About Me.
Hi, my name is Midge and I live with my partner Gerry, on a smallholding of 18 acres in the South Island of New Zealand. A country girl through and through, it wasn't until 10 years ago, whilst in my early 40's that I was fortunate enough to become a first time cow owner. I'd owned and adored horses and sheep up till this time but hand-raising 55 bobbie calves (more about 'bobbie's on the 'Nurse-cows' page) in the spring of 1999, soon enlightened me to the wonderful nature that the bovine animal possesses.
Working with these lovely calves soon brought to mind my first ever encounter with a Jersey cow. I was about 8 or 9 years old, when on a family holiday, we dropped in to visit some old friends of my folks. These people lived on a small-holding and ran a variety of farm animals but it was the golden coloured Jersey cow that grabbed my attention.
I fondly recall the wee, big brown eyed, horned cow standing quietly, fetlock deep in yellow straw in a rumpty old timber stall. She munched on hay whilst her owner sat on a little stool, his head pressed against her flank, milking into a white enamel bucket. Never having been this close to a cow before, I stood mesmerized by the steady streams of milk coming from her udder and the 'zing zing' sound it made as it hit the sides of the bucket. I had no desire to leave this spectacle to continue the game of hide and seek I'd previously been playing with my brothers and the milkers' children.
I don't recall any of the conversation I had with the man doing the milking, but the surprise I got when he squirted me with milk straight from the cows teat has stayed fresh in my mind! Of course I now take pleasure in doing this to visitors to my milking area! He later took an enamel cup from a nail on the wall, dipped it into the milking pail and offered it to me. Milk had always been one of my favourite foods, but never before had it tasted as delicious as this, straight from the cow - warm, fragrant and frothy.
Jumping forward now from the 1960's to the year 2000. As my interest in cattle developed, I dug out some 1938 issues of 'New Zealand Farmer Weekly' magazines that I'd purchased at a garage sale many years before. One of the covers featured a picture of a sweet Jersey cow which triggered memories of my first taste of milk straight from the cow. This brought on a yearning to have my own Jersey cow - to have my own endless supply of that rich, creamy, natural, raw milk that I remembered so well. By the end of the 20th century, despite there being a large selection of milks available in the supermarkets, all pasteurized and homogenized, some with vitamins or calcium added, all with cream removed to varying degrees, some labeled as more suitable for adults, others more suitable for children, none tasted much like real milk anymore. So the hunt for a house-cow began.
Although we live in dairy country, Jersey cows were few and far between at that time as Friesians were the favoured breed on commercial dairy farms. It took a few months to locate a Jersey for sale and when I did, she was located over four hours away - I bought her sight unseen. A few weeks later we brought her and her newborn calf home in a horse float. 'Lizzie' was young and wild and trying to milk her the first couple of weeks I had her were an absolute nightmare! I soon realized she needed halter training, and once I'd done this, everything became a doddle.
We enjoyed Lizzie's rich and flavoursome milk and cream for 9 months before it was time to dry her off so her system could recuperate prior to calving again in the spring. Not only did I miss working with Lizzie something wicked, but Gerry and I both felt so deprived without her milk. It had become such an important food item to us and despite spending a small fortune on tasting every brand of milk on the market, none of them could satisfy us. There was only one solution - I purchased another Jersey that was close to calving.
Within a short time I had myself a wee herd of 13 Jersey cows and hand-raising bobbies gave way to fostering both bought-in Jersey heifers and dairy/beef bull calves, onto the cows. Unfortunately we didn't have the acreage to keep all the Jerseys, so I would sell the young ones, either as in-calf maiden heifers, or later after calving, I'd train them to halter, teach them to milk, put them to the bull again and sell them as a 'house-cow, in-calf, with calf at foot.'
It is with much sorrow that my farming days draw to an end. Almost three years ago, I fractured a vertebrae in my spine whilst stupidly crawling under an electric fence whilst in pursuit of yet another cow and calf photo. Long story short, I have been left with damaged nerves which continue to me ongoing grief. This problem on top of my existing condition of severe RA, has put paid to physically demanding work. Over the past two years I have gradually re-homed my wee herd of Jersey cows and at the time of writing (September 2009) I currently have just one heifer and two pet goats left on the farm. Wee Gloria, (read about her in the next paragraph) recently had a little heifer. Once I have her trained to milk and the foster calf well established on her, she too will go to the new home that awaits her.
Farming Jersey cows this past decade has enriched my life beyond words, nicely filled the void felt when the kids left home, and has kept me active. But I couldn't have done it without the support of my much loved, soul-mate Gerry. Despite not being mad about cows like yours truly, he's always lent a willing hand when needed - even to the extent of 'putting down' a cow dying from heart failure, calving three weeks before her due date, and performing an emergency caesarean in an effort to save the calf! The on-call Vet couldn't get to our place as quickly as we wished, so Gerry, following the Vets directions on how to go about it, performed the op. and yes, he saved the calf - a heifer! We named her Wee Gloria, after her deceased Mamma.
It was the Jerseys that first inspired me to pick up a camera. I just had to attempt to capture their magnificent beauty and inner spirit before I had to sell them. I've since spent many hours honing my photography skills on them as they've quietly gone about their business. I am now confident enough to enter photography competitions and to sell photographs for website use and farming magazines. As I face my cow-less future, it is my intention to one day soon, create another website on which to sell my photographs of my gorgeous cows, and other things rural, so watch this space!
©2009Midge Henderson