Our first baby miniature calf arrived early in the morning on April 15th. The first heifer to give birth was Ida. Scarlet weighed 37 pounds when she went to the vet six days after her birth.We guessed her weight to be around 22 lbs. at birth. She was about the size of a beagle! Ida has proved to be a good mother, very protective, but very gentle with her first daughter.

Ida wasted no time filing a paternity suit against our head bull and union steward Smitty. It seems Smitty doesn’t want to pay child support for Scarlett and thus far has refused a blood test. Smitty is pointing to our other bull Abe as the father and says that as head of local 710 of the amalgamated Miniature Cow Union he has rights.

Our two other non miniature cows, Franke and Quincy apparently had a bet who would be the first to give birth. It seems Franke suckered the youngster Quincy and won the bet (a bale of hay). Franke offered him a two for one deal giving Quincy Abe and Smitty, while he took Ida .Seems Quincy didn’t realize that Smitty and Abe were bulls.

The three other heifers are due soon. Thelma is bigger tan a bus and appears to be the next one to give birth, but you never know.

Just to let you know that our first baby mini calf was born this morning
- in the mud! We brought her into the house and gave her a bath and
then took her back out to her mother. Ida is her mother and is nursing
the baby so we are hoping that all is okay in the barn now safe. The
vet will be here soon to check her. She weighs about 20 lbs.

We have exciting news from Locust Knoll Farm. Our miniature heifers are pregnant! Ida, Thelma, Claire, and Lulu’s blood tests revealed the girls are moms-to-be. We had been wondering about the recent requests for pickles and ice cream, and now we know why. No sooner than the tests came back, Smitty, our lead boy claimed fatherhood, despite the fact he had competition from fellow bull, Abe.

Smitty wasted no time ordering a box of Cuban cigars ( part of the reason Fidel Castro resigned). We’re expecting the little ones in spring 2008. Lulu has been painting her stall pink in anticipation of a girl. Thelma is bigger than a bus and thinks she’ll have a boy. Ida said” I don’t care if is a boy or a girl, just so I it doesn’t look like that asshole Smitty.” And Claire wants a boy so he can grow up to be a cow astronaut.

The miniature cows weigh around 17 pounds at birth. They’re pregnant for 9 months (sound familiar?) We’ll blog out the birth announcements as they come.

I have been asked by my wife Kris to write a blog for our Little Moo website.

By way of introduction I am Jim Sanders, Kris’ husband and ½ owner of the miniature cows.

We wanted to tell you a little bit about the cows and their surroundings. We have four heifers and two bulls. Smitty is our head bull and also serves as the Union representative for himself as well as the other cows. (The cows are members of Local 710 of the Amalgamated Miniature Cow Union.)

Abe is the other bull, who according to the heifers is more debonair than Smitty, but not as well endowed.

Claire is the lead heifer and bosses the herd around similar to the way Kris herds me.

Claire is the largest of the heifers in weight, but you shouldn’t tell her that to her face.

Thelma is the second largest of the ladies and is so ugly she has been asked to haunt houses for Halloween.

Lulu is a brindle colored heifer who is drop dead gorgeous, all you need to do is ask her and she’ll tell you that herself.

Last, but not least is Ida. She most closely represents the University of Texas mascot.

Ida is the most shy of the herd and like me, is Jewish.

Kris, I and the minis live on a 14 acre farm in southeastern Ohio. In addition to the 6 miniatures, we have 2 dairy cows, 3 barn cats, 12 ducks, 17 dogs, 3 goats, 2 horses, 2 doves, 7 finches, 1 canary, and 1 parrot. The total population is 58 including humans.

We hope to have calves born in 2008. Hopefully we’ll sell them so I can recoup some of the money my wife forced me to invest in this hair-brained scheme of hers.

That is it for now, other than to tell you Smitty has filed a grievance against me for not allowing the cows equal space on this blog.