So Svenya is doing fine.  Except that she wants to go outside.  And likes to play with her water bucket.

Last night Bry hung her bucket on the low wall between her house and the pig pen.  Somehow she emptied the bucket (not surprising - I held the bucket while she guzzled three gallons down in about 2 minutes yesterday and then asked for more) and then flipped it over the wall.  I brought out more water this morning, fixed the bucket and filled it.  She sniffed at the water but would not drink it and then tried to lick water out of the empty water carrying bucket and when that wasn't satisfactory, she started attempting to lick my face. 

I think she was trying to show me that her nose wasn't as slobbery as it is supposed to be.

I thought - "Well, I wouldn't want to drink out a bucket that had been hanging in the pig pen all night, either."  So I took down the bucket, to bring it into the house and wash it.  While I was removing the bucket, Svenya was frantic for water and poked me in the back with her horn.  I used my AUTHORITATIVE voice and pushed her away to tell her that wasn't acceptable and she got all sad and frightened.  So I stayed in the barn for a while after taking down the bucket talking to her and scratching her back and ears to show her that I wasn't mad or mean and then took the bucket to the house.

I washed it, re-filled it and dragged it back out.  This is not easy for me because I've got something going on with my right shoulder that's causing lots of trouble.  It may be carpal tunnel, it may be bursitis (my Aunt Minnie had terrible bursitis in her old age) or it may be some old injury that I don't remember.  Either way, my whole Right side has been uncomfortable and knotted up for several weeks now and it is hard to carry a bucket with 5 gallons of water in it when your strong side is weak.  (yes - I will be going to the doctor - just as soon as MB is stable after surgery and school is out.)

The Rejected Bucket

So I haul that water into Svenya's barn and offer it to her.

Nothing doing.  "No, thank you." said Svenya "I know where that bucket has been."

Ya.  I left it there anyway.

She tipped it over.

I brought out a different bucket filled with water because I cannot handle the guilt of leaving a pregnant cow in the barn with no water on an 80+ degree day.  I suspect that I will be hauling lots more water in the next few days.  New fencing for the brook and a barnyard hose are at the top of Bry's to-do list.




....

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.

Maxx communicates with the new arrivals
















Who's in the bag?















A little Pink Pig!












And her brother.



They are still pretty nervous.









But Emmeth doesn't want to tangle with them.



Bringing piggies excuse me - bacon and ham - home has highlighted how messy this place is.   One of the previous owners left garbage and barnyard trash all over the place.  Everywhere we turn, there is some heap of twisted, rusty metal or broken glass or just general dumping ground to clean up.  We've got to try to get out to the pig pen this weekend and make it safe for little animals so we can let them get out and wallow in the sun and mud the way that piggies like to do.  Plus that exposure to sun and grass and grubs and bugs makes them very, very tasty and better for you. 

Those little cows in the corner there are NOT Great Grampa Stark's.  They were Gramma Bea's cows.  One of them, Inky, was sold to pay the taxes on the farm one year.  It was a big, fat, unhappy, hairy deal.  Gramma was heartbroken.  And Angry.  It was the only fight my mom remember her parents having.

Poor Inky.  Poor Gramma Bea.


In other news, Christmas is still coming.  The fireplace is in and works wonderfully.  I have to clean the house today.  Wish me luck!

And our own chickens and a piggy and a bigger garden.

Harvard magazine has an interesting article about Modern Milk over here.  

Sustained milking and unnatural gestation are just one problem with modern milk.  Our modern dairy foods not only have excess hormones, they also lack Omega 3-6-9 fatty acids due to an unnatural diet and no pasture time, come from highly medicated cows, and don't even ask my opinion about rGBH, CAFOs and manure disposal.  We really don't want to go into all that.

I've been doing some research and, while I love the idea of a hairy coo (Scottish Highlander)  I'm just not sure about all that shagginess about the milking area.  I think we want one of these  - A Canadienne.

Lovely creatures, hardy, good browsers, small, great milk for cheese, pleasant dispositions and good meat-makers, too.  Plus, the breed originates in the same place as about a quarter of my ancestors - how could it be wrong?

I just love these cows. 




We're not sure how much longer they will be around as there are rumors that their owners are moving away sometime soon but their presence has me convinced that I will enjoy having livestock.  This livestock is raised in a traditional manner - let out to roam the pasture every day - browsing on whatever tasty thing is growing in season, getting some good sunlight, interacting with each other and with whatever other creatures - human, dog, bird - happen to come along.  They are a  curious (or greedy) lot and always herd themselves over to the fence when one of us steps outside.

This guy is particularly assertive.  He regularly bestows kisses (and slobber) and wanted to taste my camera Saturday. 




















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