Welcome kiddies, to the barn!

I’m basically copying an idea I got off of Goodbye-kitty975, which is to clear up exactly what and who I’m photographing. This isn't applicable anymore, I'm currently taking a break from UMass, but my pictures will remain, and thus this resource!

I’m involved with a student run group at my school, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, that specializes in a breed of beef cattle called Belted Galloways. We call ‘em Belties for short. Our main aim has been showing and breeding prime candidates for the Belted Galloway breed. We have eaten one of our animals, which we acquired from another farm. I’ll admit it was good. Some of the cows below have left us or will eventually leave us. We have a limited capacity for a herd, (thanks to department funding) requiring us to be more selective in our breeding stock and upcoming goals. This is my second year with the group, so I don’t know all the cows that they got rid of before I joined. Their registered names/numbers are by the farm they were bred and raised at, meaning all “UMass ….” animals were accomplished by our group. The (... x ....) tells who their parents are (cowxbull).

New feature: I started my own Youtube account @ [link] I have a few of the animals on video, so I'll put a * and link to the spot where the animal's footage is posted.

~ ~ ~ Meet the herd: ~ ~ ~


Satin (Driftwood Satin.)
A heifer brought into the herd after a good portion of the members were sold. She is from Driftwood Plantation in South Carolina [link] Arrived in April 2007, and shown soon after at the Big East Youth Show.



Cola (Aldermere Cola, 13J.)
Slightly stoopbacked but wide and big, Cola was picked as an embryo transfer recipient due to her mothering ability and experience. She hasn’t got the greatest genetics in the world, and threw two calves of her own before Forest. One of them was on the small side, the other mismarked. She’s overweight right now, but was an absolute tank when carrying this calf. Though she’d had babies before, we had to pull Forest, because he was absolutely huge. It might be a testament to her “energy efficiency.” She may have been sold, I have yet to find out.
calves: Ying-Yang, Crescent, Forest (ET).


Margie (Aldermere Margie, 36J.)
An older overweight cow who has given us some amazing animals. She was bred last spring and this winter, but unfortunately didn’t take. She’s pretty smart and has a better temperament than other cows we have. I think of her as “Aunt Margie,” just because of her persona.
calves: Miles, May.


Kathy (Aldermere Kathy II, 27K.)
She’s a spirited cow with a stubborn streak, but an amazing producer. Her calves with us have come out superb. We lost her most recent calf, a girl that came out stillborn. As a testament to her abilities, when she was still nursing Koushi, she accepted Kam too. She had enough milk to keep her girl growing well, and managed to help our little steer with his mommy problem. Good mothering is a necessary trait for beef animals, as a bad growing baby will not have a productive life or quality meat.
calves: Dori, Koushi. Stillborn heifer-calf.


Fiona (UMass Fiona, N01.)
(Aldermere Firth X Stonecroft Igor) The first UMass calf ever born, and the only heifer we got out of Firth. She looks exactly like her mom, from the ears to her build. We’re lucky to have her, especially since we put down her mom last spring. She surprised us this October by throwing her calf alone in the middle of the night, as a first time heifer. We weren’t expecting her to pop until November, but she came out with a beautiful boy on her own.
calves: Fozzy/19S


Ying-Yang (UMass Ying-Yang, N02.)
She had her first calf earlier this year in February, and is a natural mom. She’s on the smaller side, but like most UMass calves, an easier-going personality than some of our other girls. We plan to breed her to Aldermere Lance again, so to fix any potential confirmation issues, and get another wonderful baby out of her. (Yosemite was gorgeous!) She is confirmed pregnant!
calves: Yosemite, pregnant


May (UMass May, N03.)
(Aldermere Margie x ?) She was among the first crop of calves born at the University of Massachusetts. She’s a nice girl and a headstrong cow amongst her fellow herd members. She’ll put them in their place. She likes humans a good deal, and loves to be scratched. Her major qualm is with the squee shoot, and having to get shots. She’ll throw a fit inside the head gate. Her first calf Mieka had a hard time getting out, and ended up with a prolapsed uterus. Luckily group members and a vet managed to help her in time, and we’ll look forward to many more babies from her. She was recently bred and confirmed to be pregnant.
calves: Mieka, pregnant


Dori (UMass Dori, N05.)
(Aldermere Kathy II x Aldermere Lance) She recently had her first calf as a heifer, and had absolutely no problems birthing. Her son came out perfect and easily. She’s a great mom and has a good disposition for showing and inclusion in our herd. She was bred and confirmed pregnant.
calves: Denali, pregnant


