PS. you most certainly are a REAL RANCH FARMGIRL!!! I am in love with your cows and their names!!!

I loved this.post. We also had a Princess-so ned because we bought 2 day old steer calves to raise on goat milk, and one of them was not a steer-so Princess she.became.and there was Leesa Moo, another bum who never quite realized she was a cow, but was the queen of the herd and a terrific mother. We got many excellent heifer calves at the auction yards in Twin Falls, ID where dairy calves were cheap
They bred the 1st calf Holstein heifers to.Angus.bulls so often the heifer calves were black. Good.qualities from both breeds!

I love you cows and their names. Thanks for sharing them. I now know why my grandma Cora and her daughter Fannie (who was mentally handicapped and just precious) named their favorite Sookie…You call them in with the Sook Sook Sook..I love it..I’m now going to read my new book Milk Cow Kitchen…Thank you

Love your post and pictures! We have Longhorns and it is always fun to see what a new calf looks like because the markings on Longhorns can be so varied! We no longer have a bull, but his name was Nougat and he is now in our freezer are ground up into yummy hamburger. Some folks asked why we didn’t have roasts or steaks cut . . our reply was he’s a BULL . . . that doesn’t usually make for tender meat, but he sure makes tasty hamburgers.
We have two momma cows, one is “Patty” who is darker with many brindled colors. The other is “Snowflake”, who is mostly white but with butterscotch colored brindling on her neck and head. These two mommas also have very impressive sets of horns!
We have a 2-year heifer who is the offspring of Snowflake and she is also white but with less brindling, she does have butterscotch colored ears and “topknot”. We have five steers, all different ages, names are “Gunsmoke”, “Huntly”, “Peyrone”, “Stormie” and “Duncan”. They are all very different in their markings. On December 11th Patty had a heifer calf and we named her “Freckles”. She is white with red stockings, red head/hood and some red “freckles on her body. All of them have horns, in varying stages of growth.
They are kinda partial to my hubby and he spoils them. They’ve been in a huge pasture where they still have feed to graze and access to water so we haven’t had to start throwing hay or hauling water . . . saving us work and money!! We’ve had several snow storms but not enough to keep them from foraging for food.
We’re trying to pare down and just have the steers to raise to butcher! Here’s hoping!

ah…good memories from childhood that you brought up with this post. We had Rosie, Daisy, Baby, Sadie, Freckles, Woodrow, Pee-Wee, just to name a few. And then there were the chickens that we named. We had one “head chicken” who we named Bertha the Baka and we had a song we sang when we went to gather eggs. I do love to go home and hear the names Daddy has picked out for his cattle now-a-days. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

I have absolutely no experience with ranching, farming, or animal raising, so responding to your stories is purely an emotional endeavor. Every comment I’ve read in response to your column, has been from a reader whose life is similar to yours. I read FarmGirl blogs because I yearn for that kind of life. I speak with no authority, just sincere appreciation, for the love you express while writing about your daily life.
My heart sings, as I peek in the window of your ranch life and you describe lovingly your daily doings. It looks like hard, monotonous work, yet you describe it so endearingly with no bitterness or complaint.
I am in awe of the beauty you have right outside your window, across the fences and thru the pasture. Beautiful, velvety, and magnificent animals are a sight to behold, raising them lovingly is a gift. Thanks for sharing with this country hearted city girl.

Dori…love your post as always but this one made me chuckle. As a life-long farmgirl (living the life I love, I might add), my names are a little dated. As a child my sister and I would name our milk cows. We had Daisy, named for Daisy Duck. Minnie, a big brown swiss named after Minnie Mouse and Lulu for the comic book character Little Lulu. We loved to hang around the barn when Dad milked and be around “our” cows. The calves were pets and we put a halter on them and rode them sometimes when they were big enough. Thanks for the fun memory trip!

We name our cows as well. We are a small farm with a few cows, Icelandic sheep and chickens. My milk cow CeCe was a a Christmas gift in 2010. She was a five day old Holstein. I was so excited and nervous. I had never raised a calf before. She spent much of her first 6 months following me on a lead rope. She has turned into a wonderful milk cow with a good personality and a good Momma. Her first calf AnnaBelle is bred and due to calf in July. Our little black Angus heifer , Sophie came to us as a 24 hour old calf from a neighbor. She had a crooked neck and a funny knee. She needed a people Momma if she were going to survive. She is a beauty. She is bred and we await her firsf calf. We have also raised two steer calves T-Bone and Stew who reside now in the freezer and Ribeye who will join them in December. Raising bottle calves means the opportunity to love them and care for them so that they can later provide for us. This has been and continues to be a blessing in our lives.