Cattle Negotiations

As many of you already know, each of our daughters has ownership in one or more of our cows and any subsequent calves they might have. When the calves grow up and are either processed (steers) or possibly sold (heifers), they receive a portion of the profits. If the heifer is retained for breeding stock, they will also own any of the offspring and a portion of any subsequent sale of that offspring.

My oldest daughter, KM (age 10), currently owns Scarlet and her heifer calf Victoria. Victoria is a first calf for Scarlet and was born on February 4, 2009.

M4-D Victoria:


My middle daughter, MM (age 7), currently owns Polly Pocket, Bathsheba and Bathsheba's bull calf Coffee who was born on May 5, 2009. She recently sold Polly's heifer calf from last July (Sparkleworks) to a little girl who wanted a pet cow. Polly is due to calf again any time.

M4-D Coffee:


My youngest daughter, RM (age 3.5), currently owns Patches, her bull calf from last May, and her bull calf from this May 17th - she named him Pudding because he is the prettiest color of milk chocolate that I've ever seen.

M4-D Pudding:


I own Sugar Plum Princess and her calf from January 2007, Truffles, who is now our herd bull; her bull calf from Dec 2007 - Thunder and her heifer calf from Nov 2008 - Chrissy.

LKF Truffles:


M4-D Chrissy:


I also own Lana and her heifer calf from Dec 2008 - who is yet named.

Well, after our recent trip out to check on everything this weekend, it appears that negotiations have started for some changes in ownership.

My middle daughter has decided that she really likes the looks of Lana's red heifer calf and proceeded to begin negotiating with me to buy her. She also asked for a bill of sale and a certificate of sale "suitable for framing". Tough negotiator, she is. We agreed on terms and I'm printing up her bill of sale and "certificate of sale suitable for framing" this evening - complete with a photo of her purchase. She has decided to name her "Berry" - because she reminds her of the color of ripe berries. MM has determined that she wants to increase her numbers of breeding cows so she can have more calves and ultimately more money when they are sold/processed - she keeps saying she is saving her money to be a veterinarian.

M4-D Berry:


Then, my youngest daughter decided that she really liked the looks of KM's heifer calf, Victoria. Well, my oldest daughter is all about making a deal and having extra funds to pay for her new archery habit. She's much more interested in archery than cows, so she agreed to make a deal with RM. RM is now in the process of trying to earn enough money through extra chores to pay for Victoria.

Nothing like raising a few cows to teach children about various and sundry aspects of life, is there?