Bialy (UMass Bialy, R09.)
(Quaker Ridge Bagel x Aldermere Lance) This is one of our premiere show animals. She goes to all of the fairs and has been to many public events. We featured her at the first Beltie Day we held last year, and brought her to the Sunderland Fall Festival. She gets along with people famously and is very socialized. She can be a bit bratty if we overindulge her, but she’s a very good animal. Considering who her mom was, we were amazed at how great she turned out. She absolutely loves grain and being petted. If you scratch her on the tail head or under the neck, she’ll arch her tail and back with a content look on her face. She thinks she’s a dog and her boyfriend is a gelding (horse) she met at the Sunderland Fall Fest. She actually made out with him. Now pregnant.


Latte (UMass Latte, R11.)
(Aldermere Lavataras x Uphill Generation). Due to her fairly protective mother, Latte didn’t have as much human contact as we would’ve liked. She’s skittish around humans and strange noises, but is coming around. She prefers to come over and investigate things, rather than have you try to pet her. She’s gone to a few shows, and done well with the preparation. She recently got over a bout of illness, but sprung back.


Koushi (UMass Koushi, R12.)
(Aldermere Kathy II x Uphill Generation) I’ve come to like Koushi over time, since she’s a beautiful animal. . I still hold a small grudge against her though, because she dragged me last semester. We were interested in selling her, but I wouldn’t mind seeing what her babies look like. At the first Beltie Day we held, a child named her by chance. In Japanese, her name means “calf”. She won Grand Champion Beef Heifer of the day at Cummington Fair here in Massachusetts.


Yosemite (UMass Yosemite, S15.)
(UMass Ying-Yang x Aldermere Lance) We steered Yosemite due to his potentially sketchy genetics, though he came out perfect. At eight months he’s big and gorgeous, we can’t wait to get him around to shows. This was the first calf I’ve ever seen born. He was birthed assisted, since his mom was a first time heifer.


Mieka (UMass Mieka, S16.)
(UMass May x Aldermere Lance). A adorable heifer calf, she has won the hearts of many. She’s nicknamed “Mieka Moo,” by certain members of our group. She was shown “Cow-calf” at the Eastern States Exposition (Big E) with her mother, though we sorely wanted to take them to the Fryeburg Fair. (She was just too young). She was recently weaned, and has an affinity for standing in the feed bunks…


Denali(UMass Denali, 17S.)
(UMass Dori x UMass Miles) This bull-calf was a very important baby, as he was the first all UMass calf. Usually we don’t keep our bulls because they’re too related to our herd, but his dad Miles was distant enough to be bred to his mother Dori. He was line bred, meaning that his parents share a common grandfather. This is a fairly common thing, especially since all purebred animals are technically inbred to some extent. He’s a super cute, super fast boy. He loves dashing around the pasture with his fellow calves and even gets mom to kick up her heels. He's big and beautiful, so we're probably going to keep him as a bull! Born: 9/25/2006.

*Video (his birth): [link] and [link]


Forest (UMass Forest, 18S.)
(ET Aldermere Cola. Aldermere Firth x Aldermere Lance). Mismarked bull-calf. Forest was a long awaited baby, born post-mortem from our recently euthanized cow, Aldermere Firth. We transferred his embryo from Firth in the winter of ’05, and implanted him into the recipient Cola. He was the only one that took out of five attempts. His birth weight was 85 lbs, really big for a calf. It caused problems for his “mom” at birthing, since he was really big. He was pulled using the obstetrical (pulling) chains that help remove calves in a distressed birthing situation. Normal birthing time is 1 to 2 hours, his was 4. He was born 10/4/2006. I don't know what's become of him.

*Video (jumpin around): [link]

- - - - - - - Former Herd Members: - - - - - - - -


Sergeant (UMass Sergeant, 22S)
(Aldermere Lily x Aldermere Lance) We'd been hoping for a heifer out of his mom, but we're just happy he's alive. He's her only progeny so far, and was the last calf born for the 2006 season. He arrived at 6:15 pm on 11/26/2006. From what I can tell (his ma is nuts!), he's pretty cute. Sold.


