Of a Milk Goat’s Death and Spring Fever

One cold morning in January, 2018, Kate went down to the barn to find her pregnant

milk goat lying in a corner of her stall- unable to get up. Not being able to get up is a near sentence of death to all ruminants, but we nursed her faithfully for a week. We called our goat guru, and she was diagnosed with milk fever. So 3 times a day we went down to the barn scared to be the first to look in for fear of finding her dead, but hopefully looking for signs of recovery. Every day we prayed for her recovery, but the Lord thought it best to answer our prayers with the goat’s death a week later. Now we had no hope of milk for another 6 months.

This thought was still in our minds, and the snow was melting, when I saw an add for registered Irish Dexters- in Colville! I knew that this decision was not up to me at all, so I told Mom about the listing. She got excited, but knew the decision wasn’t up to her either, so she told me to just inquire after their registrations, pregnancy status, and discounts. We were both excited at the reply, and decided to lay our case before Dad. Dad is the sounding board for all of our hair-brained schemes, (e.g. geese, rabbits, donkeys), and so we lay before him all the pros and cons of these cows. We have had some wonderful Dexters before, they were very nice cows, out of a renowned herd; and then we’ve had some awful Dexters that were bred for rodeo originally- that came from this area. We have also noticed that it is hard to find high quality animals in our area, unless they are hobby farms.

Our old Dexter milk cow -2011

Doc- our old Dexter bull -2011

Milk cow in training -2011

Dad was still dubious about buying cows in the middle of February, but he could tell we were excited and decided to go take a look at them. Dad thought he might get some work done that day, but “in Colville” meant 1 hour away from any town! I started off driving, but Dad took the wheel because he was getting nauseous… it was a good thing he did too, because their driveway was a mile long skating rink! Sliding up to the top of the driveway it branched off 3 ways, and Mom was just getting a lecture on how to ask directions when we saw someone waving on our left and we turned in.

Getting out of the car I almost fell flat on the solid ice driveway, I noted that the owners of the cattle were wearing ice cleats on their boots- smart. This must be a beautiful place in summer, a small house on the side of the mountain in the trees, over looking sub-irrigated pasture land- but right now it was very cold, snowy, and icy. Walking through their last few round bales of hay that were just positioned so that they could be rolled to the cattle (for they has no tractor) we surveyed the cattle.

I must admit we were amused by the small size of the cows- as big as a Shorthorn heifer, they were not too impressive. Way back in the beginning of our farming venture we thought they were big dangerous cows, and were always wary of their horns convinced they were going to maul us or run us down at any wrong move! But now with confidence we waded among the small cattle pushing aside horns, touching udders, and going up to

each one. We examined the ones for sale for sound udders, good conformation, temperament  and health. Upon hearing that we wanted to milk, the owners displayed their “dairy type” cows, which were actually just bonney, long-legged cows with poor conformation. They expounded to us the advantages of 5, 6, or even 7 teats; claiming this means greater butter fat- not just bad udders with superfluous teats…  At this point the sun dropped behind the hill casting shadow over the valley. A chilly breeze began to flow off the mountain and we decided it was time to hit the road.

Our Rodeo Dexters- note the poor conformation

Our Rodeo Dexters

Our Rodeo Dexters

Struggling back up the driveway, we prayed there was no incoming traffic- because if we stopped we would never get out! But we made it, and on the hour drive home discussed the cattle.

Over all we were not excited with what we saw of the place and cows. Dad was put off by their small size, and wondered how mach beef he would have for growing a steer for 2 years. I was disappointed by the overall herd, because I had thought they were of a higher quality. Mom also didn’t like most of the ones for sale, because they had poor conformation, and their bulls were very young to be asking $1800 for them. But we did like 2 or 3, so we decided to do some more research, and give them a counter offer.

In my research I found that a steer at 20-24 months old will weigh around 600lbs, and butcher out to about 300-325lbs; that rectified Dad’s concern, and I looked up the lines of the cows we liked and they did come from decent herds. We countered with asking $1300 less than they wanted, and picked their absolute best cows. I can’t tell you how many times I checked my email that day, but it was a lot. 😉 Finally the long awaited response came with a no. But they had countered with the cows we had liked, but the prices were still way too high. Again we countered with our low-ball, again it was no. So we waited.

That was when it was a blizzard for 3 days straight, with high winds and more snow. We had thought spring was around the corner, and were dismally looking at the snow when I saw that they had written us again- they offered the 3 cows we wanted at only $200 more than we were asking!!! We were so excited we could hardly wait to tell Dad! But Dad was not easily moved, and stood firm on his original offer. He rightly conjectured that they too were watching the snow, and that they had just bought another load of hay.  Mom didn’t quite agree, but she knew that Dad knew the business of making a deal. Even then she was still worried that they would refuse after they had already come down $1300… almost hourly she would ask me if they had replied, and finally the answer came- YES!

Now we have 3 nice cows in the corral, the terrors of the sheep, the goat’s competition, our new milk cows once they calve in April/May. For better or for worse we have added 3 registered Dexers to the homestead.

Spritz -1.5yrs.

Dandy -1.5yrs.

Gracie -6yrs.

Romans 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

I hope you enjoyed our story, and that it may help you on your homestead!

~Ann