Skip to main content

Our new Braford bull

Our new Braford bull was delivered to Cheslyn Rise on Saturday morning.  His name is Maus, because he's quiet as a mouse.  So far he has lived up to his name.  He looked a bit worried when he got of the truck and he did a few circles of the yard, but he didn't get agro at us.  Then the girls came over to see him and he got very excited.  The final photo is the face he made when he smelt the cows.  He is six year old and came from a friend who also breeds Brafords, although he's originally from a stud.  Its a bit scary having a bull in the paddock now, so we hope he stays quiet for us!




Comments

  1. Yay Linni! That's great! Love the bull Liz but I would be nervous too. I'm nervous around cows, they're so big!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh congratulations Linn. I am also nervous around cows, but I am sure that bull is going to be so happy he wont be bothering you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love your new bull, Maus, very deserving of much respect.... we have a 4yo Charolais bull, Curly, who is very quiet and compliant but big and I am very careful of him and his space. He only has 8 girls but seems content. Love to see dogs and chooks getting along together. Joy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hahahaha! Maus smell ladies... ;)

    I haven't been able to read as many blogs these days so completely missed your Neem oil giveaway. I imagine that I'm a bit too far away for it anyway but have to say that Neem is amazing! Not only is is a good insect deterrent but it's also good for treating eczema, psoriasis, and other skin issues. In fact I posted about making a cream from it earlier this summer.

    Congratulations to the winner...I'm sure the litre will come in handy :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. He looks impressive!

    ReplyDelete
  6. He is a handsome fellow and looks like he will pass on those gentics and give you some nice calfs.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds like a great arrangement you made with the the Bradford breeder. Maus looks like a good specimen to have in your new line. Do you think you will bring in another bull to replace Maus at some point?

    Not sure what it's like for cows, but I know in poultry there are a lot of sick chicken stock around because of a lot of inbreeding. I try not to keep the same rooster after he's sired 2 generations, and then it's onto a new rooster outside the gene pool.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow Maus is huge. My best bull advice is never get complacent. He looks like he knows what to do.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks everyone. Maus has remained very calm and we've had no trouble with him, although we always make sure we know where he is when we are with the cattle. We will probably keep him for at least a couple of years and if we decide to keep his daughters at any stage, we will have to look at getting a different bull when they are old enough to breed. Fortunately there are a few people around our area that keep Brafords, so its easy enough to swap the bulls around.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks, I appreciate all your comments, suggestions and questions, but I don't always get time to reply right away. If you need me to reply personally to a question, please leave your email address in the comment or in your profile, or email me directly on eight.acres.liz at gmail.com

Popular posts from this blog

Cooking and eating beans

When I was growing up, my family never ate many dried beans, they just weren't something that was used much in NZ cuisine.  If I did eat beans, it was always from a can (and most likely baked beans).  And until recently I was still using beans from a can, but it can be difficult to get organic beans, and to find cans not lined with BPA.  Then I had an opportunity to buy some organic dry goods in bulk, so I bought 5kg of kidney beans, 5kg of adzuki beans and 5kg of chickpea (garbanzo beans).  I know, that is a lot of beans.  And then I didn't really know what to do with them!  Not just what dishes to put them in, but how to prepare them, I just didn't know what method to use. So I decided it was time to learn how to use all these beans that I bought, here's what I found out. I started with an excellent ebook called The Everything Beans Book , from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship, which has lots of bean recipes, but more importantly, an explanation of h...

Guest post: Is there a place for power tools in the garden?

One of my regular readers and commenters offered to write a guest post about a horticulture course, its quite a funny read, with some serious insights into our technology obsession.  If you'd like to submit a guest post, email me at eight.acres.liz {at} gmail.com.  While I am always happy to share links back to your blog or website, this contributor preferred to remain anonymous.  I hope you enjoy their story.... -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**- Just a few days ago our daily horticulture classes were interrupted by an invitation to review some new gardening gadgets. The idea was to open half a dozen of electric hand trimmers , test them and fill in some review about their goods and bads. As nothing is more dear to a student – even a “hort “ one - to escape routine and mess around till lunchtime, we opened the boxes and got down to business. What did we...

Farm update - August 2017

Its been cold this month, and very nice to have the fire going every night.  Here's a photo of my boy in his cape, great for late night woofing at things.  Most of July we were either preparing for the butcher to come or putting meat away.  Its always a big job, but its only once a year, and its all done now.  My lovely neighbour came over to help, so it was fun to have the company and work together.  Taz was a champion once again as she helped us to move cattle in the yards ready to load for the market.  Gus is not at that level yet and had to stay home (he cries when he gets left behind, but he just gets in the way and scatters the cattle).  We have had a few sprinkles of rain here and there, but also plenty of cold nights, so the grass is mostly dead and dry, waiting for the warmer weather to revive our summer-active pasture. Gus in his cape Taz after she helped to move cattle Food and cooking It was all about beef in July and we are v...