Save This Farm

Happy Birthday

Babies Daddy, our bull, is celebrating his first birthday. I seem to be more excited about it than he is. I even offered to bake a cake, but Bob said that was a little over the line. We have changed the business plan a little, again. Now we are just buying yearlings and letting Babies Daddy be the babies' daddy. I am now learning a lot about breeding cows. (oh joy)

Things I NEVER thought I would record on a calendar:

1) a cows monthly cycle

2) Jake's babysitters schedule

3) the days when I think the bull got lucky (dear Lord help me)

Save This Farm

New Kids on the Farm

This is three of the seven calves we purchased for Christmas. (I never thought of cows as Christmas presents before now!) As you can see the sweet feed continues to work its magic. They were only two to four months old when they arrived. We have learned a lot about calf daycare since our first purchases...a good thing for the calves. One of them became very ill and dehydrated. We actually force feed her raw eggs (I'll believe anything on the Internet). The amazing thing is it worked! She is doing great and they are all out in the pasture with the big girls now.

Reasons research is my new best friend:

1) I have cured warts

2) Jake is still alive and kicking

3) I saved the life of at least one sick calf

Save This Farm

Variety is the spice of life...

so we added a little spice to our herd. Yep, we added a red Angus to the group. We now have one little girl who absolutely stands out. We named her "Lucy". We didn't set out to get a red head, but she was in the group of seven girls we purchased and I didn't have the heart to leave her behind...so she has joined in the chaos of our farm

Never settle for dull:

1) red heads are more exciting

2) Jake is sort of red..well a lot of yellow with a little red

3) who knows, someday I may try red

Save This Farm

Heavy Sigh

Well, the answer was she was pregnant. We watched and waited, and waited and watched; finally Thursday she started showing signs of labor. We spent Thursday night and the morning hours of Friday with her. We knew going into this she was really young, and the father had to be a member of her original herd (never a good thing).

So, long story short, the calf was a stillborn. Things just weren't right. The only good news here is my cow came through it okay and is doing fine. The bad news is the first birth of a calf for me on the farm ended with tears.

Reasons I am not in charge of mother nature:

1) I would never want anything to die

2) Jake might be second in command of everything

3) I can't make the tough decisions

Save This Farm

Happy New Year

Here is to new year and a do over. If Jake can learn to kiss a cow, then I can learn to pick myself up and turn off the lights on my pity party. I had a co-worker once who said "The more I am around people the better I like my dogs." Well, I hope to never be there; but Jake is looking pretty good. The people who can knock you down the quickest and hardest are family members and people you truly thought you could trust.

Okay, with that said I am moving on. I now 31 cows with at least one in the oven. The winter grass is in so the cows are eating away. The latest purchases were 7 tiny little girls. One had to be given extra care, but seems on the way to being well.

Things I never thought I would be excited about..

1) a pregnant cow (due any day now; I think she waiting for an ice storm)

2) Jake kissing cows

3) my bull doing bull things (they have no manners)