Today at the farm our veterinarian came in again to assist us. On Thursdays we breed cows and this is an important part of dairy management. Cows are mammals which means they will produce milk after they give birth. We have a special computer system that will inspect and compare certain traits of our cows and determine which bull we should breed her with to produce an excellent calf. Primarily we do artificial insemination, but we also have a bull in a specific pen for any cow that might be particularly challenging to breed. This is super beneficial as it will lower the risk of injury on us (if she is a wild one!), and she can be bred during a natural heat cycle which tends to be more effective.
A few fun facts, a cows gestation lasts about nine months and on occasion a cow will give birth to twins! Twins are pretty rare, so as soon as we get a pair I will be sure to make a special post all about them. To wrap this up I included a photograph I had taken of a cow that was playing with her tongue. Our Jersey cows love to flick their tongue around in the wind like it is a fidget toy and when we catch them doing this it always makes us laugh. I quickly pulled my phone out while we had the truck temporarily stopped to snap a picture.
Today we shipped 5,448 gallons of milk and had no new babies.
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