Crooked Creek Farms

03/22/2025

Saw this add on Bisman; thought I'd share - I always have people contacting me looking dairy cattle. These say they sell at Sidney Livestock Market Center on Wednesday, March 26th (my guess is probably around noon).

https://www.bismanonline.com/dairy_bred_hiefers

These are not my cattle - do not contact me with questions. Click on the link and the owners info is there.

Dairy Bred Hiefers 3 half holstein half jersey 1 pure holstein Ai-d to Normande bulls July 7th to calve first part of April All carrying hiefers calves! Would make 4-h projects, nurse cows or

03/11/2025

I milked 6 cows (one at a time) in 1 hour and 15 minutes this morning.
That is all 💪🏻

I'm hoping by next week I will have that time down to under an hour as Jolene and Dolly get into the new routine. Rue also kind of messed up my time too because she came in absolutely filthy! It took me a good 10 min to get her clean.

03/10/2025

Look who else decided to join the "new baby club". Dolly had her HEIFER calf 💖 this morning around 10:30. She came in for morning grain and I checked her over. She was noticeably fully and her pins were gone so I figured in the next 24 hours, she didn't even make it another 2 hours after I checked her.

I'm thankful it is a heifer but was hoping for some color 🤪 She looks full Jersey even though she is 1/2 milking shorthorn. "Avery" will be staying in the herd, her mom is a one in a million cow; so I have no doubt Ave will be a great addition. I am currently milking her half sister; Delaney and she is also a wonderful cow.

Also, check out the difference in Jolene’s colostrum and Dolly's. They were both milked within 6 hours of calving but there is a noticeable difference! I am going to try freeze drying a gallon this year and I'll freeze the rest of this for when our beef cows calve.

We have 1 more dairy cow to calve this spring. Lily is due sometime in April or early May. I do not know an exact day as I bought her as lexposed", meaning I took a gamble and she wasn't confirmed pregnant but she was. She is slowly building a bag so my guess is around April 20th, stay tuned to see how close I am on that guess! Once Lily calved we will slowly start drying off some cows - Bri & Delaney, Pippa, then Ginny followed by Rue. Gale should calve mid-August with her very first calf!

03/09/2025

I've never been more excited for a calf and then more disappointed once it was born. Jolene calved this beautiful calf this morning. I didn't even look at what it was for a couple hours because I just assumed a heifer, that's what she was ultrasounded to be having. It wasn't until I went to take pictures of them after I finished milking the rest of the herd when I saw it was a he and not a she. SHUCKS!!! I had such big hopes for the hopeful heifer 🥲

I am excited to have Jolene back on my milking lineup. She makes #5 that I'll be milking.

02/24/2025

Welcome our new boys to the herd, Gordy and Gus!

Gordy is a 6 year old Guernsey and Gus is his 6 month old son. They are replacing Sunny who will be headed to the processor this week. Welcome to Crooked Creek Farms boys!

02/24/2025

Straight from Raw Milk Institute:

"🧐🐄🥛10 IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT RAW MILK AND H5N1 AVIAN INFLUENZA (BIRD FLU): Let's cut through the media hype. Here's what you need to know about raw milk and avian influenza (also known as H5N1, bird flu, or HPAI).

1. Avian flu is a respiratory illness and NOT a foodborne illness.

2. There have been NO known cases of bird flu in humans from drinking raw milk.

3. There have been a small number of bird flu cases in farm workers working in direct contact with sick animals. Illness is generally mild, with conjunctivitis (pinkeye/eye inflammation) as main symptom.

4. In cattle, this illness is generally mild. Most of herd shows no signs of illness.

5. Ill cattle generally recover within a couple weeks. First symptom in cows is generally fever a few days prior to becoming clinically sick.

6. Symptoms include weakness, diarrhea, fever, lower milk production, poor appetite, and yellow-tinged, thick milk. Rarely, cattle can die from HPAI.

7. Affected cows respond well to drenching treatment with 5 gallons of water, antipyretic, probiotics, and a gut stimulant (i.e. yeast) for a few days.

8. HPAI directly affects the udder and milk production. Recovering animals may not fully regain milk production until next lactation.

9. In general, a dairy will move through bird flu and achieve “herd immunity” in ~6 weeks from start to finish.

10. Common sense precautions, just as for all other illnesses: Monitor your herd for illness. Quarantine animals who are ill and ensure that milk from unhealthy animals is NOT used for direct human consumption. Quarantine any new animals brought onto the farm to ensure they are healthy before joining the herd."

02/23/2025

"Spook" was born October 7th, 2024 and is 1/2 Milking Shorthorn 1/2 Simmental. She is weighing approximately 500 lbs now.
She is going to be a big girl!
She is easy going, gentle girl and will be easy to work with; like her mom.
I was originally planning on keeping Spook but have decided since I do plan on keeping any heifers this year, I'm not going to.
I would expect Spook to mature around 1300+ lbs and produce 6+ gallons a day. Her dam is Rue and in Rue's prime she produced 10+ gallons!
Spook will be ready to go April 1st.
💲1️⃣7️⃣5️⃣0️⃣
Disease tested & clean herd.

