Sunday, February 9, 2014

The Hard Choices

 Two weeks ago, on January 26, Novella and
Lana went to their new home.

It was really hard for me to do this, I honestly love all these animals.

One of the things about dairy cows, all dairy animals is that they have to be bred to get milk, and of course that leads to more animals... which is great if you don't let yourself fall in love with them.

The fact is that for some time I have known I had to do this, either sell Mattie, Novella, Lana or Sunny. My property is just too small, and I have to think about the land too. I need to let it heal.

I originally thought I would breed Novella, Mattie and Sunny and then sell 4 of them and keep one set of Cow and calf. Of course when Mattie lost her calf I ended up with 4 animals, and only one set of cow/calf.

 Without Matties calf  I have more than enough milk.

So after I thought it over I decided, Novella and Lana should stay together,  Mattie and Sunny stay together and get bred, then in around a year they will each have a new calf and maybe we will have enough property to keep them.

Novella is a wonderful cow, she went to a family who wanted both her and Lana.
She is going to be their family milk cow, and they want to breed Lana when she is old enough.

I had a few interested buyers but even though this family had less property they wanted her to be like a pet, the other people had large ranches and wanted her for a nurse cow, or if their family milk cow, they sounded like they wouldn't appreciate her gentleness....

Anyway it has been hard, but we are all adjusting, Sunny was the saddest since she and Lana were best friends.

 Novellas new owner said they are all doing well, making friends with horses and goats. I have already asked to be contacted if they decide they don't want her at some point.

 Maybe I can get her back one day.