Babysitting Harriet

We are doing a little babysitting over the holidays for some friends of ours. It really isn't a bad deal at all. They paid us for the trouble in honey and Harriet comes with her own system of payment as well...more milk!

Harriet is another Jersey who is here for 2 purposes. First, we are milking her daily so that her family will not come home from their vacation to a dry cow. Second, she is here to get bred. She visited Bert a while back for a day, but it didn't work out for her. This time, we are hoping that her extended stay will create a bred cow to return. Cows don't seem to appreciate just being thrown in with a bull and expected to come out bred in a few hours. They need to get to know the guy. They need some romance.

Bert is up to the task. He is so happy to have someone in his pen with him. He was getting lonely. What he doesn't know is that he is being tested. If Harriet doesn't get bred, Bert may end up in my freezer sooner than expected. Of course, Annabelle is his other test. She should be bred, though we don't know. If Harriet goes home still "open", we'll probably get Annabelle's status confirmed...before we do anything drastic.

He is a good-looking bull, though, in my completely unprofessional opinion. But looks won't cut it if he can't get his job done. I don't need an aggressive, horned, and useless lawn ornament. I could use some beef though.