Howdy OldGardener,
Daisy is expecting but she hasn't calved yet. We never knew exactly when she got bred (I can't remember why not but somehow we didn't get the date on her breeding.) I was kind of expecting her to calf by now. Her udder hasn't started bagging up yet. We're keeping an eye on her. Since we're milking Elsie we might let Daisy keep her calf this time, and try to get a few other calves for her to raise.
Elsie's bull calf is doing great. He's only taking half a bottle twice a day and with all the lovely green grass, clover and vetch he is really performing well. He is not being fed any grain or any other bought feed for that matter. Abigail walks him from the barn out to the chicken yard every day and he grazes in what the chickens haven't eaten. The pen is so big and the grass so plentiful that the chickens haven't done much damage to their pen recently! It's a nice thing to see the chickens walking around a calf.
Makes me feel like we're on a farm. I need to get some photos.
OldGardener said:Do you see any difference in terms of production (milk, calf) with her Normande breeding?
I haven't seen any difference at all, actually. The milk has about the same quantity and quality as Daisy gave. The primary thing the Normande genes bring is better performance on a grass-only diet, and I can see the difference. Elsie is much more robust than Daisy and I prefer Elsie's disposition (by a long shot.) The bull calves will be for slaughter, of course, and their Normande genes will help them attain a larger carcass size on grass.
And the Normande's are prettier.
We've got a lot of great markings on all our Normande animals.