She is unbranded and was given fall shots and wormed in October. She is bangs vaccinated.
Located outside of Sidney MT

02/15/2025

Happy gotch-ya day to the Queen B herself. The B could stand for a few things, big, beautiful or maybe the other B word that comes to your mind is probably the closest representation. 🫣

Jolene is the cow I would not recommend as your first dairy cow... 🤪 I'm thankful I wasn't a newb to handling cattle or "training" unruly livestock. She has been one tough cookie and has taught me a ton. She's taught me about mastitis protocol, how to save a cow from milk fever, ketosis and acidosis. If a milk cow can die from it, Jolene has had it and I've saved her from it 🤣 🤣

All joking aside, I have so many reasons to thank this cow and provide a "forever" home to her. Mostly because I don't think I could sell her to someone I dislike enough 😳😅 We definitely have a love hate relationship, so much so that I tattooed her face on my arm.

Jolene has 2 calves in our beef herd and is bred to calve in a few weeks! I have noticed this week that she is already starting to bag up a little bit. She is supposed to have another heifer and it will be 1/2 milking shorthorn 1/2 jersey. So you can bet it'll be sticking around the herd. I purchased Jolene just after she had her first calf in 2020.

02/12/2025

The girls had their annual Brucilosis testing last week. Once a year all the cows go to town and are tested, this is something we are required to do per Montana state to sell raw milk. The vets do this by drawing blood from under the tail and then sending the samples off to the lab.

Each cow was also pregnancy tested, everyone except Rue are bred. I watched Rue be bred 3 weeks ago, but that would still be too soon for a vet to palpate a calf. Jolene and Dolly are still on course to calve mid-March. Lily is due sometime in April, she was bred to a Hereford bull. Gale was measuring approximately 120 days bred, putting her due in July. Pippa was measuring 90 days, due in August and Ginny is due in September. If Rue did take the end of January, she'd be due the end of October or early November.

I also took 3 heifer calves to be bangs vaccinated. All cows must be bangs vaccinated to cross state line, they can be vaccinated after 4 months of age. Mila, Spook and Peppy are good to go and are all sporting a new orange tag in their left ear.

Dolly and Ginny also got pedicures, this is what is happening in the pictures. Cows hooves grow constantly, like our nails. A cow getting a lot of protein, like a milk cow would; grow quicker. Range cattle are able to file theirs down on rocks and rough terrane. My cows don't have a whole lot of walking or rough ground to walk on so I have them trimmed as needed. Long toes can cause the cows discomfort which can then lead to lessened milk production. I'm always happy to do the extra to make sure my cows are comfortable and happy!

Thank you High Plains Vet Clinic!

02/04/2025

Safe to say these first-calf heifers are doing their part here. Delaney and Bri are at 10 months post calving, 1 week of having their calves weaned and hoping coming up on their next heat cycle to be bred to Sunny.

Delaney is 1/2 jersey 1/2 black angus and Bri is full jersey, both are coming up on 3 years old. I am getting 2-3 gallons, milking them once-a-day. Check out that cream-line though 😍

01/31/2025

Good golly Miss Molly 🤩

Actually her name is Delaney and if you've been following me for some time you may remember her from way back in 2022! Delaney was the first calf I got out of Dolly, born in January of 2022.

Last weekend I had to privledge of picking Delaney and another first calf heifer, Brietta plus their calves up from a good friend to help with my lack of milk. Their owners wanted a break but didn't think they should dry them off since they hadn't gotten rebred yet and I needed milk and also have a bull, so win win for everyone!

I've been selling these half jersey half angus heifers for a couple years now but had not gotten to milk one myself. I new in theory they'd give the perfect amount of milk for a family with plenty of delicious rich cream. This picture proves that! Delaney is giving between 2-3 gallons, milking once a day. She also just weaned a 775 # heifer calf!!! Incredible!!!

01/27/2025

Pending payment

"Mila" is still here! 2024 heifer out of my Jersey cow, Ginny and our old Red Angus bull. Mila is the most laid back heifer and loves being pet and scratched, she also loves treats and will eat right from your hand. I have not put a halter on her yet but I do not think you will have any issues halter breaking this sweet girl.

Being only 1/2 jersey, Mila should produce 3-4 gallons per day; making her the perfect family milk cow. She will produce enough from her calf and all the milk your family can drink! Or she could easily feed 2 calves. I am currently milking a 1/2 jersey 1/2 angus heifer who is weaning a 850+ Lb calf and has been producing 2-3+ gallons per day!!!! As well as producing an amazing creamline!!!

Mila is not branded, but was vaccinated and wormed in October and will be bangs vaccinated on the 5th. She should be ready to breed late this summer or fall, or hold her a little longer and breed her around 18 months old, for a 2027 spring calf.
She is coming from a clean and tested herd.
Located outside of Sidney, Mont.
💲1️⃣6️⃣0️⃣0️⃣
Pm me for more info.
Delivery between Sidney and Billings, MT.

Included a photo of her dam
You will also have the option in bringing her back after she is a year old to breed to my dairy bull (for a 3/4 dairy calf).

01/24/2025

A friend visiting the farm took this photo of Rue and thought you'd all enjoy her beauty!