Miss Ruby is for sale

Well, Miss Ruby is confirmed pregnant.  The vet's comment was "Well, she has a NICE calf growing in there".  (He's always very enthusiastic).

She's 2 months along, with the calf due in May 2014.  Here's the ad that I've posted in a few on-line listings already, along with the photo above:

"Our July 2012 heifer is confirmed pregnant at 60 days gestation and is for sale.  Mother is 75% Dutch Belted, father was unregistered Holstein.  Good milk potential.  Mother is our family milk cow.

This heifer is AI'd to Bestyet Snappy, a registered Dutch Belted bull.  Snappy is known to sire "small yet vigorous" calves, for an easy first-time calving.

A heifer calf from this cow has the potential to be registered as 50% DB with the Dutch Belted Cattle Assoc.  

Dutch Belted cattle are a heritage breed, and are on the Livestock Conservancy's (formerly ALBC) "critical" list."

We'll see what happens.  

Last year, Lucy the pregnant heifer sold, but I came way down in price.  The vet was asking me about that, and it sounds like I gave Lucy away, but in reality, we had terribly high hay prices, we couldn't afford to keep 2 cows, much less 2 pregnant cows through the winter, and Lucy was going to a farm where she would be the only milk cow, and where the farmer wanted a heritage breed.  

Unfortunately, Lucy was up for sale again almost as soon as her calf was born in June of this past summer, and I don't know what happened with that.  I can't worry too much about it.  We gave her a good life while she was here, and what happens after an animals leaves here is beyond my control.  I could go crazy, holding onto these animals instead of saying good-bye and moving on.

The same will be true for Ruby, even though we hold even more affection for her than we did for Lucy (Ruby was the first calf born here).  Eventually, she will be bought, she will move to another farm or dairy, and we might wonder about her, but won't really know what has become of her.  It's probably better that way.

Bessie's new calf is due in 3 weeks or so.  The cycle of things on a 2 acre mini-micro-teensy-weensy farm means that one cow needs to move on, one cow gets to stay, one calf is raised here, and......unless Bessie's new calf is truly exceptional, we'll raise it and sell it at some point as well.

The reality is.....when we choose to keep one of Bessie's calves, that's when we'll be saying goodbye to Bessie herself.  Eventually, one of her calves will replace her, it's just reality.  

Not ready for that just yet.

Today, I'll just concentrate on getting those ads out about Miss Ruby, and we'll see what God has in store for us when the next little sweetie is born in a few weeks.

 

Laura
http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/