Jody: the countdown

It's a month or less until Jody has her first calf, and I've been working with her.  Although she is a total pet and so tame I can put a halter on her and lead her around, she doesn't like her udder touched.  Even as a baby calf she wouldn't stand for it, but would wring her tail, kick, and move her body toward me, no matter how often I tried.  So I've been bringing her in the barn several times a week, putting her in the stanchion, and putting the anti-kicking device on her.  

All I do it hook the bottom in front of her leg, then hook the top over her backbone.  It isn't all that tight on her, but it prevents her kicking at me.  Eventually I may not need to use it, although at my age it never hurts to take precautions.  I use one all the time on Bonnie these days, simply because she gets restless when she runs out of feed (she's spoiled).  Using the "kicker", as we call it, I don't have to keep feeding her.  Believe me, at the rate Bonnie eats, it would take a bushel of expensive sweet feed to keep her standing still.  

Jody is beginning to make an udder.  She is a part Jersey, part Holstein, so her milk may not be as rich as Bonnie's.  She may also give more milk than a purebred Jersey would (I hope not).  I'm always anxious to see how well a cow produces, how easy she is to milk, and most of all...

WHETHER HER CALF WILL BE A BOY OR A GIRL!