Rare Breeds Mini Jersey:Part 1 - How They Came to Our Farm
Let me start by saying, this wonderful, amazing herd of animals is by far one of my biggest loves here at Rocky Bottom Mini Farm! And what a God journey it has been! Sometimes I don’t even really know where to start when trying to tell a story because so much here is intertwined into the overall picture of the great things God has done! So I guess I’ll just try to start at the beginning and see if I can stay on track!
When Grant and I first dreamed of our very own homestead, we knew we wanted cows to be part of our supplemental income to help support the farm. We started out thinking Black Angus, then Red Angus, but as we gained more knowledge and did more research, we began to see a different dream and path that we truly felt God was leading us on which led us to the discovery of Mini Jersey cattle. It all started with Loretta.
Who exactly is Loretta, you might ask? Loretta was my first cow. She was an enormous standard jersey first calf heifer. She taught me so much! First thing she taught me was that cows need friends! You know, we’re all brand new at this in the beginning unless you were fortunate enough to be raised on a farm. I was clueless and I’m not ashamed to say so! The first year here taught me what felt like a lifetime of knowledge. I had no idea cows could jump a fence if they really wanted to either, until Loretta. I now firmly stand behind the motto “fences are just suggestions.” If you know what I mean, then you know! If you don’t yet, you will!
The thing about Loretta though, as sweet as she was and as in your pocket as she was and as much as she wanted to please us, I was terrified of her! Yep. Terrified. (Feel free to laugh right there.) Here I was, this small-town Georgia girl who done moved all the way to a farm in Missouri, and I suddenly was wondering what in the world I had just gotten myself in to. Was my entire dream going to be a complete bust?! I had my moments where I absolutely thought so. I even asked God why he let me travel this road, come half way across the country, only to find this huge fear that I didn’t even know I had! It was her size. She was huge. She could push me around and I found I just couldn’t stand my ground. And as I was doing my soul searching and praying the answer landed right in my lap. Mini’s! I didn’t even know they existed before. So we sold Loretta and I started my search. (If you don’t realize it by now, I have a very patient husband who gave me a great deal of grace as I found my new self on our farm!)
Here's where we skip a few parts and get to the good stuff.
As time passed and we had begun building the foundation to our mini farm and the beginning of our mini moo herd. Our mini herefords were already here and my sweet mini moos Joanie and RosaLee were here, and one night I came across a post on the Book of Face (meaning Facebook – just what I call it LOL). This post was for a couple of different Registered Mini Jerseys from a very special farm called Rare Breeds Ranch, all of which had been bred and the bloodline developed by Maureen Neidhardt and her husband Marlin. As I read her post laying in bed that night, Grant asleep beside me, I sent her a message. And I woke up Grant . . .
Now waking up Grant may not always be the best idea buuuuttttt . . . . I was so excited. I was having the BEST conversation with Maureen. I had no idea what God was doing but I just knew this was something special and it was happening right then and there, and I just had to share it with him. Now, again, if you know me and you know my Grant, he grumbled and said “you wanna what?” but more than that he said, “and its WHERE?!” And then he looked at the pictures and I told him about my conversation, and I think God must have already been working because he said “well, okay.” (Pause a moment . . . tears in my eyes I was so excited when he said those two simple words . . . “well, okay”!!!) In the middle of the night, he shared my dream and understood too what was happening. I am positive some of you right now are reading this and you understand how it is not a good idea to wake your husband up in the middle of the night and ask for not just one cow but a whole herd! I must have lost all my good sense in that moment because looking back that probably was not my best idea! I was just so excited! And my Grant, well he sometimes is just so pateint and just gets me, so somehow I got away with waking him up (insert giggle).
Over the next few days everything just fell into place. Perfectly. So, Grant, my hero husband, got ready to head off to North Dakota from Missouri. Eleven Hundred Miles and a 15-hour drive if you didn’t stop. He did it in a day. I couldn’t believe it. Grant left on a Friday morning, got there Friday night, loaded up Saturday morning and was home at lunchtime on Sunday. WHAT?!?! Superman I tell ya!!! He was exhausted but our gorgeous, beautiful herd of Rare Breeds Mini Jersey were HERE!!! And in the process, I had made a new friend and gained an incredible mentor. Mrs. Maureen. Now I have to stop here for a moment and express my sincere gratitude to Mrs. Maureen for allowing us to purchase these amazing animals. For entrusting them to our care. For teaching me and educating me and sharing her knowledge and wisdom. For being excited with me about continuing the project of the Rare Breeds line. Mrs. Maureen, you are truly an inspiration to us! If you don’t know Mrs. Maureen, she has been doing this a lot longer of a time than most of us have been. Not only does she have a lifetime of farming experience, but she also was the editor of Rare Breeds Journal Magazine, the digest of the alternative livestock industry. She was there at the creation of the oldest mini jersey breed registry AMJA which she also later owned for a long time before it was sold to the current owner. Mrs. Maureen worked with the foundation farms from the beginning, such as the owner of the very first bull in the registry Riverview Bobby. This simply amazes me. All of that knowledge at the beginning of what we are all now doing! I feel blessed to get to pick up where she left off.
Below is a link to the Book of Face post when these guys unloaded here on the farm. I love the reel in this post! Pay special attention to #5 off the trailer. That’s Justify, our bull. I love watching how he came off that trailer! What a gorgeous animal!
The next thing is to tell you more about this bloodline itself. Follow on to Part 2 to learn more about its beginning and about the lineage of these beautiful beings!
Until next time . . .