Great News!!!

I know I've already told most of you, but here's a real answer to prayer...

JANI AND MATTIE ARE PREGNANT!!!

The vet confirmed it: Jani is due around June 12th, and Mattie is due around July 12th. Better late than never.

Well, I've learned a dozen ways to NOT help a cow get pregnant, so I'll share a few with you.

1. Do not attempt to get them bred in the winter. This is unnatural and usually requires artificial hormones.

2. Feed needs to be very high quality, and supplemented with natural sources of minerals and herbs.

3. When you're learning all about detecting heats and such, the worst thing you can do is attempt to use AI. The window of opportunity is so narrow, and it is so hard to get a guy to come out the very day that you need it done. Get a bull to take care of things until you're more experienced.

4. I know you want purebred offspring, but let me give you some advice: You want a calf. Period. Worry about getting the breed you want AFTER you have had success in this arena.

5. There is a new blood preg. test out called BioPRYN which is said to be 95% accurate. I'm going to spend a day with the local vet and learn how to draw blood so I can take care of the pregnancy testing in the future. Vet calls get expensive, and manual palpitation (though I have tried it) is very difficult to do unless you spend a lot of time getting experienced at it. Sending in a test right away will allow you to test quickly and efficiently and allow time to try again if the first breeding failed.

I pray that the Lord will get Mattie and Jani through their pregnancies safely - Jerseys are really good at birthing large calves, but the dad is a huge Angus, and nothing is certain.