The Herd

We post a lot of pictures of our show cows, but it has been a while since you have heard much about the rest of our herd.  While we do love the show stock, the herd out in the field is just as great.  The field herd is what we are using to build our show herd.  

Each cow is so unique and special.  When you have a small farm and can only have a very limited number of animals, you must be very selective in what you keep.  Each cow has a very specific reason for being here.  

Without further ado....here is our herd.

This is Cece.  We bought Cece off of someone in our area that was selling out.  Daniel had seen her at a month old and knew that she was something special.  When the opportunity presented itself, Daniel jumped on the opportunity to purchase her.  Because of the timing, Cece has never been shown.  The older she gets, the more we regret that we weren't able to put her in the show arena.  She is super deep bodied and has a great and calm personality.  Her first calf was breech and we didn't find her until it was too late.  We wanted a calf out of her so badly, but will just have to wait another year.  

Missy is one of our original cows that we bought off of Roy Largent from Texas.  She was going to be the first cow that we got rid of, but we have changed our minds and decided that she is a definite keeper.  She isn't much to look at now, but she can throw and awesome baby.  Missy's first calf was a c-section and a baptism by fire of life with cows.  We didn't think we were going to make it through that first calving season, but we did and it jump started our cattle education.  Missy is the mother of Bunny, our 2013 Reserve Grand Champion Heifer and Mitchell, our 2015 Grand Champion Bull.  Missy is now 11 years old, so we are eager for every calf we can get out of her.  Next year we are hoping to collect embryos off of her.

Missy is definitely the herd boss.  Her horns were huge when we bought her and they took forever to come off with the bands.  You can see that she has a partial horn on one side of her head.  After the fight with her horns, the vet made us promise to never let our cow's horns grow.  ​  

Mischief is the bull calf that was born to Missy at the beginning of June.  He is named Mischief because he kept running under the electric fence and then couldn't get back in to mama.  Every night before bed and every morning before we left, the boys would have to search the tall grass for him and run him back in to Missy.  He is growing like a weed right now.  

Roxi came to us from another farm here in Mt. Vernon.  Her former owners were getting up in years and were no longer able to keep up with the work of the farm. We bought her as a package deal along with her daughter Rachel.  Roxi is very deep bodied and sound footed.  She throws a very gracefully walking calf.  

This is Razor.  He was born to Roxi at the end of June.  He is a nice, stout, wide-backed little bull calf.  He is already sold and will be moving to his new home once he is weaned.  

Bunny is the reason that we show.  She was our first attempt at showing and we walked away with Reserve Grand Champion.  After that there was no turning back.  We look back at those early pictures of her and wish that we knew then what we know now.  She walked into that ring with very little work on her and not an ounce of grain in her.  She has such a deep body.  Her picture is still on the mantle and we just can't believe that she is one of our first babies.  She was always a doll baby in the ring and knew when it was time to step it up and strut her stuff.  Today she was more interested in dinner than strutting her stuff.

Bling is Bunny's heifer calf from July.  She was our last baby of the year and the only heifer of the year.  We knew from the start that she was going to be a solid little calf.  She is going to have that deep body like her mom and has a nice wide back.  She is also sold and will move to her new home when she is weaned. She was feeling frisky in this cool weather and wasn't about to pose for the camera.

Rachel is one that we bought as a package deal with her mother, Roxi.  Walker showed her in the OCA Best program two years ago.  Rachel is beautiful and moves very gracefully.  However, she is very spirited and doesn't always play well with humans.  Some days she is a dream and other days...not so much.  She and Daniel do not get along at all!  Anything that needs to be done with her has to be done by the boys.  Rachel had a hard delivery with her first calf.  She was very sick for a while and ended up losing her calf.  She has since become the surrogate mom for all of the other calves.  She is the protector of the herd.  Any time we go out in the field, she is right there to see what we are doing.  She loves attention, but you had better know where she is at all times.  She loves the camera...but sometimes a little too much.  

Rose is also another one of our original herd from Roy Largent.  She is now 8 years old.  She is the sweetest cow on the farm.  She has always been Daniel's favorite and loves to have her back scratched.  She is just a good solid cow.  We are contemplating using her as a donor cow next year.  We are still discussing.  Right now Rose and her calf, Rookie, are hanging out in the barn with Six.  Six has been sick and has separation anxiety.  Having Rose and Rookie close by has helped to keep Six calm and eating.  We are hoping to be able to put them back out to pasture soon.  Rose is not happy being separated from the rest of the herd. 

Rookie is a little bull calf born to Rose on July 1st.  We haven't quite decided what to do with him yet.  We are thankful to have him around right now to help out with Six's recovery efforts.  It is always hard to get good pictures through the bars. 

Six is our newest addition that came to us just a few weeks ago from Washington.  The trip was really hard on her.  Her young immune system just couldn't handle the stress and she has been sick for the last couple of weeks.  We think she has turned the corner this week and we are anxious for her to really feel like herself again.  She is a little trooper.  Daniel has waited for this little heifer for two years.  It took at lot of work, planning and patience to get her here, but we are so glad to have her as a part of our herd.  She has an extremely deep body and we can't wait to get her in the show ring.  

Annabelle is a heifer that we bought off of Justin Grady in Colorado.  Isaac is half owner of her and he can't wait until he can buy out our half and be her sole owner.  Walker showed her last year in the BEST program.  She has been the calmest cow since the minute she got off the trailer, even though we are battling some separation anxiety with her in the show ring.  We won Reserve Grand Champion Heifer with her at the 2015 Ohio Beef Expo.  She is looking great right now and we are working her daily getting her ready to go to NAILE in just a few weeks.  She was not in the mood for the camera today.

Rain was born to Rose last fall.  Walker will be showing her this year in the BEST program.  She did well this spring at the Ohio Beef Expo and we are anxious to see how she does in Louisville next month.  She is coming along nicely and we are just fine tuning some specific areas.  

Mitchell is our pride and joy.  He was born and raised right here on our farm.  We knew from early on that he was going to be something special.  He won Grand  Champion  Bull at the 2015 Ohio Beef Expo.  We have put a lot of work into him and are very proud of him.  He lost a lot of weight this summer, so we are working hard to get him back into condition for NAILE next month.  We have come a long way but we still have some fine tuning to do.  He is getting lots of baths and walks (he is not very fond of the hill).  He is a very gentle bull (when strangers aren't around) and both boys are very comfortable around him.  

It has been so fun for us to watch each of these cows grow and change. We enjoy seeing them go through the different stages of their lives and learning to pick out those cows that were great in their day.  Just like us, babies and age do a number on the figure.  

Did you get your copy of the Miniature Hereford News this week?  Did you see the article about the new miniature breeds class in the Ohio Cattlemen's Association BEST program?  Did you notice the picture of Walker showing Annabelle?  

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