Fozzy/19S (UMass Fozzy, 19S.)
(UMass Fiona x Aldermere Lance) This little guy was a complete surprise to everyone. He wasn’t expected until November, but early morning one of the barn employees found him in with his mother, dry and nursing. He was very long legged and had a relatively low birth weight of only 60 lbs. Since we weren’t there to clean him off at his arrival, he retained some birth fluid in his lungs and caught a cold. He’s expected to make a full recovery. Even in his sickness and being a day old, he was ready to run around in the pasture with his Uncle/siblings, and mommy. He’s very cute. Unfortunately somebody recommended the name "Fozzy" and it won at the name voting We're likely to keep him as a bull, since he's leggy and gorgeous. He's even taller than Denali! Born: 10/21/2006. Sold.


Lily/25L (Aldermere Lily, 25L.)
(? x Stonecroft Igor) A wild-spirit, Lily is for breeding rather than show. She’s not halter-trained or fond of people, though she’ll tolerate us for grain. Her first calf Liberty died 4 days after birth, from an infection. Finally, she gave birth to a bull-calf by Aldermere Lance named Sergeant. Sold in February.
calves: Liberty (deceased), Sergeant


Loki (UMass Loki, 21S)
(Aldermere Lavataras x Aldermere Lance) His mother went into labor around the same time as Kathy II, but he was the only one born alive. He's well-marked and lively (thanks to his mom). He's got long legs and a narrower belt like his half brother 19S. I suggested Loki at the name meeting, and it won! It's a very good name for him (It was the Norse god of troublemaking) since he's the son of a crazy L and a bit rambunctious already. Because of potential uh- undesirable personality, we probably were going to steer him, but we sold him alongside his mother. Born 10/27/2006.


Lavataras/30L(Aldermere Lavataras, 30L.)
(? x Stonecroft Igor) We refer to her and Lily as the “L’s” since they’re both crazy and anti-human. She is a very protective mother, and quite fast on her hooves. We finally sold her along with her calf Loki.
calves: Latte, Loki.


Crescent (UMass Crescent, P07.)
(Aldermere Cola x Aldermere Ajax) Crescent is a docile and curious sweetheart, who is sadly mismarked. She has the coolest marking, her belt comes up onto her back and ends in a small curl, just like a half moon. Due to her half belt, the group didn’t register her with the Beltie Society, though she is completely purebred. She is a gorgeous animal with nice conformation and good growth, but because of her belt, we sold her. I showed her in the Baystate Livestock Classic held by our university. We placed second in the “Young Stock,” and were able to show because the event is based on showmanship rather than animals. She has the potential to throw a great full belted calf, but our group doesn’t want to take the time or risk necessary. She’s not very fond of horses, but will tolerate the bigger ones to an extent. The time she broke away from me, she saw the miniature horses at our Deerfield facility and freaked. It was ow…but I understood. The funniest experience she’s had, was when she snuck into the calf’s creep feeder and got stuck. We had to lift it over her because she was too bit to get out on her own. She’s a good animal, and I absolutely adore her. She was sold to a small local breeding herd.


Bagel (Quaker Ridge Bagel, 50.)
A grossly overweight and poorly tempered cow we shipped in late summer. She had a severe body maintenance problem, even though we never gave her grain, and she was only on hay or grass. Before we attempted to give her Firth’s embryos, we put her on a special diet to try and help. We fed her a pre-measured amount of hay, and yet she hardly lost anything. She wasn’t getting pregnant (because of her weight) and was a waste of food, so we shipped her. She was sold at an auction, and might be McDonald’s by now. The best thing she did was give us Bialy.
calves: Bialy.


Kam (UMass Kam, R14.)
(Aldermere Kallis x Uphill Generation) Poor Kam was a mismarked steer with a bad mother. Though he was around the same age as his half sister Koushi, he was much smaller. His mom didn’t have a fully developed udder and she didn’t take care of him. We put a lot of effort into feeding and caring for him, though Kathy II allowed him to nurse off her too. He was adorable as a baby, but I think he got bratty when he was older. The one time he got shown, he ended up trying to pull his student all over the ring. In the middle of it when we switched animals (for the judge), Kam slammed me into the wall. He got sold to a petting zoo on Cape Cod, where one of our member’s works. I think we felt overly sorry for him.


Miles (UMass Miles, P08.)
(Aldermere Margie x Mar-Pine Viking). Born 12/1/04. A beautiful and well liked bull, he had an amazing growth rate that was passed onto his son. He was sold to a breeding herd, where he currently resides.
calves: Denali, and ++


Fling (UMass Firth’s Last Fling)
(Aldermere Firth x Aldermere Lance). Born 3/26/05. This bull was the last naturally born calf out of his mother, Firth. He had a great personality (especially for a bull) and was a very playful boy. He loved playing with sawdust, and would dive into a large pile of it, getting it all over. His conformation was awesome, and inherited his parent’s good genetics. He was sold to another breeder.


