"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:
"Dan L" wrote in message
...
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:
FarmI wrote:
"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
For those who may be interested in some of the things around my
place or just up to their waist in snow and looking for a door
into
summer. http://s1086.photobucket.com/albums/j444/HareScott/

I love the pic of Mootilda in mid cud chew!!! She is a lovely
looking girl. Dry by the look of her. When is she due?

Yes she is dry. That is the problem, she isn't due, she is just
fat!
We have no practical way to put her on a diet nor put a suitable
bull
over her. All our agisters (who thought we were wonderful during
drought) have abandoned us. Anybody with a 1/4 acre of dirt can
feed
a horse right now. So where we would like to have 10 horses (and
could
feed 16 for the summer) we have 3 horses and a cow. So they are all
fat.


And that head (shape, eye, colour) on the chook looks very
Australorp
like but I can now see those red feathers and they aren't
Australorp
like. She look like she'll do the job though.

I will try to get some shots of all 4 girls for the knowledgable to
critique.

David

I was wondering the same thing about Mootilda, but afraid to ask.
Why a bull, when eighty bucks and a vet up to their armpit could do
the
same job
The grass height is amazing, she must be in heaven! Smaller pens and
rotate the pens could trim her a bit. But I thought a fat cow would
be
desirable?

No. Dairy cows such as Mootilda are generally quite thin when in milk
and
they tend to stay that way unless they are dry and on good feed like
David
has. Any cow is far better off when calving to be thin rather than
fat.

Fat cows can often have problems with the birth. (Just like humans
but
don't tell any fat pregnant woman that I said that or I'll get
lynched. )
I've spent way to much time assisting in pulling calves out of cows to

recommend any fat cows to anyone.

And the other thing is that fat cows will often then have problems as
a
result of the birth such as post deliver paralysis. Believe me you
don't
want to deal with a cow on the ground and needing to be turned over at
least
4 times a day and then having to try to feed new calf. Keep 'em slim
leading up to the birth. But I have to say that I like the look of
plump
cows, just not fat cows in calf.

Now I understand. Here I am living in country for twelve years now.
Going straight from city life to the country life. I did not know word
"agister". Not in a basic dictionary, but was in Wikipedia. When I learn
something new, I feel good about myself. I see the problem.

At first I thought it would be great to have a fat cow. I was thinking
in terms of beef.
But from a birthing point of view, I can see the problem. Lots more to
learn. I also found there are vast resources on the web for taking care
of cattle. Web seems better than books .

It is interesting how one seemingly innocent photo can change a subject.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)