farmlet.co.nz

We have been busy lately, and not just because we’ve been preparing to launch this website. Over the past couple of weeks, we have found three cows to join us here on the farmlet. Their names are Rosie, Coco, and Esmerelda. Esmerelda is a four-year-old Friesian (the big black and white girl), and Rosie and Coco are Jersey heifers — both two years old. Rosie is tan-coloured like a typical Jersey, while Coco is the colour of cocoa, due to a bit of mixed blood in her lineage. We think they are all beautiful!

Apart from the charming company they provide, our three cows are important to us for a number of reasons:

1. They will keep the grass down in our paddocks and driveway.
2. They will turn the grass into high-quality manure that we can use in our garden.
3. They will provide us with lovely fresh milk. Dairy products are one of our biggest grocery expenses, so this is a big deal. Of course, the cows will have to have calves before we can milk them, so a visit from a neighbour’s bull is scheduled for the next few days. We will also have to learn to milk our cows!
4. They will raise calves that we can sell or fatten for the freezer.

We feel very lucky to have found three healthy cows who are so quiet and friendly, and we are determined to give them the best care we possibly can. Esmerelda likes treats of kiwifruit and citrus peels, and enjoys being petted and scratched. Coco is so quiet that we can go right up and give her a hug. Rosie is warier, and won’t let us touch her much, yet. Sometimes she comes over and sniffs me and bunts me with her nose, before scampering off. Perhaps she is teasing, or maybe she just isn’t used to us yet. After all, Rosie and Coco have only been here a few days.

Buying cows was a big move for us, since neither of us has owned or cared for livestock before (unless you count a couple of orphan lambs that I helped bottle-feed as a little girl). We’re very lucky to have a whole council of family, friends and neighbours, who know more than we do about cows, and have given us no end of help and advice.

We are learning quite fast! Our plan is to “strip graze.” For those who don’t know, this means that you keep the cattle in one area of the pasture until they have grazed it down, then move them on to the next area. This has the advantage of allowing the grass to be eaten down more fully in a given area, which speeds regrowth. It also allows each area time to recover and re-grow before the cows return. Finally, any pathogens and parasites will have had time to die off, and will not reinfect the animals on their return. To execute this plan, we purchased a roll of electric fencing tape, and a set of standards, and made a movable barrier around our little herd. So far, so good, except that a) we forgot to turn on the fence, and b) we became hopelessly tangled in the tape when trying to move the fence. Just as well the fence was off when it got tangled. Just as well we have nice sweet cows, who don’t try to charge through the fence just because it is turned off! Also (just as well!) we discovered a cunning anti-tangle mechanism that some agricultural genius has built into the tape roll. Like I said, we are learning quite fast!