Goodbye white eye lashes, fresh white faces, large steaming piles of…

Today we sold three of our cows and hopefully next Monday he’ll be back for the last remaining two.  Basicly, it comes down to — these cows eat A LOT.  They also like to be mischievious and while Hubby is gone, it’s me who has to deal with them.  They’re not small either, the man who was here today was amazed at how large our girls were.  Our biggest, Mattilda, he guessed at 1500 pounds and the average size of a bull.  She really was large.  But very very sweet.

Here’s my cowgirl Annie at about nine months old, riding on the back of Mattilda. 

So, yes, I will miss them, but I won’t miss the hay bill and we hope to have a steer a year for the freezer.  That’s what we wanted them for anyway… and we’re growing quite fond of our Jacob Sheep anyway.  They’re mighty tasty, and that’s coming from someone who usually doesn’t like lamb.  So, I believe we’ve made the right choice and the girls are going to an awesome home.  They’ll be having black babies with white faces now.  Their new husband is a big strapping Angus.

Such as when you’re being treated extra nicely — maybe a bigger portion at feeding time — don’t tout it and stick out your tongue.  Those Big Guys will get back at you some how and still steal your food.

Thankfully you may come across others who feel bad for the Little Guy and may extend a hand.

With a little face like this, she desperately needs a good name and I was fresh out when she was born.  Thankfully I had the thought to call on all of you and got some excellent suggestions:

1. June
2. Mae
3. Mitzi
4. Olivia
5. Mooreen (Maureen)
6. Llewella or Llewellen (<3 those!)
7. Rosalie
8. Essie
9. Ethel
10. Mildred
11. Cassey, Bessy, Flossy (<3 this!), Petunia
12. Esmerelda or Euphemia (never heard of the latter — great!)
13. Matilida (my favorite cow is Mattilda!)
14. Layanni
15. Milicent

I seriously loved all of these — you all really had some great ones!  I almost went with the hilarious Mooreen as it is so fitting to the cow but finally chose Dianne’s Layanni because as she said, it is a nod to her excellent mother Layla, and because a big girl has to have a frilly name.  I couldn’t agree more!

Congratulations Dianne – you win a pack of 5 of my Equus cards!  I know you’ll put them to good use.

I was going to announce our Etsy shops today but decided to wait until tomorrow… I feel the need to add a few more items to our shops before we go ahead and make them “public.”  Thank you for your patience, and see you tomorrow! 

Here’s a sneak peek –

Our second (technically our third) calf was born at the end of last week.  We came home late one night from being out at a friend’s house and Hubby took a ride on the quad to check the cow-girls out.  Sure enough, there was a new white faced calf up and nursing.  He said it was dry and looked nice and strong so we went to bed.  It was so big, especially compared to our twin bull calf that we just assumed it was a bull.  We happily went about our business and kept saying to ourselves, “We need to go out there and band (castrate) that boy before he gets too fast.” 

Newbie on the left, Pigpen on the right

So finally, this morning we got our act together and went out while the calves were still sleeping in the early sun.  Hubby caught our newest and was holding him until I got the banding tools together.  I came running back out of the barn only to see that he was peeing out his… her hind end!  Okay, so much for the castration… He’s a she!  As I write this, I wonder how many other people come across things like this — am I a crazy farmer or what?

Anyway, our newest little girl is out of our one non-registered hereford cow, Layla.  She’s small and not the prettiest cow we have but she sure is an excellent mother!  She has taken over the feeding of her own calf plus Pigpen (he and his mama had a rough start and she willingly let Layla take care of him.)

So my question to you is, what shall we name her?  Keep in mind I love feminine old-fashioned type names.  Layla is a good one, we also have a Mattilda and a Little Debbie (not so old fashioned but it went well with Twinky.)  The person who suggested the name I pick will win a little prize.

Thanks for your help!

Cowgirl Annie, last April with our first calf “Stew.”

Cowgirl Annie, this May withour first calf “Pigpen” (yes, it’s sticking but atleast once he dried off the flies were gone.)

Cowgirl Annie is really a true cowgirl.  When we bought our little herd of Herefords we told the lady who was selling them to us to register them all in Annie’s name — they remain hers today.  Though she has parent’s who “govern” her little herd they are nontheless hers.  I think she’s pretty proud of them too… Anticipating our next calf here at Mud Ranch.