impregnate their cows/heifers many times. Also, keep in mind that with smaller cows and heifers, a man's arm can sometimes be too big. I've been using a female AI technician with a small arm. I had a large armed vet student at WSU get assigned a rectal exam on my big girl Fanci so he could learn how to do an ultrasound. He was rough with her, used a lot of force (all very quickly before I could ask him to stop) and she ended up with a lot of trauma to her rectum (blood everywhere) so we never did get a for-sure reading on the sex of her calf. I did notice in our AI class that a couple of the guys found it more necessary to prove they could "get 'er done" more quickly than everyone else such that even their wand going into the cervix came out bloody--a sign that they'd hit a fold in the cervix and instead of taking the time to pull back out and try again they merely pushed through (not good!). Think about the nature of AI for a minute. Given I've had my course, I could invest in the equipment, advertise, show up at your place, insert a straw of semen and you'd never know if I really had the talent to get it all the way in and deposited in a timely manner. A month later when it didn't take, I could cite the usual statistics about typical failure rates, when really I'm just not very good at it. It's a must to check the reputation of the AI tech you use. I had a AI tech in Maine buy 5 straws of Samson's semen a few months. He got around to talking about his prowess with the wand and truly his success rate was off the charts. Why? He AIs 30,000 cows/year on several large dairies.
Also, I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I have a how-to book out about cows and cheese making, etc. called Milk Cow Kitchen. |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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farmlife
1413 Posts
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Posted - Feb 17 2016 : 05:45:35 AM
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What MaryJane is saying is very true. I didn't mean to imply that anyone who has done the class is "good enough" to AI. AI instructors have a good idea of who has the mindset and experience to do it. My AI tech mainly does beef cows now, but he originally took the class at the request of his family who had a large dairy at the time. He has now been AIing all types of cows since he was in high school. He's in his 40s now. There are quite a few small farmers of both beef and dairy cows in the area who use him and have been very successful.
He is a big man, which could be a problem for some cows, but I have a Jersey on the bigger end of the spectrum and he is very gentle and patient. I have never seen blood out of any orifice of my cow after he is done with an AI session. He's very mellow, relaxed and goes with the flow. He helps to teach the class at MSU Bozeman. He's the kind of person I was thinking about when I said that you should contact a university to see who has taken the class. I think what I really meant is maybe there is someone who is very experienced who helps train new students and lives in your area.
The last time he was here his 11 year old daughter came too. When she is old enough she's going to be certified to AI as well. He was telling me about the last class he helped teach and how some of the older guys were getting frustrated because there was a 15 year old boy there who had an amazing natural knack for successfully AIing quickly. He said he was about 110 pounds soaking wet, had long skinny arms and was relaxed about doing it. Some of the other people in the class were still on their first cow and the kid had 5 done already. He reiterated that you can't get frustrated with the process you must be patient. A lot of it is in your mindset. |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Feb 17 2016 : 10:56:18 AM
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All good advice on finding a quality AI technician. Can you imagine how good that AI Technician's daughter going to be with all her exposure, learning, and experience? A natural internship for sure! Cool.
And, yes, Shaina, MaryJane's book "Milk Cow Kitchen" is a fantastic resource for all things cow. It is also a delightful read. I highly recommend it. |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Feb 17 2016 : 11:04:48 AM
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i wanted to add that in the past four months i have met soooo many people who have had a poor AI experience with their cows - as in NO results time and again. when i met another one two weeks ago while picking up my feed from the mill, i truly thought to myself, "i wonder if there is a dearth of inexperienced AI people holding themselves out right now"... it seems the only logical thing to me. we are keeping this in mind with our AI that needs to happen later this year.
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Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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Shaina
32 Posts
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Posted - Feb 18 2016 : 11:29:42 AM
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Thank you everyone for such a warm welcome! Your replies and help have have been so nice. I have read through a few topics and I think this chatroom is just what a new cow owner, or anyone interested in cows, needs! This is great!
I am new to chats and blogs, so bare with me as I figure things out.:) |
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Shaina
32 Posts
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Posted - Feb 18 2016 : 11:38:08 AM
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Sydney,
I have read some of your posts, and I must agree, it sounds like we have lots in common!! I grew up homeschooled and in 4-H. My projects being Horse, and Market Hog. I am impressed by all the 4 -H categories you are in! I think that is great. What a great way to gain valuable life experiences. How fun!
I really enjoyed the pictures you have posted. They are very beautiful. And what a cute picture of your AppleButter! I love that name. I have always liked the name AppleBlossom, but AppleButter is even cuter, and perfect for a Jersey.
I am look forward to getting to know you! |
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Shaina
32 Posts
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Posted - Feb 18 2016 : 11:46:59 AM
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Keeley,
What a small world we live in!! You are correct!!! Cinnamon is the very same heifer! How funny!! I think Dennis (the seller) could have sold Cinnamon many times over. It was very nice of him to hold her for us until the test results came back. I'm curious, what did you end up buying. Where you after an A2A2 heifer?
