Cow Tales: Miss Maid - The Birthday Girl!

Our featured cow is turning 7 years old today!  Miss Maid was born in Oregon on September 6, 2005, she joined our herd as a baby that November.  Miss Maid is one of our best milkers at 19,757 lbs of milk in one year, she also produces high milk fat (5%) and protein (3.1%).  Jersey's often have a 3% or better milk fat (whole milk from the store has a 3% milk fat content), but as you can see Miss Maid is well above that - which means her milk is excellent for cheese, butter and ice cream!

Miss Maid has a famous grandmother - Tennessee Hauge Maid-93 - she is famous for setting a high milk production record in her day and having a very high milk fat.  Additionally she was the only cow in a university trial that never got mastitis!  (This is good news for our herd because genetics contribute to the ability to resist diseases such as mastitis - as such Miss Maid and her progeny are improving the overall strength of our herd through their resistance to mastitis!  Also, since we cannot keep a cow in the herd after she has used antibiotics, we have been breeding for cows who have more natural resistance - Miss Maid has been a great help toward that end!)

Miss Maid is even friendly to the other cows.

Miss Maid has one daughter, Little Maid, one granddaughter, Piety, and two grandsons, Matthew and Monster, who have stayed in the herd so far.  They have all been wonderful contributions and we look forward to watching her continued influence in the herd.

Miss Maid is a friendly cow who enjoys being petted and often follows us around before and after milking.  We expect her to have a long and productive life ahead of her in the herd!