Meet Annabelle and Millie

Here are the newest members of our farm.  Our two Dexter cows!!

Meet Annabelle...

and Millie...

Our little Dexter cows are only 3 1/2 feet tall (full grown).  They are both 3 years old.  

Dexter's are a pretty cool breed.  They are used for 3 major things.  Pulling, meat and also milk!  

I (Kelsie) found them on craigslist on Saturday, April 6th.  The owners needed to re-home them because they had too many animals.  They hadn't ever been handled and it took us about an hour to get them in our trailer.  That first week we kept them in a small round pen.   

Each day we would go outside (morning and night) and work on getting closer and closer to them.  Annabelle was growing fond of receiving grain every morning.  While she was eating grain she stood quietly allowing me to milk her.  Her calf has been off of her for about a month now, so she is almost dried but.  Yet, it is good practice for her to stand still and let us milk.  

Millie on the other hand was quite skeptical of us.  She would eat grain out of your hand or the bucket, but if you tried to touch her she would run.  She just left her calf when we bought them, and so unlike Annabelle, Milly is full of milk.  We knew we had to get a halter on her to be able to touch, groom and milk her.

A few nights after we got them we worked on getting halters on.  Annabelle was easy to get it on.  Millie on the other hand was a handful!  Jeff was excited to be a cowboy and rope her.  After she was roped it still took about 30 minutes until she wore herself out and laid down.  I was able to walk up to her at that point and place a halter on her.  

That next morning they were both easy to catch and to my surprise Millie with the help of a head catch let us milk her!  We are able to get about a quart a milk from her and the chickens, cows and our coffee mugs LOVE her!  

Now a week later, we milk Millie twice a day (we are letting Annabelle dry up) and have about a 1/2 gallon of fresh milk each day.  We are looking forward to breeding them later this spring and excited to be able to provide beef for our family and others. 

We have all the animals we need... 31 chickens, 3 turkeys, 2 cows, 2 dogs and 2 horses.  Now all we need to do is move on to our property!

 (Jeff excited to have a cow!)

 (Jeff milking for the first time... super exciting)

(Jeff's hands got tired so he called for help.  Millie in our little catch that Jeff made)