Thank you for the information on AI-ing and classes. I am very interested in learning. Although, this year I think we will end up using a Lowline Angus bull that is nearby. The Jersey Bull that you sent from Craigslist looks nice thought!
Thanks!!
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Edited by - Shaina on Feb 18 2016 3:56:42 PM |
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Shaina
32 Posts
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Posted - Feb 18 2016 : 12:02:40 PM
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Andrea,
That is so neat that you have a calf from Samson on the way!!!! I would love to see some pictures when it arrives! I really like the size of Samson, as Cinnamon has never calved before. And the fact that he is A2A2, polled, and of course, has beautiful conformation.
I am glad to share our Off-Grid story! It is all pretty new to us. :) We have been living off-grid since last July, starting with nothing but the land. My husband put in a nice road and in we moved! Camper, kids, dog, cat, and chickens. It took a bit of getting used to since we were, what I like to call, "perma-camping" for the first 3 months. Now we have a power, water, and septic system in place, and working beautifully, so life is pretty much back to normal. Currently, we are waiting on spring, so we can get started on building our home. :) Our homestead doesn't consist of much yet, but things are well on their way. I cannot wait for a functional cow barn. Is it bad that I have been putting more thought into the cow barn plans, than our home? Heehee!
I will see what we have for pictures.:)
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Feb 18 2016 : 12:07:14 PM
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shaina, i am LOVING the homestead start for you. most people aren't willing to start back to basics, but doing it the way you are will help in the long run. my hubby and i moved from a 3000 sq ft mcmansion and spent 8 years in an 800 sq ft cabin before getting our farm. we got debt free and just really focused on what was important. still far from a camper with kids, as we still had all the modern conveniences - but the point is to get back to the basics and you are doing that in a huge way.
can't wait to hear more about your homestead and cow. we are totally crazy cow people on here ;> |
Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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Shaina
32 Posts
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Posted - Feb 18 2016 : 12:22:10 PM
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MaryJane,
Thank you for the AI information!! I read your story from the link you sent. What an experience!! It sounds a bit more difficult than I had thought. The pictures were great. I told my husband about the Poo splatter picture... He said that I will definitely be the one to learn, and not him!
I have been looking into nitrogen tanks and have found some that last up to 42 days, for $349. Rather than the real expensive, longer lasting ones.
Link: http://sementank.com/CT6.htm
I am going to continue looking into the topic. The tanks may be difficult to fill and maintain.
My Mom, and sisters know some people in their area, that AI their cattle. I may be able to get some experience through them. They are real nice. :) I would like to give it a try.
I am looking forward to your book "Milk Cow Kitchen"! My Mom, sister, and I are each going to order a copy. It sounds like a must have!! I think I will end up with your other books as well. :)
Thank you for all your help!!
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Feb 18 2016 : 12:46:56 PM
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You just made my day, Shaina. I know I speak for everyone here, "pleased to meet ya, happy to be of help." (And thanks for buying books:)
We look forward to being part of your homestead journey, what a great path you're on.
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MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Feb 19 2016 : 09:33:40 AM
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| Your adventures sound like you are off to a good start, Shaina. Please share what you learn or find out concerning the AI information and what you decide to do. |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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Shaina
32 Posts
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Posted - Feb 19 2016 : 4:29:54 PM
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Shaina
32 Posts
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Posted - Feb 19 2016 : 4:33:15 PM
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This is our Cinnamon! |
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NellieBelle
11217 Posts
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Posted - Feb 19 2016 : 5:23:53 PM
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| What a darling cow you have Shaina. I love her coloring. Thanks so much for the photos. Looks like you found yourself a nice milk cow with Cinnamon. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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Shaina
32 Posts
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Posted - Feb 19 2016 : 5:32:04 PM
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| Thank you! I can't wait to see her summer coat. :) |
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Shaina
32 Posts
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Posted - Feb 19 2016 : 6:00:44 PM
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This is a picture of my husband, almost done with the solar system.
This is one of my daughter out checking for eggs.
Septic system. Last October. It is complete now. :)
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The sawmill in action.
Our camp site, as of last July.
.jpg?v 53704526)
This was my dish washing area, all summer. Our dog Koda, and our view.
It is kind of hard to see, but the plywood building in the back is an out house. It was a bit of a walk from camp. But we didn't want to be downwind. :) Yes, we have upgraded to a real functioning indoor toilet. |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Feb 19 2016 : 6:11:16 PM
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shaina, it is just gorgeous and i am very impressed with what you are doing.
i don't think it is strange at all to think about the barn before the house ;> lover boy and i (thats hubby) both have work at home internet jobs so when we looked for property we had to have at least two extra bedrooms for separate offices, but we literally walked property first... and just needed a dry shell with internet service for the house ;> and we have now spent three years putting every penny into the land and outside spaces, and nothing into the house... and we LOVE it! we'll think of the house at some point, but for now it is all about our cows and chickens and garden.
i think i missed it, what state are you in? montana? |
Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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Hello! From Shaina, New Member
![Heritage Jersey Organization [logo]](/images/HJO-logo.png){kind=logo}
