Paddy Green Acres

Of course she has some dairy genetics (Dutch belted and belted Galloway cross), nursing three calves at the same time. She just stands there and lets anyone nurse. In fairness the add ons tend to come in from the back so when she swings around she only smells her own.

Saw this male praying mantis out in the grass the other day….told him to stay clear of any good looking girls!!! But I know he is going to lose his head over one of them!!

Great way to start Sunday morning. Given the pile of manure behind her see had likely been there awhile. A bit of pressure and recognizing she needed to walk backwards it wasn’t too tough to get her out.

First timer had her first piglets this am. No placenta yet so I hope she goes back and has more than three. Litter size with the first farrowing doesn’t predict for much, but still nice to see 8-10.

Credit to Lawrence Alderson for this illustration based on White Park DNA analysis 30 years ago. It really highlights the distinctiveness of their genetics.

So not a huge surprise given that generally white coat is dominant over black and black over red. Mom is homozygous for the belt, and as we know Bubba carries black, known to occur in pure white park….we ended up with this little cutie, well she actually isn’t so little. I won’t be using any bulls that are known to carry black but I’ll keep this little heifer as she will have all white calves when bred to a homozygous white bull.

Well the shift to white park is well under way, up to a total of 19 female F1 crosses (all the red tags). Might have to change the profile pic.

I think we can safely assume Maximus is homozygous for white!! Up to 8 calves now. As I stand out in the field, I should be up to 10 by tomorrow.