The Blonde City Girl

Begin the week with laughter
The Boy's Dad sent this to me, and figured he'd be safe since "you are are country girl, who just happens to be in the city."

The Laughing Cow
p.s. I love their cheese

A blonde city girl named Jennifer marries an Oklahoma rancher. One morning, on his way out to check on the cows, the rancher says to Jennifer, 'The insemination man is coming over to impregnate one of our cows today, so I drove a nail into the 2 by 4 just above where the cow's stall is in the barn. Please show him where the cow is when he gets here, OK?'


The rancher leaves for the fields. After a while, the artificial insemination man arrives and knocks on the front door. Jennifer takes him down to the barn. They walk along the row of cows and when Jennifer sees the nail, she tells him, 'This is the one right here.' The man, assuming he is dealing with an air head blond, asks, 'Tell me lady, 'cause I'm dying to know; how would YOU know that this is the right cow to be bred?'
'That's simple," she said. "By the nail that's over its stall,' she explains very confidently.
Laughing rudely at her, the man says, 'And what, please tell, is the nail for?'  The blond turns to walk away and says sweetly over her shoulder, 'I guess it's to hang your pants on.'
(It's nice to see a blond winning once in awhile.)


Artificial insemination (A.I.) is actually used throughout agriculture. In beef cow herds it is about 10%, 66% of dairy cows and 70-75% of pigs. Why do we use A.I.? 

• It allows farmers to select sires (the male) of superior genetic value. This allows us to improve the phenotype of animal (For example, my mom and dad just bought a frozen semen interest in a bull that brought $175,000. For a MUCH lower dollar value they will be able to access these genetics without having the buy the actual bull.)
• In return this allows us to improve the production traits of offspring (more muscle for meat, or more milk for consumption)
• It also allows us to keep fewer bulls around, which is important because the bulls are only with the cows during mating season. The rest of the year they have to be separated from the cow herd

Neither the Boy or I know how to A.I. so we have an outside farmer come and help us. The nail above the cow method isn't used at our cows. Instead we keep a close eye on our cows and watch for when they come into estrus or heat. Sometimes I think I know more about a cows estrus cycle than a women's! Once a cow is bred nine months later we get a new baby calf. Pretty amazing technology we get to use on our farm.