Oh Happy Day!

Three of these are now tucked safely in the barn!  Winter can arrive whenever it wants now!

The Road to the Fair

Just under two weeks until the State Fair in Nebraska.  Grand Island - here we come!

Showing is a whole new adventure for us.  The learning curve is steep especially since we didn't have this experience when we were younger.  It's all new.  Given that we are learning everything as we go, the decision to start with calves was probably a good one.  They are a bit easier to manage while we are "learning" on them!

Yesterday we took Yanni on a 30 mile ride to the south so that she could have a manicure:

What an experience!  The tilt table is a fascinating piece of equipment, but isn't really Dexter-sized.  In any case, this was a first for Yanni (and us).  Her hooves look beautiful now.   When she was even younger, she'd damaged the side of her back hoof a bit.  It was growing out, but raggedly.  The hoof trimming took care of that and more....  All look neat and even now.

A few hours later, off to the next appointment for vet health certificates, a half hour to the north.  This is the second visit for the girls - the first required a blood draw for BVD testing (a requirement for showing in Nebraska). 

Yanni is explaining to Cinder that her manicure was wonderful, but she sure is tired of riding around in the trailer. 

At this point, we've pretty well decided that Cinder isn't going to be show material, even though we registered her for the fair.  However, Yanni needs a companion so Cinder is coming along for the ride anyway!  She's actually easier to work with than Yanni... 

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to prepare for the Fair!

Before and After

Before - with his little horns poking through

After - no more horns

This is our little Yellowstone before and after his dehorning.  He was joined by Harper and Yardley at our vet's office for the procedure.  In a week or two, after his hair begins to grow back,  you won't even know that those little nubbies were ever present on the top of his head. 

We weren't sure if Yardley was horned or scurred to begin with, but the vet agrees that although her horns were tiny, they were indeed horns.  She is a horned heifer from two polled parents.  Yes, it is possible.  Since both of our polled parents were heterozygous, Yardley had a 25% chance of being horned.  You can read more about the genetics here.

Bye Bye to Welcome and Yoshi

Welcome and her 2011 bull calf, Moosters Yoshi are on the way to their new home today.  Yoshi has turned out to be a nice little herd sire prospect - one of the first sons from our red polled USommDance.  So far, we are really pleased with his sons and his daughters.

Thanks and good luck with your new herd additions Paul!