About hummingbirds (and Jersey bulls)

I notice, in comments from local readers, that not everyone around here is seeing hummingbirds. In fact, one lady said she only had one hummingbird all summer long, last year.

Maybe being in the country gives me some advantage in numbers of the tiny birds showing up, but I'm curious as to whether you folks are keeping the sugar-water fresh. Last year was my first experience with hummingbirds, but I noticed if the water got the least bit cloudy, they stopped visiting it until I bleached the feeder and put a new mix in it.

I got most of my information on hummingbird feeders HERE. Until last summer, I knew nothing about hummingbirds. Thank goodness for the Internet.

On another note, I called the local A.I. technician (called "the breeder man" in this house) to let him know I now own a Jersey heifer who will hopefully be needing his services in the next three or four months. I also wanted to let him know it wasn't his fault that Secret didn't settle after his making three trips out here, since she had no luck with real live bulls, either.

I asked him if it would be possible to use sexed semen, since that would assure that the resulting calf would be a heifer.

"Well, yes," he replied, "but it's pretty expensive."

"How much?"

"Thirty-five dollars per straw."

Considering a Jersey bull calf is worth maybe $50, and a registered heifer is worth at least $400 at three days of age, I thought it would be a good investment. You can't buy just one straw of semen, though: They come in lots of five. Obviously the A.I. fellow wouldn't want to invest money in something nobody else might want.

So I told him to order the five straws and I'll pay him up front. When he comes to breed the cow, I'll only have to pay him for his trip here; the semen will be paid for already. I'll tell him if anyone else wants to use the sexed semen they're welcome to it, just as long as I get paid for it. Semen keeps for years, so if I have the cow around long, I'll be able to use the supply. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries to get a cow settled, too.

And that's your farm information for today. Who knew you'd be seeing the word "semen" so frequently in this old lady's blog?