This is what I found yesterday morning when I went out to the barn. I had a hunch the night before at dusk, that Berretta was going to calve. Zoie and Jude walked her up the hill, 1/2 mile and she went ever so slowly. This ruby red little darling is a heifer. She is half Highland, which is a heritage beef breed. She'll be for sale at weaning.
Her udder is very nice. She has lot's of milk, it will be colstrum still for a few days. No sign of milk fever. Knock on wood, I THINK we are in the clear. That flush of grass makes me a tad nervous, I can't even imagine what that will do for a fresh cow's production.
We also unexpectedly became Sheperds. We brought home a " Nash Island " ewe and a tiny little ewe lamb. They are island sheep that were actually developed by my great great aunt Jenny Cirone. She was the Lighthouse Keeper's daughter on Nash Island and is quite famous in our part of Maine for her island sheep. They were kept for wool and meat but, I got a milky ewe and hopefully this will be the start of a small sheep dairy. I am picking up another ewe " Sputnik " and her lamb as well. These should be an extremely hardy sheep native to my coastal Maine location and a family heirloom of sorts. I'm the first in the family to get descendents of Jenny's sheep back in the family. We milked " Uvi" the ewe, last night and got nearly a 1/2 gallon. Not bad for a wild island sheep.
Read about Jenny, the lighthouse and Nash Island here:
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