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Udder Chaos
30 Posts
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 Posted - Jan 30 2015 : 8:37:31 PM
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Hello from Kansas! I want to introduce myself. I am a wife and mother of 4 great kids. We run a farm just outside if Kansas City. We have a strong focus on raising full blood Aubrac cattle, a dual purpose breed from France. We raise them for our all-natural grass feed beef program as well as for other cattle breeders. We have about 60 free range chickens, three ducks, four dogs ( one of which is due to have her litter the first week of March, just about the time our calving season starts, and a sweet little kitty named Tweety Bird. We are planning on adding Kune Kune pigs this spring as well as Heritage Turkeys. I have begun the process of looking into adding a milk cow as I have three growing boys and they are killing the grocery budget drinking gallons of milk each week and they aren't even teenagers yet! Not to mention I have been dreaming of a sweet little Jersey milk cow in my barn! Needless to say my user name, " udder chaos" is quite appropriate! I have been reading this forum for quite a few weeks now and love to see what all of you cow lovers are doing.
Here are some pictures of our critters:[http://ranchers.net/photopost/data/500/medium/Upra_-_02_-_2013_07_04.jpg][/http://ranchers.net/photopost/data/500/medium/WCCC_Buckminster_-_023_-_2014_09_13.jpg[http://ranchers.net/photopost/data/500/medium/Nolan_-_12yrs_old.jpg] |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 30 2015 : 9:35:55 PM
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Welcome Udder Chaos! What a great farm you have, full of lots of goodness. Your Aubrac cattle look a little like Jerseys, especially around the eyes.
I started off with two goats in order to have fresh milk for my own kids...but am very much looking forward to my Jersey calving next September as I really want some fresh cow milk too!
You sound like you have lots and lots of experience with farm animals and can help those of us who are less experienced. Thanks for introducing yourself!
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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 - Jan 31 2015 : 04:22:00 AM
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| Welcome! Your cattle are beautiful! |
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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Ron
4666 Posts
Ronnie
Peever
SD
USA
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 04:27:02 AM
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Welcome neighbor! Just to your north here in SD! Wish you were closer. I am getting gallons of extra milk a day!
So happy you are here. So much we all learn from each other and just some downright fun!Watch out for Mike. He might load you up with piggies. He keeps lots of nice ones!
Boy them are some NICE looking beef critters! I am surrounded by beef producers but none up here have them. Very nice. |
With a moo moo here and a moo moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo. |
Edited by - Ron on Jan 31 2015 04:29:24 AM |
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NellieBelle
11217 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 04:51:31 AM
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| Beautiful bovine. Aubrac cattle. Learn something new everyday. Sure nice looking. Welcome Udder Chaos. I can relate to your milk need. When growing up, there were 5 of us kids, my folks couldn't keep us in milk. Wouldn't it be great to have a milk cow and have the help of your boys. Looks like your farm is giving them some wonderful experiences. Glad to meet you and look forward to chatting with you in this forum. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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Mike
1667 Posts
Mike
Argyle
WI
United States of America
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 05:12:51 AM
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Wowserssss.... Those are some cattle. I wonder which came first, the Jersey or the Aubrac? I'll have to look them up and see just where they come from. I've got it! There used to be a land bridge between Jersey and the mainland!
They are beautiful cattle and the resemblance is stunning.
I won't mention piggies.... |
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Ron
4666 Posts
Ronnie
Peever
SD
USA
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 05:14:22 AM
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| Oink |
With a moo moo here and a moo moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo. |
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Mike
1667 Posts
Mike
Argyle
WI
United States of America
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 05:19:14 AM
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From the south of France..rats, there goes my theory, crafted from years of research... well, about two seconds anyway.
And 125cm tall, five feet at the shoulder....yup, bigger than a breadbox for sure. Trippple purpose, including draft.
Love 'em!
Oink :) |
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tcboweevil
338 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 05:58:26 AM
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| Welcome Udder Chaos! Beautiful pictures! |
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 07:29:42 AM
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Welcome Udder Chaos! I truly love your breed of cattle. Yours are gorgeous! I've raised Angus for beef but like yours better.
What more can you tell us about them? How do they compare to the more popular breeds of beef cattle?
Could you try taming and then milking one of them? |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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Udder Chaos
30 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 12:16:10 PM
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Thanks for all the nice "welcomes." We do love our Aubracs. They have been such fun to raise and learn about. We frequently get asked if they are Jerseys or Brown Swiss. So funny a guy actually argued with my husband at the gas station telling him he had a Brown Swiss in the trailer not an Aubrac.
Well as Mike found out they are from the south of France, very rugged country there. They thrive in the heat and cold which we like here in Kansas. Long ago they were used as a dual purpose breed and there is a couple of specific cheeses that were traditionally only made with Aubrac milk, the names of which are escaping me right now. They are now used mostly for beef but recently there has been renewed interested in raising these cows for milking again.
Sooo.. because they are dual purpose and have very high butter fat content in their milk, I think it makes their beef taste yummy! They are very good mothers and I haven't had to go help them calve. In France they test all the French breeds for calving ease and Aubracs hold the number one spot! They do very well on forage only diets which we like and we breed with an eye toward low inputs while maintaining good condition. One of my Aubracs took an orphan calf and nursed her until weaning the calf at 9 months.
