When I first heard that I was going to have to work on the farm I wasn’t the happiest camper, but I got over it really quickly. Then I found out that I was going to have to get up at 3am to go milk the cows! I had no idea what I was getting myself into! I am far from a morning person, and now I was going to have to get up at the time I would usually go to bed. However, it only took me a week to fall in love with the farm and all of the cows. Now I can’t wait to go the farm to milk the cows, do noon check, and go to class. I don’t really get to go to the farm as many times as I would hope because of my other classes, but this wasn’t the case this week because I got to milk four times! Although it is very tiring, I enjoy every second of it.
One of the jobs that we do during our milking time is heat watch. In the morning we do heat watch after milking and in the afternoon we do heat watch before milking. This consists of herding the cows to their outside pen and watching them to see who is in estrus and is ready for breeding. Some days you can’t keep up with all the action going on, where as other days are very slow and the only thing you do is become the human scratch post. There are many things that we need to look for during heat watch, but some of the important things are mounting, standing to be mounted, chin resting, and excessive activity/bellowing. If a cow is being mounted and not trying to get away this is a good sign that she is in heat. If a cow is mounting other cows it can be a sign of being in heat or
approaching a heat cycle. Chin resting will usually occur right before mounting. Excessive activity and bellowing can occur right before a heat cycle or during a heat cycle. These are all important signs that might indicate that a cow is in heat or about to approach their heat cycle.
A cow’s heat cycle doesn’t last very long, so it is really important for Lizz to know when a cow is in heat, so that she knows when to breed them. This is so we can add some more beautiful girls to our herd!
Here are some of our wonderful cows during heat watch: Be sure to click on each one to see them up close!