Welcome!

Three years ago I would have never imagined I'd be sitting here writing my very first Blog! When this adventure began it was based around Nurse Cows that would help to support our extra calves (twins, calves that loose their moms, etc.) throughout calving. I knew having a cow raise the extra calves would benefit the calves more than me making bottles with milk replacer twice daily for them. From this developed a milking program that would eventually turn into a building being moved onto our property that would house all of the "Milk Stuff" that was taking up my house kitchen! This has become known as The Milk House with our family and the name stuck!

With this new found idea of making a business that would help to utilize my Raw Milk in every fashion, I decided that a website would help me spread the word and educate people about what I am trying to do! After looking around and searching website developers, I realized this wasn't going to be an inexpensive cost. I finally found the developer I wanted to help make my vision come to life and got a quote! With a game plan in hand and ready to start the process all I needed to do was pay for said website.

I started pondering about how I was going to run this hair brained idea past my husband and try to find the money to get the ball rolling. When I presented the idea about the website to my husband he didn't bat an eye when he told me that I should consider selling a nurse cow. Well, this is a great idea, but I get so attached! How could I think of selling any of the girls that have helped me raise strong, healthy calves for several years???

As fate would have it, a couple days later, I got a message from an old rodeo friend asking me some questions about nurse cows. The conversation led on and I realized this was a sign flashing right in front of my face! She was looking for a reliable nurse cow and I had just the one that would fit her operation! That's when I told her about Thelma and what she had done for our ranch and what a good nurse cow she was. She said she would think about it and get back to me.

I got to thinking about what she had done for me to help me learn about the nurse cow world. She was the 4th dairy type cow I had ever bought. I only bought her because she was very close to calving and I needed a cow that was ready to nurse calves at the beginning of calving that year. This was her first calf and she wasn't halter broke or even very gentle. When I went to pick her up, she had just calved the day before, there was a little gangly coyote sized calf standing next to her. Of coarse we had to name her calf Louise! Once I got her home and she started settling in, I decided this cow was going to be halter broke. After several attempts, it was evident that she was not going to stand for it. So, I gave up and we both came to an agreement: as long as she was good and went where I needed her to go by following a bucket full of corn, we would get along just fine! She did just that!

Thelma raised three of her own calves for me: Louise, Theo and Theda. She also raised two calves after weaning her calf every year. For a total of nine calves in three years! That is the power of a nurse cow, one cow raising three calves (that are as big, if not bigger, than the rest of the big beef herds calves) a year compared to a beef cow that only raises one calf!

A couple days had went by after talking to my friend about her. When she finally contacted me she said she was interested in purchasing Thelma. I knew she would give her a caring home and would love her as much as I do! It's hard on my heart to let an animal go that I have developed a relationship with, but this felt right and I knew it was meant to be! We arranged to meet and do the exchange a couple weeks later.

All said and done, I deposited the check and sent a check right to my website developer! Whew... let the building of my vision begin!

Now my website is up and running and I am absolutely in LOVE with what we came up with, if I do say so myself! I am glad Thelma got a new home and in return I got a tool to help me further my dream and to share my adventures through this Blog!

In the end, I Sold a Nurse Cow to Pay for a Website... I never envisioned those words coming out of my mouth. But, Hey! It makes a heck of a story!