Barb and the Jersey Girl



Barb.

 This is the second post on my "internship" activities.  I'm labeling these with the "Agribusiness" label, so readers can click and sort on that title for the whole series.

On Tuesday after the auction, David and I headed over to a nearby pasture where he keeps the chicken tractors - that will be the topic of a future post.  Our chore was to catch the 50 or so birds that he would take for processing Wednesday morning in New Market.  I hopped on the wagon and rode over to the pasture, feet swinging over the side.

As we approached, I could see a huge heifer over there - David told me her name is Barb.  She's 14, and pretty much the matriarch of the herd we would encounter while we were taking care of the chicken business.  She's a smart girl and paid a lot of attention to us as worked; she's also a big girl, bigger than any of the others that were around, and they gave her plenty of respect and clearance when she moved around.

As we got close to the tractors, I saw most of the rest of this herd.  They gather around the tractors, which are moved two or three times a week, because there is often spilled feed on the ground in the old footprints.  As soon as a tractor moves, the cows move in right behind it, sniffing around for the ground corn and grains in the grass.  The greedy confrontations were pretty amusing...and sometimes, even athletic!

The Holsteins, with the chicken tractors in the distance.

David told me about one situation early on in his chicken raising career, where one of the cows damaged one of the tractors overnight.  Jumping over the tractor, she banged up the top hatch so that it fell into the outdoors part.  There was a jailbreak of little chickens that night - not a good thing.

While about half the flock was recovered, wandering happily around the pasture the next morning, the other half had been taken by the bountiful predators in the nearby woods - hawks, fox, etc. - or some of them simply got away, who knows where.

Anyhow, more about the chickens to follow...

On the way out, David took me around to see the old milking barn from this retired dairy operation.  I reminisced about Mary's cousin, who have a 140-head operation in Michigan (we really need to get back up there to check things out).

As we got back to the tractor, we were near a little run-in shed where we saw three calves - two Holsteins and this beautiful little Jersey. If I get a cow, I think that she'll be one of these.

When we approached, the lttle Jersey stood and came over the fence to sniff us and look for a handout.  We didn't have anything, but she stood by and let us pet her.  She's going to make a good milker for somebody!