Danica L. has a handy tip for finding the best deals in your area. “I like to follow local fruit and vege shops on Facebook - they often advertise 99c specials like a kilo of apples etc. Then I know which shops to go to. 10 max - yes please!
“Write a meal plan and use that to write a shopping list - then stick to your list. You avoid double-ups, reduce food waste and reduce your spend. If you really can't trust yourself with impulse buys you can always do online shopping. It can often work out far cheaper because of what you aren't tempted by!
Their cows were on the same kind of pasture that I have here! Picking out just ONE calf was incredibly hard. I had toyed with the idea of getting 3 or 4 more calves in July if I liked how they looked, and it didn't take long at all for me to set that idea in stone.
I want more of these cows. They were all stocky and chubby looking, yet still dairy in form and quite feminine. They were on a simple diet and yet they were gaining as if they were on a hot corn/soy feed. Looking each one over, comparing them with each other, telling my friend to just pick one out for me because I couldn't make up my mind (hehe), and talking with the owner of the farm about his cows and calves.
After thirty minutes I had whittled my choices down to three: One was a chunky, large framed, 7 week old, 89% Dutch Belted; if you wanted 100% grassfed, this looked like your girl to get. She was the classic "Oreo cookie" cow with her black body and white belt around her middle. She was fairly friendly too. My second choice was a 6 week old, Dutch Belted/Milking Shorthorn cross.
She was red in color with a light brindling on her face and a white patch on her side. My third choice was the calf that had caught my attention right off the bat, and who I kept coming back to over and over again. She was another Dutch Belted/Milking Shorthorn cross (3/4 DB, 1/4 MS), but was a mere 4 weeks old. She had a white body with a red hood over her head and shoulders, plus a red patch on her rump, and then four adorable red socks on her feet.
She was the most dairy looking calf in the entire barn. Perhaps not the chunk that all the other calves were, but she still had substance. The owner pointed her dam out to me and said that while this girl is going to be every bit as hardy and grass fed as the others, she would have more production than the others.
And for a good while I kept telling myself not to get her, because I felt that her looks were swaying my decision too much. Beauty is as beauty does! She was so pretty, and dairy, yet still hardy looking. That Dutch Belted kept catching my eye too though. She looked like the kind of animal that could go through any sort of difficulty and not lose condition.
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