My son just asked if he could bring home a 2 week old jersey cross bull calf. Of course I said yes! Yes he will be singing soprano abit later. I'm not set up properly right now for keeping a bull. When I get pics I'll post them!
New addition 2 weeks old
how exciting, good for you!!! looking forward to your pics...
How fun! :) I just love calves. My fil usually gets some in the fall, but we didn't this year...I'm needing my cold nose/beautiful eyes fix, lol!
I just love going out on a cold morning and just running my heads through their nice warm fur! I'm so excited-I know what you mean BeautifulBrahma-there is something just so beautiful in those eyes!
Well, here he is!
here's another view:
OMG!!! How absolutely Precious!!! :) :) :) I just love baby calves(I can't say that enough, lol!) He's my favorite color; I want to eventually get a brown swiss bottle calf-to keep as a pet, and not butcher like we do with the rest of the herd. I just can't find any around here, that aren't $1500 show calves. Congrats on the new addition by the way :)
Nothin' pretter than a little Jersey calf! And since he's a bull....well, thanks for most likely saving his life!! (At least for the moment...is he going to be a pet or what? Either way, its better than veal, huh?). Thanks for the pics--he's beautiful!
Even though he won't be a pet, he'll be spoiled while he's here! My daughter and her friend spent over an hour last night keeping him company. It's hard sometimes knowing their destiny but while they are here, they are getting the best care and attention.
The farm he came from told my son if he didn't take the calf, they were going to cull him. It's a dairy farm and he just didn't have a place there. It's really sad. This time of year most people around here aren't looking for calves and economically it's not worth it for them to just send one calf to auction. Apparently my son found out about the calf right after it was born and his friend who works there took care of it until he felt it was strong enough to be brought over here.
He looks just like Norman the Jersey calf that 'came out of' the longhorn in City Slickers! Jerseys have to be the cutest calves of all. What are you going to do with him when he grows up?
Megan
how beautiful, congrats!
tf
Thanks! He is getting quite lively! His destiny is going towards feeding the family but he'll have the best while he's here. We are just not in the financial position to keep a steer as a long term pet. Maybe that powerball ticket will pay off one of these days!
I know some people don't have the heart to butcher an animal they raise so kudos to you. I personally have no problem with it as I have culled several roos and as my layers decrease egg production they will also be culled. My DH wants to get a piglet to raise then slaughter but I would much rather get a calf (I don't care for pork).
Megan
From my experience the variety of meat is better when butchering a steer. Right now we mainly have pork, pork and more pork in the freezer and I'm running out of inventive ideas for cooking it! I'm also seriously thinking about getting turkeys this year as we like ground turkey and it would give us a break from all the pork!
We are going to raise turkeys too. Many of our local friends have already said they would buy one from us for Thanksgiving! Not sure how many we are going to raise but I guess we'll see. I would like to get a variety of breeds but most of the people I've talked to like the white turkeys for eating purposes as they are usually more tender and not a stringy. They just aren't as pretty as the thought of having a variety!! OOHH I can't wait. Now if I could just convince my DH out of a pig... Well we'll see. I'm the one that gets to take care of the animals and as of right now we have 14 hens, 1 roo, 3 cats, 2 dogs and a litter of puppies!
I bet those puppies are a handful!!
Not right now they're only 6 days old but in a week or two look out.
He's trying to Mooo! It's too funny. He just gets out a little mmmm! Wish I could attach a sound bite but here's a pic from this morn instead:
Aww it so cute to listen when any animal is trying to talk for the first time! I can imagine him trying. Enjoy watching him grow!
saanansandy, Believe me he can already moo with the best of them, he just hasn't shown you yet! He's humming to you is all, and that's cuter anyway. I have a yearling bull that's having a fit right now bellering his fool head off as we have a cow in heat and he wants out there. Thank goodness for electric fence and his respect of it!
I can hear him calling towards his 'love'!! Do you do A.I. or will he be a happy guy someday!? I love electric fences they definetly help keep everyone where they belong. Before we started using them, we had a surprise pregnancy with one of our goats. We never knew our buck went visiting! Well, we did when she started bagging out!lol! Which reminds me-we brought a buck up to auction one time and they placed him with the rest of the goats, all 10+ were female, he was in his glory by the time I left! I'm sure he must have gotten one of them!
He will be a happy guy around the first of May! The girls won't be though!! LOL!
He's got a ways to go but I'm sure he'll think it was worth the wait! lol
Oh I'm sure he will!!! LOL!!!