Cows and Heifers

I was talking to my sister today about Phil’s abortive attempt to fly out on Saturday morning. There was a time when the six wasted hours would have driven to distraction: he could have been DOING something PRODUCTIVE. But, really now, is six extra hours in transit the end of the world? No. (Maybe if it had been my six hours, I might feel differently, but I don’t think so.)

I heard about a book that advocates the 10-10-10 principle: what are the consequences of a decision in ten minutes, in ten months, or ten years? Those six hours certainly won't make much of a difference in ten months.

As I think about it, there’s just not much that will still affect me in ten years. Ten years ago right now I was a junior in college up in Idaho, not yet even engaged (that wouldn’t happen for another eight days).

Farming is a different pace than I'm used to. I still fall into my city attitude: get it all done now! But as I’ve contacted seven Dexter breeders over the last few days, the most congenial breeder (and, thus, my favorite) said something like, “I’ll buy a heifer and run a bunch of tests on her. If she’s good, I’ll keep her. Otherwise, I’ll sell her or eat her and buy a different one.”

This is remarkably freeing. It’s sort of like the saying of celebrity farmer Joel Salatin: “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly … at first.” Or, don’t not do something just because you don’t have it all figured out in advance.

There’s not as much pressure to get the perfect cow immediately. If, in ten years, we have a herd of ever-more-sickly animals, that would be bad, but to have the chance to start off imperfectly and improve—that’s great! And realistic.

Of the breeders I’ve contacted, I have a few leads now, which leaves me quite encouraged.

Parenthetical definition: a heifer is a female bovine that has not yet given birth. A cow was a heifer but is now a mother. Wikipedia says that the average dairy cow in the US does not live through even three lactations. (Cattleman Gearld Fry says the number is actually 1.7 lactactions—not even two full cycles.) Most farmers separate their cows from the calves after a couple of days, feeding inexpensive milk replacer. Formula is never a true equivalent to mother’s milk, and the resultant calves do not have the proper strength for a long and healthy life. Put another way: “You cannot starve profit into an animal.” Indeed.

A properly cared for cow, given good nutrition and care from infancy, can last sixteen to eighteen lactations or more. Gearld Fry gave a fascinating lecture on cow health. Basically, if you let you calves nurse for ten or eleven months, they’ll repay you the money lost by a longer and healthier life. And the dairyman wouldn’t even have to let all calves nurse—just the potential cow replacements. Feed the steers cheap replacement, or the less than ideal heifers, but treat your replacement cows with care.

I suppose it’s sort of like a tithe: give the first fruits and see the increase.

The other bad thing that modern dairies do: breed heifers before they are physically ready. One heifer in five bred at the industry standard 12 months will not get pregnant again, and is culled. If the dairyman waited until two years, all heifers should breed back.

Brief boy blips: Phil has an old electronic chess set. Today Jadon checkmated it, and was very pleased with himself. (I overheard him yesterday talking to Isaiah: “I’m not playing myself, I’m playing Radio Shack, and Radio Shack is really hard to beat!” I don’t think he knows about brand names!)

Yesterday I overheard Isaiah as he played with Playmobil with the other children. (His character was an animal.) “Now he’s going to poop under this tree, in order to fertilize the ground so the tree will grow better. Poop, poop.” I love that all their play comes through their own narrator voices. The characters rarely act autonomously, but the children-narrators make them act.

Abraham has a “funny joke.” “I am dead.” “Then why are you still talking? (hahaha)” What can I say? It’s the best three-year-old joke I’ve heard. I’ll spare you the others.