Thursday 26 November 2015

The Chaser.

The last of the ladies have come in for now and we have as many as our loose housing will comfortably hold.   There they will stay until maybe a couple of weeks before their due date when they will be taken back to the Home Farm to calve.

All the cattle are inside apart from the final seven heifers who are out in the field with a good old solid Saler Bull.   All the cows and heifers on our neighbour's farm (it is a dairy farm with Holstein breed) are artificially inseminated (AI) but it is quite expensive to do and if, after a couple of tries, the fertilisation has not taken place then they are put out with the bull in the hopes that he will do the necessary.

Sadly, if that doesn't work after a couple of months then the heifer or cow is deemed to be barren and sent to market.   It is a harsh world but dairy farming is a business and the farmer can't afford to be sentimental.  So at present the neighbouring farmer lives in hopes - after all, these calves have been reared and that is an expensive business.   It is always sad if it turns out to be for nothing.

But as of today they are enjoying life out in the open with plenty of good grass still there for the eating and with a gentle giant 'chaser bull' for company.

9 comments:

John Going Gently said...

Much more interesting than anything pip and david archer bang on about

angryparsnip said...

I love when The Ladies come over to spend some time with you and The Farmer.

cheers, parsnip

Gerry Snape said...

...love the fact that they are called ...The Ladies...brilliant Pat.

Wilma said...

Very interesting.

donna baker said...

Hope the bull does his job, I hope...

Cro Magnon said...

All part of farm life, which I follow with interest. My neighbour's galls are still all out, but with our frequent frosts I imagine that they'll soon disappear indoors.

Heather said...

Hope the bull and his harem do what they are supposed to do and that the ladies have a good confinement with beautiful calves as a result.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Farm life in the raw - that's what you get for reading my blog! Thanks for popping over.

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