We took Secret for a little romantic vacation with a Scottish Highland bull. She's due to come in heat sometime between this coming Wednesday and next Sunday (18 to 21 days). This little bull has never had opportunity to breed a cow, so here's hoping he figures it out (he will). And here's hoping Secret doesn't have some reproductive problem to keep her from getting pregnant. If she does, we'll be eating Secret-burgers before long. Usually when you let a new cow in with a cattle herd, they'll swarm over to meet the newcomer, smelling her behind, jumping on her as if she were in heat, and sparring a bit with their horns, if they have them, to establish pecking order. So Cliff and I were surprised to see that all Tommy's cattle, including the bull, were scared silly of Secret! I wish I'd have been able to get a video, but they were quite a distance away. Remember to click on any picture if you want to see it larger.
They kept a healthy distance from her.
That's a steer on the left and the bull on the right. Tommy has his heifers separated from the bull at present. Notice the pretty autumn colors in the background.
Wouldn't you know, the steer is more interested in Secret than the bull is?
So Secret went over to the fence to make friends with some heifers. Girl talk, you know. 
Someone gave Tommy's son some chickens, so Tommy's building a chicken house. He said he's using stuff he had on hands already, so he only has $40 worth of material in it.
We advised him to make access to the nests from outside, so his boy won't have to crawl in chicken-poop to gather eggs. He agreed that would be a wise move. Wish Secret luck on this little honeymoon!
I took this picture Sunday of Secret and Meatloaf. He's standing behind her like that because she was in heat. You long-time readers from the old AOL site thought she was bred, right?Meatloaf is a steer, which means he can't breed her. However, he's good at detecting when she's in heat, and that lets us know when to call the artificial breeder.Well, the man has been here three times without success. Twice, the timing wasn't really perfect because the guy works a regular job, and we did the best we could.
Another thing that has delayed this whole process is that Meatloaf was a fugitive for a couple of months, and although Secret let us know she was in heat by her bellowing and fence-running, it's really hard to get the timing right without another bovine here to let us know when she's in "standing heat". So we didn't even attempt to have her bred during that time. Last time, though, she was ready to be serviced on a Sunday, three weeks ago. The breeder-man doesn't work at his job on Sundays so he could come at the proper time, and the timing was what I'd consider perfect. I told him that if she didn't settle (see #29 HERE for the meaning of "settle"), we'd do something different. Like sell her, make hamburger of her (yes folks, I could eat her with no problem, but I'd rather not), or try to find a suitable bull, because there's a better success rate with a real, live bull. As an old dairyman once told me, "Of course bulls have better success; they have all the time and semen in the world."I apologize to all the city slickers for these boring details, but I've had readers ask what happened to Secret, wondering how she's getting along. Imagine our disappointment when she let us know she wasn't bred this past Sunday.There's no Jersey bull available. There is one Angus bull to which we have access, but he's huge, and I'm afraid that even if Secret could hold his weight up for breeding, the resulting calf might be too large for her to safely deliver.
We have a friend with a small herd of Scottish Highland cattle. (Click on the picture to get a closer look.)They have shaggy coats and long horns. They are even smaller than Jerseys, I believe.Next weekend we'll take Secret there for a two-week visit; this way she can get acquainted with her new boy friend ahead of time. Heaven forbid she should cheapen herself by having a one-night stand. If she indeed does get pregnant, at least the resulting calf should be very interesting to look at.
Cows come in heat every three weeks, so it will be awhile before we know the results. I'll keep you informed when we know something.
They kept a healthy distance from her.
That's a steer on the left and the bull on the right. Tommy has his heifers separated from the bull at present. Notice the pretty autumn colors in the background.
Wouldn't you know, the steer is more interested in Secret than the bull is?
So Secret went over to the fence to make friends with some heifers. Girl talk, you know. 
Someone gave Tommy's son some chickens, so Tommy's building a chicken house. He said he's using stuff he had on hands already, so he only has $40 worth of material in it.
We advised him to make access to the nests from outside, so his boy won't have to crawl in chicken-poop to gather eggs. He agreed that would be a wise move. Wish Secret luck on this little honeymoon!
