The Bovine Bugle

Three young heifers head to a new home

Last week, Vince Foy came and bought three of our young heifers to raise. He'll sell them when they are close to having their first calf. Vince is from Danville, Vermont, a town about two hours southeast of Franklin. He sold his organic milking herd a couple of years ago and now raises replacement heifers and Angus beef. Like most farmers, Vince picked a day last week to come because it was rainy and sloppy--perfect for running errands or picking up some heifers. On a sunny day, farmers want to be home doing some work outside, not sitting in a truck for four hours trucking heifers.

The three heifers we sold had an average age of 3 months. Vince likes to buy the heifers shortly after they have been weaned, which we do around two months of age. He would have bought one more heifer, but he didn't have room in the back of his truck! The animals brought a little over $300 apiece. Selling our extra heifers brings us some extra income for the farm, and we have extra replacement animals because of our cows staying healthier and living longer than cows on the average farm.

The girls were loaded and were headed down the road by noontime--just in time for me to get cleaned up and head into St. Albans with Karen for the afternoon, to do some more of those errands that farmers like to do on a rainy day.

--
Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Posted by Blogger Chris at December 15, 2004 02:53 PM