Belly full of Baby

Exciting News!
We had the vet out this evening to pregnancy test Daisy the cow. When we bought her, we were told that she was likely to be pregnant, but only just - which would have had her due in January 2010. The previous owner really wasn't sure, and seeing as though you need to stop milking 2 months before the calf is due, we wanted some more certainty.

So the news is - Yes she is pregnant - and due in about 3 months!

This is great. Her milk supply has started to slow down recently and we were thinking that January was a long way off before she "freshened up" as they say.

Now fingers crossed for a little heifer calf. The bull would have also been a guernsey, so a bull calf wouldn't be much good for meat but a heifer will make a great milker when she is older. We are looking forward to having a calf also, so that we can drop down to once a day milking. We plan on penning the calf overnight to allow Daisy's milk to build up, before milking her in the morning - then leaving the calf with her for the rest of the day - thus doing away with the evening milking. She will make plenty of milk for a calf and for us. We might then get another cow and calf so that we milk 2 cows once a day. This will give us the same volume of milk, and only one chore to do! By the time we set the dairy up and clean up afterward, milking another cow at the same time would take very little extra time.

So stay tuned for baby news in October!