Four months old

Honey is now over four months old and has grown so big! She is coping well with being gently weaned and loves to graze alongside Lucy and chew her cud in the shade. She still has the back quarters (and strips out the front) each afternoon, but in the coming couple of weeks will be completely weaned from Lucy's milk. Lucy is due to calf on March 22nd and needs time to rest.

I've been using diatomaceous earth to deter flies and other parasites - it is mixed with their other supplements into their daily feed, used as a dusting powder and sprinkled onto their bedding area. So far, I think it really is making a difference!

After much deliberation, Honey hasn't been de-horned. Yet. Apparently I don't need to decide immediately, though this is the optimum time to remove her horn buds. Because she will always be in a small herd, and has been handled from when she came here, I'm leaning toward letting her keep her horns.


I'm about to start reading The Family Cow by Dirk van Loon. I picked it up from Fishpond for under $25 and it looks to be a fairly comprehensive addition to the farm bookshelf.

This isn't the greatest photo, but it does show how huge Lucy's belly is (with still 3 months to go) and how tall Honey has become compared to Lucy.

We're still getting between 4-5L of milk each day from the front quarters, and leaving the back quarters to Honey. I have loads of milk in the fridge and freezer and numerous yoghurt and cheese experiments going on! It will be such a shock to have no homegrown milk for 2+ months.

We're always reflecting how far the girls have come in 3.5 months. They're easy to catch now, and Lucy is easy to lead. Honey isn't as well-trained to the halter as she could be. They're affectionate and curious farm-pets who have really fit into our family and routine nicely.

Weaning begins

Curious

It seems like no time since Lucy and Honey arrived, but already Honey is over 3 months old. It is time to begin to wean her from Lucy as we prepare for when she dries off to have her own calf around March 22nd.

Honey loves to lick my hands. I'm not that keen!

So, much to Honey's disappointment, she is having only one milk feed a day and eating grass, hay and a tiny amount of Lucy's grain and mineral mix (when Lucy's not looking)! We've been doing it this way for over a week now, and both are doing well with the new routine. Honey still tries to get Lucy to feed her occasionally (she never accepted her as her own calf and only allows Honey to feed at "bucket time").

Scratching Honey's chin

In a few weeks I will have to cut out Honey's afternoon feed, and as demand drops, so will Lucy's supply, and then when I stop milking once a day as well it will be time for her to rest and eat grass and concentrate on growing a healthy calf.

And so the cycle goes...

Meanwhile, we are learning about:
* strip grazing through using electric fence
* getting the mineral/supplement mix and Neem spray applications right for deterring flies
* de-horning (dis-budding) calves (still researching)
* making cheeses
* handling a calf that weighs more than I do!

Lucy, 6 months gestation, enjoying the green grass after our first summer rains.