Cows on the Farm

Yesterday Dad brought up a difficult subject. Which animals should we keep? Currently none of the goats or cows are giving milk, and we are not raising any large meat animals. Since the only fiber mill in Texas shut down, we have no way to locally process the angora's mohair. The only productive animals are the chickens, and we are currently starting another generation of them from the egg.

Our gentle bull Beau

The biggest things were the cows. They consume a huge amount of feed. We have had a Holstein cow since April, and a Jersey bull since September. As far as we could tell, they weren't working on making calves, and thus were not giving any milk. The bull (Beau) we have been trying, unsuccessfully, to sell on craigslist.

We made the decision. Mom called the vet and scheduled a time (this morning) to bring in our Holstein cow (Molly) to see if she was bred. If she wasn't bred, she would have to go up to the market. Dad borrowed a friend's trailer and brought Molly to the vet, and there we found that she was not bred. As soon as we got home from the vet, I put a craigslist ad up for her. Within three hours, she was sold. Dad called the friend to ask if we could borrow the trailer for a little while longer than planned. Right after lunch, he loaded Molly back up and drove her to her new home.

Sometime in the middle of this, Dad checked on craigslist for a bred Jersey cow. None. After he dropped Molly off at her new home, he checked again. There was a Jersey cow due in March or April, within five miles. Yes! He bought her and is currently on the way back home. He called to tell us that she is so beautiful he named her Bella, a perfect match for Beau.

This is a great blessing. We bought Molly from a friend of mine who had been trying to sell her for months. Our family has been looking for a bred Jersey milk cow for a couple months now. It is amazing that the Lord would work everything together so that the vet had an opening, we could borrow a trailer, sell an unproductive cow and buy a bred Jersey cow within five miles, all in the same day. Praise the Lord!

There was another blessing today. One of the chicks was so weak that we thought that he/she wouldn't survive. Usually the chicks are walking within an hour, but he was three days old and still wasn't walking. This morning he just stood up and started running around with the rest of the chicks!

Lauren Ashley

P.S. Bella was doing fine Sunday morning, but when we got home from church Sunday evening, Bella was laying on the ground, very bloated and very dead.