Sandy

[Deleted]

Our oldest girl will turn 20 on independence day. I think this will be her last year she is really starting to slow down. For most of her time here she has been boss cow. Not anymore. Still no one messes with her but she is no longer the leader and often isolates her self. She still looks good but moves real slow. She is the most friendly cow I have ever seen. She will follow you around and if she can get some pets she will never let you leave. She had her last calf at 17. At 17 she was our highest milk producer. Here is a picture of her with that calf.







That calf is the girl in my avatar. She now has a calf of her own and another due in the spring. At less than 2 years old she was the best first time milker I have had. She also has the same personality as her moma but there is no way she will ever be boss cow she is way to timid for that. Here she is.

[lonecowhand]

What a beauty Sandy is...and 20 is pretty doggone good!

How many calfs(calves?) did she give you?

[Deleted]

Saddly just the one calf here. We took a gamble and bought her at 16. She got pregnant right after she got here. I think she breed back a couple of times after that but could not carry them.

[cascade]

20!!! That's great! I want to trim her hooves for her, for her birthday. You must have soft soil without much grit? I like her daughter in your avatar.

PS. I can tell by her age of 20, that she's non-chondro, since most chondro-dwarfs die young.

[lhaggard]

Kirk, you can't even give someone a compliment without spouting your anti-chondro drivel. Please! Enough is enough! We've heard it so you don't have to keep telling us, okay?

[genebo]

Mike,

You have been very lucky to have such a great cow. To have her live such a long, productive life is a wonderful benefit for you.

When Beth died in an accident when she was 17, I couldn't stand the thought of having her go to waste. Yet I couldn't bring myself to eat her. I had her processed into all hamburger and donated her to a missionary service near here. She continued her service to mankind after she was gone.

I hope you can find a fitting end for Sandy when it is her time.

Good luck, friend

[Deleted]

dont worry about her feet. they were trimmed after that picture. there is no rock at all in the soil here. The cows that need trimming get trimmed after calving season.

[genebo]

My soil here is gritty! it is mostly red clay, with eroded sandstone in it. For years I trimmed no cattle hooves and only trimmed goats' hjooves once a year.

Then I began to improve the soil. I bought and use a manure spreader. I feed hay all over the pasture and allow the uneaten hay to rot in place. The result is that the top layer of soil has become soft and not nearly so abrasive. For the first time I've noticed some hooves getting long enough to trim.

I never trained my cattle to let me trim hooves, since it wasn't needed. Now I have a job ahead of me, teaching them to lift and hold the foot while I trim it. Brenn is my first student. He will lighten the pressure on his front hoof while I trim, but he won't yet pick it up. He had an injury that required one of his front hooves to be doctored, so I took him for a visit to the tilt table at Dr. Fulper's clinic. Here are some pictures of the process, which cost $75.00 :

www.homesteadingtoday.com/livestock-forums/cattle/513036-visit-tilt-table.html

How did you trim Sandy's hooves? I need to learn.

[Deleted]

Gene, 
when the time comes we will take her to the processor. My wife says she cant eat her. I dont think that will bother me but taking her in will be hard. I will also have to use a different processor. Mine has a steep ramp the cows go up and I just dont think she will make it up.

For the hooves I use these some thing like these not this exact one. www.jefferspet.com/products/cutting-edge-nippers
The fronts are easy. Tie the head short and high. I sit on a cement block. Pick the cows leg up and rest her leg on mine. She will put some weight on you for balance. In most cases you only need to trim the front part off. 
The backs are not so easy. None of them like it to differing degrees of protest. If you remember My stanchion that I built. I have a solid pipe across the top at the back. It is a couple of feet further back then the back of the cows. I use my roping rope that has a loop in the end that releases as soon as the tension on the rope is removed. It goes around the leg above the hoof. Then up and over the pipe and then loops around the leg at the knee and then back up and over the pipe again. pull the whole thing up and back. The loop around the knee gives you leverage to pull and hold plus holds the cows weight with out stressing her leg. They do pump and kick that leg hard but settle down after a bit. Make sure you are behind the range of kicks. Sometimes even after they settle they still through a kick or 2. Sounds easy right . Gene please do not attempt this until you are 100% it is very physical. Luckly I have not yet had to trim Magics. He is calm but he is just so powerfull. I dont know if I would attempt it. 

I do like the idea of a tilt table. I think I could weld one of those up. I see in your picture his legs are tied. were they tied before or after they tilted him over.

ps forgot to mention I do not tie the rope my wife holds it while I cut. If the cow were to fall you would want to be able to drop the rope instantly so they did not get hurt.

[wvdexters]

What a wonderful cow and I am so glad she gave you such a fine daughter to take her place when she is gone. You have a good eye for the whole picture; buying and taking a chance on a 16 yr old. I looked up her pedigree and see that she is a Fairy Hill Peter daughter. Gonna keep that bit of info in mind. Great milker at 17 .... That's impressive.

Her daughter is a beauty Mike. Keep at it

[genebo]

I think I have the picture of how you do it in my head, except I can't figure out how your roping rope works to release when the tension is removed.

The tilt table had a place to close across the neck, like a head gate, but it wouldn't open wide enough for Brenn to get his head through. His neck was lashed while he was still standing beside the table. Then they lashed each of his legs to a bar. Brenn could barely move a muscle. Good thing, too, for his hoof was sore and inflamed. They ground a hole through the hoof, the used a scalpel to remove the inflamed tissue. You know it had to hurt, but it must have been apparent to Brenn that he couldn't go anywhere. He lay peacefully while the work was being done.

When the table was brought back upright, he was standing squarely on all four feet. The doctor untied his feet first, then his neck. It was a very peaceful operation.

I was told that it would take a year and a half to heal the front hoof with the big hole in it. It is ahead of schedule.

The hole in the hoof grew out. It was right up to the hairline at first. Once it grew down to the end it was like a split hoof. The two sides would spread with every step. The vet said it probably felt like pulling a fingernail off. Brenn was really lame the whole time that the hole was growing out the end of the hoof. I trimmed the hoof as short as I could get it whenever I could. I couldn't lift his foot, so I would dig my trimming shears into the ground to get them into position to cut. Not the best way, but I was able to keep his hoof from growing much. The shorter I trimmed it, the less it spread his hoof to walk on it. It is almost done healing, now.

If you can't bear to eat Sandy, and you itemize deductions, donate her to a registered charity and take a deduction.

[Deleted]

The rope does not come off. what I meant was is tension will release. if you have a roping rope. there is a small perminet loop in the end that will not pull down. If you just tie a not in the end it can pull down very tight on the leg and not release.