2010 Barnyard additions

No sooner was Christmas over when we had to prepare ourselves for the arrival of our newest additions to the farm.  My dear friends Jen and Chuck had to leave their homestead (Duskwind Farm) and asked me to take their Scottish Highlander cows and the sheep (8 ewes, 1 ram).  In the above photo is the cow, Althea, and one of the ewes.  Below is her 6 month old heifer calf, Gini (Virginia).  Interestingly enough, Althea was a calf when I visited Jen and Chuck's farm back in 2008 (Althea, when a calf).

In December Althea was bred (AI) with Scottish Highlander.  The Highlander is listed on the American Livestock Breed Conservancy as a breed that is recovering but is still being watched in order to improve its genetic integrity.   As the name elicits, the breed evolved through natural selection surviving in the highlands of Scotland and it best known for its "hardiness, maternal abilities, reproductive efficiency, and longevity. Highland cattle thrive on rough forage and in cold, wet climates"(ALBC).   It is a meat breed that is especially popular in the northern states where they're going do alright with the snow and cold.

Gini

The sheep ran off of the trailer in single file and out to the barnyard and stopped in their tracks at the end of the yard.  They stood, quite dazed and confused, for at least a half hour trying to get a grasp of the new surroundings.  Once there was hay available they were enticed to come closer to the barn.  Some of these sheep are Suffolks and North Country Cheviots.   I still dream about producing sheep milk and cheese so I've got it in the back of my mind to have them (or some of them) bred next year with a dairy ram through AI.   Dream, dream, dream...

And meanwhile CeeCee (our Pygmy doe) let me know, quite furiously, that she was unsure about the new animals that had arrived and "camped out" next door in the adjoining pasture.  The goats and the new animals are sharing the barn but are separated from each other by fencing and gates.  It's interesting, though that the goats are now sleeping next to the bedding area where the cows and sheep sleep during the night.   They prefer their company rather than staying in their goat stall where they slept before.

Althea and Gini, summer 2010
Duskwind Farm

Gini is a very curious cow and is interested in the other animals in the barn including the goats and cats.  It's interesting that Gini and Tomás seem especially curious about each other, and they both came from the same farm.  Below is a video of Gini in the barn with Tomás.