This is Svenya.  

She does not have a pedigree and came to us as a "Black Jersey"  but I'm going to say she's a Canadienne.  She fits the description of the breed and often the term "Black Jersey" is used for Canadiennes or a cross breed between a Jersey and a Canadienne.

She is small, dark and friendly.  (and much more slobbery than a horse)   She is due to freshen in August.  She has tiny teats but hopefully they will get bigger so that I can milk her.

She arrived yesterday in a trailer pulled by a big truck.  (Maxx was impressed!)  One of Bry's fellow teachers in Heuvelton picked her up at a recent auction and knew that we were wanting a cow.

We were afraid that we would not be able to get a cow for a long time - finances have just been too tight and a heifer ready to freshen is an expensive prospect - usually in the $1,200 -1,800 range.  We thought we might buy a little heifer calf this year but then we would have been waiting over a year for milk because they have to grow up and have a calf before they start milking. 

But by some happy coincidence, Svenya still has her horns so she was a bargain!   (I like the horns - we'll just have to be careful of her moods and pay attention to what she is doing with her head.   That's a good idea even with hornless livestock!)   So far, Svenya feels like another one of those Gifts that we have been given as we try to put this big, crazy plan together.  Things will look bleak - impossible even - and then some unexpected opportunity will present itself and voila!  Another bit of the puzzle falls into place.

Maxx photographed the arrival

 Right now she is bunking in the same building as the pigs.  They seem to like each other.  She would like to be OUTSIDE, though.  When we leave her alone in there, she kicks the wall to say  "Hello?!?   Cow does not wish to be incarcerated!   Cow wants grass in meadow, water in brook, please!"

The horses make way for Svenya.  They seem to like her, too.

This weekend.  We don't want her wandering all through the woods and the meadow just yet as she is new.  We'll make a secure area for her close to the big barn in the next couple of afternoons and then she can go outside during the daytime.  We all know that sun and green grass makes good milk.

I think this makes us real farmers now - or at least real hobby farmers.  Molly has a horse, there are 2 pigs and a cow in a barn and there are 2 feral kittens in the big barn.

There's a lot of work to do.  There is a LOT of junk - dangerous junk - lying around from former owners that we need to clean out of the pig pen, big barn and general environs.  We need to build a milking pen for Svenya - there is an old row of broken stantions in the big barn but I'm sure those will be inappropriate - too open and lose - and we need to prepare a good place for her & her calf to winter in.  The pig barn is too open and drafty - great for pigs in summer but not so good for animals in 20 below weather!

And there's still a lot to do in the house this summer.  Maybe it's good that we are too broke to take a big month-long cross country adventure? 

Sigh.

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