Our First Major Farm Purchase!

Ellie woke up this morning ready to go.  She's accompanying Daddy and Grandpa on a trip to Republic in the truck to pick up a beautiful red Dexter bull.  It's the first major purchase for the farm that we found and bought, and we're all excited!

This is a yearling bull, a lovely red color.  Dexter bulls are supposed to be some of the tamest there are, so we'll see.  He'll be penned separately until June, and then let out with the two milk cows and our remaining heifer.

If he's fairly tame, we'll probably keep him around at least one more year.  If he's not...well, the freezer will be ready for him come the end of summer. I'm anxious to taste Dexter meat.  It's supposed to be really good. 

A picture from the Craigslist ad...

I love that Dexters are so small.  I know this guy is only a year, and he'll grow more, but they are just so much more manageable for me than huge Holsteins or something. 

Having our own bull will help my milking plan quite a bit.  I want to breed in June so we have March calves.  Then I will milk twice a day into June, breed them back, and then once a day until December.  Not having to milk in the coldest three months of the years will be a huge blessing!

Preparing for the trip was a bit of work.  Bryan worked hard to get the livestock racks up on our truck. They haven't been on this particular vehicle before, so he had to drill some new holes.  I was out helping, and was a little surprised when he asked me for some nail polish. I wasn't sure what that was for, but I brought him out a lovely purple bottle. 

He dipped the brush into the polish, and then through the hole on the racks onto the bed of the truck.  By scooting the racks a bit to one side, he was able to drill in exactly the right spot.  I thought it was a neat solution; one I definitely hadn't heard of before.

Getting the bolt into the newly drilled hole...

 I'm so thankful that Bryan is able to work overtime right now.  It's frustrating at times to have him gone for so long, but being able to buy a bull was amazing. We saw the ad on Craigslist, realized what a good price he was, and just knew we could make it work without worrying about the financials.  Bryan is such a hard worker!

Now we just need a name for a red bull.  Any suggestions?  If we happen to get a red heifer ever, she'll be named Pippi! One of our cows (all black) would have to carry the recessive red gene for that to happen.  I'm hoping they do!