Lucy

It all started with Lucy girl. Everything we have learned she has been at the root of it all. Our start with her was rough. We were told she was open (ready to be bred). After starting the breeding process we quickly learned she was indeed not open, which resulted in her loosing her first calf. HEART ACHE! We were told by our Vet. at the time she most likely would not be able to be bred after that. That was one of those situations where your brain should have over powered your heart. She should have went back to the farm we bought her from and our money refunded. But we didn’t give up on her and all but one live birth on the homeplace has come from this sweet momma. Due to other complications because of that first fiasco her milk is reserved for her calves and the holstein/angus calves we bottle feed and raise for beef. By using her milk we save money on milk replacement that currently can run over $100 a bag. She’s five years old, pure bred, keeps the herd docile and is Abbie’s personal favorite.

River

River, a pure bred Jersey, came to the homestead in the spring of 2023. She is three years old and had her first calf to our homestead (peeking in the picture) in September. We purchased her from a ranch in Colorado. She was already bred with a Brown Swiss when we brought her home. Our hopes had been that she would calve a heifer so that we could grow our herd but to our disappointment she gave us a handsome bull calf.

She also came with horns. We knew right off the bat that those horns would need to be removed. The part of the country she came from the horns would have been beneficial to protect her and her calves from prey. We do have coyotes around our place but, we’ve taken steps to ensure our livestock is protected. For the safety of our other cows and for us River’s horns were removed. You can see how that whole process panned out on our homestead YOUTUBE CHANNEL just look for Foundation Homestead the next time you’re surfing videos. We are currently milking River for our own consumption and share it with our community out of our Barn Store.

Daisy

Oh Daisy! She has always wanted to be cool like the older gals. She is Lucy’s third calf. As she has gotten older she has wanted to do everything they do. There was no need for her to go through the milking shoot but that never stopped her from waiting at the swing gate for her turn to go in. Cows love routine so it wasn’t a hindrance to let her come on through, show her the head gate and crush her while she nibbled on her own bucket of sweet flakes so she could get a feel for just how everything rolls. She’s spunky, has incredibly messy hair and likes to tug on your clothes if you don’t keep an eye on her. On March 7th, 2024 she surprised us with a bull calf. We were not aware she was carrying a calf so when she started to labor the homestead went into a bit of a spin. A happy, baffled, so very thankful spin. As we tried to figure out just where this new arrival would have come from we thanked the Lord for His provision. We no longer had to search for a bred or freshened Jersye to eliminate the upcoming break in our milk production. Thank you LORD!

Jenny Geddes

Jenny is the youngest in our Jersey herd for now. She loves her neck scratched and to come in the out door of the milking parlor. Curious to no end and named after a pretty interesting woman.

On July 23rd, 1637, Jenny Geddes of Edinburgh, Scotland report to have picked up the three legged stool on which she was sitting and threw it at the head of the Deacon Dean Hanny who was attempting to read from the Book of Common Prayer for the first time, a liturgy forced on the Church of Scotland by King Charles 1 of England that was believed to follow the Catholic Mass. She shouted, “Villan dost thou say Mass at my lug?” (or in my hearing). A riot ensued which many believe led to the war of Three Kings including the English Civil War.