Nice little heifer streak going on here.

[lakeportfarms]

A couple of days ago we had our 9th Dexter heifer in a row in our fall calving season.  The first was a shorty traditional that we'll be keeping, and all of the subsequent heifers were long leg ones, which will be great for helping to supply some customers both past and present who have been waiting for one or two to add to their herds.  About 10 more to calve in the next 30 days, then we will just have a few of our Traditional girls calving during January through March.

We just had too many calving in January and February (and even March) the past two years, and with the bitter cold and deep snow they had to be in the stall to give them a fighting chance.  We have 4 permanent stalls here.  Add to it the stall cleaning and frozen water buckets and it just took too much out of us, not to mention a few close calls we had with cows calving outside in well below zero temperatures, and one heifer out of a really nice cow we lost one morning in early March when it was -26F.

Starting April look forward to reports of 3 or 4 calves/day on some days though...Yikes!

We've been having a pretty mild steak going on this year so far, but I'm a little tired of all the mud caused by 15" of wet snow melted by the 1" or so of rain we had over 2 weeks ago.

[otf]

I don't envy you with calving even one animal in the cold. Wouldn't May/June be a good calving time where you are? Four in one day would about do me in!!!

[lakeportfarms]

Yes, May/June would be ideal, however we didn't want to hold the cows off too long from being bred again, and we always seem to have a peak of buyers that are looking for calves in the spring (the fall calves that are just weaned), and in August/September (after the fairs, I think). June calves are a bit young to wean for the fall purchasers, but perhaps we'll have some holdovers from the fall calving the prior year. We're trying to move up as many as we can of them earlier to fall calving. We picked the most fertile girls for that this year, those who consistently calve again 10-11 months after last calving. There may be some of the slower to calve again girls next spring/summer that we'll hold back for a fall calf.

We're actually a little bit eager to have a bunch of them calve so close together since they're quite good about just popping out the calf and taking care of it without intervention, unless is so bitterly cold out. I love the thought of dozens of calves running around together at full speed with the tails in the air.

[Deleted]

congrats wish I could get a heifer streak going. Maybe next year. The mud here is a mess. Glad I dont have any calving this time of year they might disappear in the mud. Wish the ground would freeze soon. As it is it freezes on top every night and then thaws in the day and rains. 
The most I have had in one day was last year. Came home to 3 calves. I think we are a little more spread out next year if I seen all the breeding but could be surprised.

[otf]

Trade you guys a heifer streak for a bull calf streak. MUCH easier to sell beef steers at weaning than heifers, at least around here! Hans, I think you have a far more active area for sales than we do because you seem to have identified a peak selling time. But you also have an active director and I think ours (Chad Williams) just resigned.

Yes, way too much mud here also....it doesn't take more than 1/4" of rain to create 6" of mud mixed with manure! Frozen is much better. I just read a weather forecast that mentioned mild weather ahead for the next month or so. Oh well, can't control it, so have to just deal with it.

Gale

[genebo]

Congratulations on your string of heifers, Hans.

[lonecowhand]

Good for you and the breed, Hans! Do you keep track of the A2 status of your cows at all?

Minus 26? Amazing anything lives through that! It'd kill me for sure. Heifer Fairy must like the cold...

[wvdexters]

Congrats on the heifers Hans. That is great news. We are really hoping for the fairy to visit here too! Fingers crossed. It has been a while.

The weather here has been incredibly mild too. It's muddy around the feeder right now, because of the rain over the past few days. Haven't checked but we probably got about an inch or two. We have them on the hill right now, so they're not too bad. It's standing water/mud in the lower flat areas. We do need it here though. Fills the wells and the ponds.

This will be our first winter calving, ever. I got out the calendars/books and checked the dates. I was thinking it was late Feb/Mar, but it's going to be earlier. The first coming 2nd wk and the others should follow over the next couple wks. Macklynn got the job done quickly once he got it all figured out. LOL Funny that the smallest of the females was bred first. I have the barn all cleaned out and ready to go. Just in case we get a real cold snap. Figured it was better to do now in 50F rather than wait til the last minute and be out there in -10. My hands just don't like it that cold anymore.



According to the weather projection, it's supposed to stay pretty mild thru Feb. Much warmer than ave for our area, but especially in the Northern states.

[lakeportfarms]

I hate to be blunt Gale, but I've never once gotten a referral of somebody looking to purchase a Dexter from any of our Directors, even people that may be very local to us. Every one of our sales has been the result of our own sales efforts, or a referral from another customer of ours, or like in the case of Brian, from 1000 miles away like you. So I certainly don't count on much from the ADCA in that regard.

