Marla has gotten round. I sure hope she gives us a heifer in a couple of months. If not I will have to buy one to keep my plan on track. Miniature cattle are not cheap and a miniature Jersey cross heifer will probably cost as much as Marla and Mike together cost me. When we bought Marla part of the deal with Levon was that Marla was kept with his registered Jersey bull for 90 days. I hope to be able to milk Marla but she is still too skittish right now to even pet. If we get a little half Jersey heifer she will be out primary milker but it will be several years before she has her first calf. That is where Marla comes in to fill the gap. She won’t produce nearly as much milk as a dairy cross will but that’s good because we have never milked a cow before. Goats yes, a long time ago, but not a cow. Getting used to the larger quantity of milk to process and learning all the things we can make from it will take a while, I’m sure. Thankfully with all the other animals none of our mistakes will go to waste.  Everyone loves milk spoiled or otherwise.

Mike has turned into a handsome little bull. He is nearly grown and will be the cornerstone of our small herd. The master plan is to have him and two cows giving us two calves each year. One for the freezer and one for sale. My initial idea was to try and tame him down but that hasn’t happened. He won’t let me get very close to him and touching him is out of the question. Working a full time job and only having evenings and weekends to work the homestead puts time at a premium so taming Marla as much as possible is a higher priority. Not a bad thing entirely because even a miniature bull is still big enough to hurt you if he gets too friendly.