Meet Chautauqua Lully, AKA "peewee". She is a friendly but feisty first calf heifer. This picture also gives some indication of the size of a Dexter relative to other dairy cows. I believe she will be the first ADCA Dexter to be on a Dairy Herd Improvement test. I am no fan of the national DHIA, but the testing is an objective standard both of the quantity and quality of an individual Dexter's milk.
It's helpful to see the size comparison. Is this heifer close to breeding age? I guess I'm wanting to know if she is full grown or does she have a ways to go yet? She is such a cutie!
ReplyDeleteSorry, but by "first calf heifer" do you mean that she is the first born calf to a cow, or has she delivered her first calf? I sure need to learn some cattle lingo!
ReplyDeleteHi Brenda
ReplyDeleteLully/Peewee had her first calf two weeks ago. She is just over two years old, and was bred when we bought her. "Heifer" is a young female. In generic cattle terms, she just calved, in dairy terms she is a first "freshener", since she is being milked.
Form what I know about Dexters she will keep growing; not much taller, but heavier. Dexters seem to grow slow over years.
She is being very well fed so she can both give milk and keep growing, and I think she looks pretty good for having just had a calf.
Thank you for the information. I will have to start researching Dexters, Kerrys, and raising cattle in general. There is so much to learn. I always had dairy goats in mind, but I've only recently considered adding a cow.
ReplyDeleteI've been enjoying your posts, and I appreciate your patience with my novice questions.
Brenda,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are finding what I write helpful. Its been more fun for me to focus my writing more around one subject.
We did a podcast on the old Granny Miller Radio about cows versus goats for home dairy. Might be a future post here!
I would be SO interested in hearing the Granny Miller podcast about cows vs. goats for dairy! By the way, I enjoyed all of your wife's blogs. I wish that I had saved and archived her posts :-(. Anyway, I'm looking forward to your upcoming posts.
ReplyDelete