farming and conservation

One tough witch!

 

@557
That's a pretty looking calf on your latest avatar pic.
What breed is it?

 

She’s a Highland. We have a few cows for fun.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_cattle

 

They look hardy.
Do they stay out all winter?

 

Yes, they are pretty hardy.

They do stay out all winter. As do all my Angus, Hereford, Jersey, Guernsey, and Shorthorn cattle. When it’s below zero F or blizzarding the dairy breeds (cows and bulls) and beef bulls get straw behind windbreaks. The only time cows go in a barn is for a few hours after calving if it’s below 15F, snowing, or raining when calves are born. The exception is Jersey calves. They usually are pulled (not dam raised) and bottle fed. They usually get a barn or calf hut to live in.

Oh, edit to add: Zebu get shelter if they want it all winter. They are not equipped to handle our weather. I don’t consider them cattle anymore so almost forgot them.

 

How the hell did you end up with Zebu?
Must have been a gift.

 

Ugliest looking animal. Like a frill necked lizard.

 

I'm surprised you weren't impressed by his magnificent scrotum.

 

It’s hanging by a thread!

 

Do they only have one testicle, or is it just the photo angle?

 

You're asking me as if I'm an expert on Zebu testicles.

 

Well, are there degrees of magnificence in Zebu scrota?

 

I'm sure some are more magnificent than others.
Down past your knees is tremendous.

 

I just tore down an old house. I considered it a bonanza when I found it was built of heart pine just over a hundred years old. Faint imagine anything from the time of Henry VIII.

 

The Abbey would have been 13th century. Maybe 200 or 300 years before Henry VIII.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flixton_Priory

 

We went to the State Fair years ago and walked past a little petting zoo there. They had a miniature zebu there and even though we have hundreds of animals at home to play with she spent 30 minutes petting that zebu and scratching behind it’s floppy ears. A few years later we found a calf for sale out of state and had it shipped here. Between purchases since and breeding our own we have probably 25-30 now.

I don’t consider them cattle because their behavior is so different. They behave almost like deer for lack of a better comparison. They are fun to be around once you figure out how to deal with their eccentricities. The babies are great fun, sometimes weighing only 15-20 lbs.

 

Wiki says they are used to pull carts and ploughs.
What do you do with yours?

 

LOL. There’s really quite a bit of variety in size, color, and horn shape in zebu.

The frilly necks, humps, and huge scrotums are their way of dealing with excessive heat. Essentially they are big “radiators”. The main cause of sterility in all bulls is temperature extremes resulting in either sperm death/damage from extreme heat or testicular damage from freezing.

Here’s some of our zebu. I took this tonight just a little while ago.

Last spring calves.

 

That calf does look very Bambi.

 

They are just pets/breeding stock. Most of our critters except for the main beef and dairy cattle herds and the main goat herd are pets for our enjoyment and for sale to others for their enjoyment. Except for the dogs—they are family—LOL.

We’ve shipped zebu all over the US. Ours are all on the miniature end of the size spectrum so wouldn’t be very good for ploughing. We know a few breeders that do use them for pulling carts.

 

They have beautiful eyes, like Jerseys.

 

I spend a lot of time watching the crows here in the meadow.
They often turn up en masse and comb the field for beetles and other bugs to eat.
During the summer I observed them and their fellow corvids the magpies using the sheep as roving buffet tables. They would hop up on their backs and start picking insects out of the fleeces. Several times I saw them walk along their backs, stand on their heads and gently pick things off their faces. The sheep don't seem to mind, all they do is wag their tails furiously.
Last night we had a bit of snowfall, around 2 or 3 inches.
The crows are doing their usual searching for insects but now it's more difficult due to the snow. Most are just getting on with the hard work and eking out a living but a few are sneakily observing the rest. When they see some success they swoop in, bully the workers out of the way and steal their prize. Showing some human traits there.
They are smart though. When you build a straw stack you place the sheaths with the ears of corn towards the centre and the bottom end on the outside. This is to protect the wheat from the worst of the weather and to stop birds from eating the corn. The crows aren't deterred at all by this though, next to the stacks there is always a pile of straw on the ground nearby where they have pulled it out so they can get at the meal. None of they other birds seem to do this, not even the pigeons which have the size and strength needed.

 

My husband feeds magpies from our back verandah. There is a pair of crows (ravens) which lurk around hoping for unnoticed scraps. Have you seen that video of the crows using tools?
NB. Betty from Oxford.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37024393

 

I've watched a lot of video of crows exhibiting high intelligence. More than is healthy probably.
Including several examples of them encouraging cats to fight. Thought to be motivated by them wanting to avoid the cats finding a nearby nest.

My favourite is probably the eagle riding crow though.


There are a lot of squirrel obstacle course videos out there too. This one by an ex NASA scientist is my favourite one.


Lockdown does have certain advantages, extra time to waste watching YouTube being one of them.

 

Well I'm coming at this mainly from a position of ignorance. I'm going to have to have a chat with Farmer Paul to get his views on this but I have read a little about American farmers objecting to the fact they cannot keep and use their own seeds for future planting.
If you remember the conversation we had about Paul growing an old variety of wheat which he'd got from the local agricultural academy, they prohibited Paul from passing on seeds to other farmers without their permission but they didn't take ownership of the seeds produced or prevent him from using them himself. In fact they encouraged him to do so, I can't imagine Monsanto taking the same position.