We do know a gentleman that crosses Aubrac with Jersey, milks the cows and is able to flesh out the Bulls better for beef. I have given some thought to raising up an Aubrac to milk but I thought I might need to try milking first on a cow that is ready to go that can help train me before I try to train one up myself. :-)
oh the other thing is they are known for their longevity. The first picture of the pretty cow with the horns is 12 years old in that picture. She gave us our best bull calf this year!--
Mike I would like to know about the pigs you have. Do you have Kune Kunes?
Ron-- I wish we lived closer too so I could come get milk until I figure this out!!!
Again thanks everyone. I look forward to chatting. |
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NellieBelle
11217 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 12:34:20 PM
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| Interesting breed for sure and certainly beautiful. That's what I love about this site. You learn something all the time. Introduced to a breed I had never heard of before. Thanks again for the information Udder Chaos. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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NellieBelle
11217 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 12:37:07 PM
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| For anyone else who wants to read more on this breed of cow, http://www.aubracusa.com/ |
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 - Jan 31 2015 : 1:22:01 PM
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| If you decide on a Guernsey Cow let me know. I can hook you guys up fairly close to home. Good animal if you don't mind lots of very creamy milk loaded with all good things. 😊 |
With a moo moo here and a moo moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo. |
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Udder Chaos
30 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 1:52:17 PM
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| Thanks for the link to the website for Aubrac. We apologize for the clunkyness of the site we hope to get it more up to date. It has been rather neglected for some time. My husband now serves on the board of directors and has been working hard with a few other breeders to really developmthe Aubrac name and breed here in the US and getting the website in better working order is on the long list of to dos. |
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Udder Chaos
30 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 2:03:36 PM
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| Thanks Ron-- We did a taste test of beef that included guernsey and I remeber really liking its flavor! |
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 2:29:30 PM
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How about trading a second time around bred, trained Jersey for a bred Aubrac? Or I could bring one of your "already handled" bred heifers here and train it to be your milk cow. Or, I could just stay focused:)
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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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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 2:32:57 PM
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| I found an Aubrac breeder only 1/2 hour away from me! |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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Udder Chaos
30 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 2:38:42 PM
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| Mary Jane--If your serious contact me privately, if not it sure was fun to think about. :-) |
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Ron
4666 Posts
Ronnie
Peever
SD
USA
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 3:28:13 PM
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| How many cows are enough? Just a couple more .. 🐄🐃🐂 |
With a moo moo here and a moo moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo. |
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Udder Chaos
30 Posts
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 3:32:28 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by maryjane
I found an Aubrac breeder only 1/2 hour away from me!
Sadly I am pretty certain that part of the website is out of date and that He is no longer in the Aubrac business. |
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Ron
4666 Posts
Ronnie
Peever
SD
USA
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Posted - Jan 31 2015 : 3:52:17 PM
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| Well a heifer and a bull then! Lol...You got what!!?? |
With a moo moo here and a moo moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo. |
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Udder Chaos
30 Posts
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Posted - Feb 07 2018 : 7:27:55 PM
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Its been too long since I've had time to be in this lovely forum of people who love cows as much as I do. We have sadly had a death in our family that led to many life altering decisions and two farm moves in the past two years. God is good and we are back to trying to get back to what normal life (HA! whatever that is!) and doing fun things on our new farm! Yeah! I thought you guys might want to see these new babies that just came into the world! I know how much you all like photos. This is a photo of our newest project with some Jersey Dairies in Iowa and we have bred some of their Jersey to our beautiful beefy Aubrac in hope of creating not only an excellent homestead cow that produces wonderful milk but also produces excellent beef. We expect to have 8-12 more coming in the next few weeks. So fun!! |
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maryjane
7074 Posts
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Posted - Feb 08 2018 : 04:27:46 AM
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| Welcome back. So sorry to hear of the difficulties you've endured the last couple of years. But glad to hear you're enjoying a new clutch of baby Jersey/Aubracs--lots of them and with more to come. It'll be like a huge litter of puppies. Fun to watch! Hopefully, you'll be able to snatch a heifer to handle and train for your future milk cow. |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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NellieBelle
11217 Posts
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Posted - Feb 08 2018 : 09:50:09 AM
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| Adorable little calves. What mischief and fun antics they can have. And yes we do love photos of our cow families, thanks for sharing yours. Sorry to hear of your loss. Certainly good to see you again and your exciting news. Keep the photos and updates coming. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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Boots&Flipflops
499 Posts
Darla
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Posted - Feb 09 2018 : 10:05:31 AM
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Oh My Goodness!!
Those babies!!!! Enough said
Congratulations on such beauties.
Sorry to hear of the curve ball life through at you. Tom and I had that a few years back. Lost both our dads and our mothers both had horrible accidents afterwards. Very taxing, as you are still trying to live your daily life.
I call it "organized chaos" and some days are just that way.
Your animals are something else. Just stunning. I may need to have a chat with you in the future. My mind is always going
Welcome back and please stay in touch. |
To Succeed In This Life You Need Three Things: A Backbone, A Wish Bone and a Funny Bone. As quoted by Reba McEntire |
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Hello from Kansas!
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