One day one of our customers may nominate me or my wife for our region. I doubt I'd accept it. There seems to be little up side to it, so I'm certainly not going to be critical of individuals who actually do undertake the task and don't envy whatever benefits they may derive from doing so. That said, I am disappointed with how the ADCA as a whole doesn't seem to show much leadership on the historical side of the Dexter breed. And I noticed in the recent bulletin the comments about Legacy. It doesn't look like they are flexible at all regarding Legacy genotyped and registered Dexters and bringing them into the ADCA without registering any gaps in the registrations of their parents, grandparents, etc... In my mind, if you have several generations genotyped and registered with Legacy, you have a higher standard than what the ADCA is requiring to register, even following the recent vote on heifer genotyping.

It looks like a fairly warm week ahead and DRY weather here...finally. Around the Great Lakes we are lucky to have much sunshine unless the lakes are mostly frozen when the temperatures get colder. svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002000/a002019/index.html

I have the snowmobile all tuned up, new battery, ready to go, so since that's done it may just be a very mild El Nino winter like they predicted and it won't get a lot of use after all.

[lakeportfarms]

Bill, We test some of ours for A2/A2. Since we know the status of most of our breeding animals and bulls we can determine the status of many of our calves without testing though. For example our most recent red heifer out of Molly is A1/A2, because Molly is A1/A1, and the bull that bred her is A2/A2. It gets more complicated when you have A1/A2 in one or both of the two parents, so a test is necessary then if it's important. I'd rather have a well conformed and nice temperament A1/A1 Dexter than an A2/A2 snot though! Most of our carries red Traditional girls are A1/A1, for example. I sure wouldn't sell them in favor of some A2/A2 Platinum descendants!

[lonecowhand]

Yes, I agree with you Hans, its not a big deal unless you have problems with milk digestion, I just wondered if you track that stuff, (or HOW) it must be getting interesting to track anything with the number of animals you run! That will not be as high on my shopping list as pedigree for traditional or temperament. Cuteness probably even trumps beta caseine! lol
It's a consideration tho, as my wife seems to be becoming less tolerant of cow milk and is buying cashew milk for herself!(blecch!)

[Deleted]

Bill, has she tried Raw milk from grass feed cows. Many who cant tolerate pasteurized milk do just fine on real milk regardless of A2 status.

[wvdexters]

Like you all the A2 is nice, all things being equal. But nowhere near the importance of the pedigree/characteristics.

Bill, It is awful but I am very allergic to all milk and milk products. Even goat milk. Just a drop or even if it is an ingredient in a slice of bread, I'm done. We have to double check everything around here. After trying them all, I have to agree with your wife Cashew is the best. Drinking and in cooking. lol

It is a substitute.......... but Oh, real pizza, a chocolate milk shake, cheese, 

[Blessings Farms]

Congrags. Hans but we would like a couple males for meat .
Bill if you have anyone close that has goats try their milk .
Our nubions are A2/A2 and it is great , tasts like melted
home made ice cream its a wonder we dont wiegh 300 # . It makes
wonderful cheese and the soap is unbelievable .

[genebo]

Dave, It is funny that you should say that your Nubians' milk tastes like melted ice cream. One of my goats is 1/2 Nubian and that is what I said when I tasted her milk!

[lonecowhand]

No Mike, I'm sure she has not. Pretty sure I would have to trick her into drinking it, being a Midwest girl, used to Pasteurized , Homogenized milk all her life, and we've been on 2% (for decades) , then 1% ,for decades and now blech!
(sorry Karrie!)

Karrie, That is hard to imagine that you are allergic to milk and still have cows, does Beef meat agree with you? I know that it is difficult to find food (especially processed) with no milk products (like Whey)in them , seems they put it in everything. I had a friend whos tongue tingled the second she put something in her mouth that had milk product in. Did you become allergic over time?
The Most Important question, Can you have Chocolate? lol

Dave, I'm pretty sure Jan's never had goats milk, I know I haven't. I've had chevre(?) cheese made with goatmilk wayback, and considered it an acquired taste, at the time. I should give it another go, after all I used to not like brussels sprouts!

Bill

[genebo]

I raised a bottle goat. I mixed store bought canned gost's milk with the milk replacer. The canned goat's milk was AWFUL! It smelled like a rank billie goat. I couldn't get the smell out of my nostrils.

[wvdexters]

Bill, you understand. It was difficult, especially in the beginning. But I had been so sick for so long, that it was a blessing to finally figure out what was wrong. I felt like I got my life back. Funny thing was I had a milk cow at the time named Emily and made the very best icecream, butter, ever. LOL

But it was a huge change. I cook from scratch. Earth Balance is the best butter subst. and even makes great cookies/desserts especially if you can find the sticks. And I can make a coconut creme pie now with the coconut milk and our farm eggs that tastes like Grandmas. It is yes and no on the chocolate. Not off the shelf but I can make choc desserts from cocoa powder. And last yr we found choc chips from Enjoy Life brand. Completely dairy free and they taste like the regulars. Christmas Cookies!!!

Looking back I always had problems with it even as a baby, but it didn't get really bad until my 20s. It is in the family. Thankfully beef and other meats are fine with me. It is just the dairy.