Firth (Aldermere Firth.)
March 1989- May 24, 2006. We considered her the “granny” of our herd. She was 17 years old when we put her down in May, 2006. As of her death, she’d had 11 calves naturally and one coming via embryo transfer. She was named “second oldest producing dam” by the Belted Galloway Society. We considered her one of our most valuable cows, because she had prime genetics and a fairly well known name. (She was the grand-dam of Aldermere Rhonda, a Silver Lifetime Award Winner.) Her two calves Fiona and Fling came out gorgeous, so we decided to do embryo transfer on her (to get more). We were going to implant them into our other open cows. The first time we tried with Cola and Bagel, but only Cola took (the vet dropped the other two embryos). The second time, we ended up with three embryos and were trying Crescent, Ying-Yang, and Bagel, but none of them took. It was a total shock (and disappointment) when her last baby Forest came out mismarked. Until we looked, no one knew that she’d had 3 mismarked calves prior to her arrival at UMass. 25% oi. We euthanized and buried her at the UMass Hadley Farm, an immense honor for a livestock animal. Most end up as food
calves: Fiona, Fling, Forest.


Kallis (Aldermere Kallis.)
Her first calf came out mismarked, and she wasn’t a very good mother to him. He was skinny and stunted. She developed only half an udder and didn’t have a nice temper. We held a private slaughter and sold her for $5 /lb, since Belted Galloway beef is considered a delicacy. We made a lot of money, and had an interesting time trying one of our animals.
calves: Kam

- - - Mentionable - - -


Lance (Aldermere Lance, 8071B.)
(Aldermere Wealth x Lullenden Bruno) Lance is owned by Aldermere Farm [link] in Rockport, Maine. He spent a brief stint in our farm as a clean-up bull, breeding the girls that couldn't take AI. It was very generous of Aldermere to lend us such an amazing bull. I think he had a lot of fun with his harem. We have used him for many calves, and he is a wonderful sire. Kudos to his owners!
Brief description from their website: "An extremely sound, well structured and heavily muscled bull. Lance was 2002 National Grand Champion and Belted Galloway Society’s Bull of the Year. First calves have averaged 77 pounds. Offers outstanding Scottish and Aldermere genetics."
Stats:
Weight: 85 lbs (birth), 907 lbs (365 day). Avg Daily Growth is 2.05 lbs. At 18 months we had a 16 inch ribeye area and less than .4 inches of backfat.


The Beefers
The Deerfield UMass Barn wouldn't be complete without the Belties' comical neighbors and fellow residents: the Beefers. They're a small clutch of research animals owned and used by one of the professors. Pretty much all they do is get fat and their blood drawn once a week. They will never be used for breeding or production, until the research is done with them. Technically Pineapple (and former companion Jubilee) is a Holstein dairy cow, but she's fat enough to pass for a beef animal. He hee. She shares her pen with 81/Sally and 82/Bella, two Herefords.

Unforunately two other residents were gotten rid of in Fall '06: 08 who was Sally's mom, and Bob the Steer. We all loved funny Bob and his spot. Some kooky things about them: Pinapple for weeks on end kept mooing like a bull at our Belties (because she was horny...though she's polled. Ha ha.) She's really weird, but my favorite. She's the only one in the entire barn that will eat an apple (our animal prefer grain...*roll eyes*) and try to lick your clothes off. The Beefers must be envious of our animals, because they've broken through the metal gates twice this past year when the Belties were on the other side. It was quite annoying because they don't have all their vaccinations like our animals, and the fence took forever to fix. You should've seen the gate...it looked like a car hit it. Oh, and 81/Sally earned her name from the time we had an animal communicator come. [link] Apparently she really liked that name and wanted to be called that. So we obliged.

About the group:
'Our foundation stock traveled from Aldermere Farm to the Umass South Deerfield facility in mid 2003. Umass Belties began as a group in 2004. The group is run by Animal Science students and overseen by their advisor. Members of the group learn about the management of raising and showing beef cattle. Through this practice, students acquire skills in providing proper nutrition, maintaining hoof care as well as aspects of reproduction and calving. Furthermore, the students partake in fitting and showing at various beef shows.

The goal for the future is to teach students about selecting genetics that are desired by UMBGG. These prefered traits will hopefully result in a herd of docile cows that uphold the Belted Galloway breed characteristics.'
-From the UMassBelties.com website

Last updated: May 23rd, 2007.