The Easter Bunny

Never a dull day here.

Easter morning we woke up to find Annabelle in labor. Annabelle was born on the farm to our first milk cow Lucy. You can see the post about Annabelle HERE.

We had Annabelle artificially inseminated with sexed Guernsey semen, hoping for a nice heifer with the fabulous traits of both Jersey and Guernsey.

We were not disappointed at all.

Although Annabelle did require a slight amount of help via us pulling, the calf came out beautifully and a good size for a heifer.

 I was a little worried when Annabelle did not immediately pop up and start licking her baby. In fact, she just layed there in sort of a daze.
Thankfully I have reliable farming neighbors with years and years of experience. Farmer Joe assured me that Annabelle would soon perk up.

We assessed the baby and she was breathing fine, so we carried her to Annabelle's heads she could sniff her.

Within seconds Annabelle was perking up and licking her new baby.

It did take her a while to get on her feet, but she did quickly once other cows started sniffing around.

Of course Willow insisted that we name the calf Bunny since she was born on Easter. Who could argue with that?

Annabelle is doing good milking, especially for a first time milker. She lifts her feet some but doesn't kick, and Bunny is a darn good eater.

We let her out to exercise and stretch her legs today after her breakfast.

All in all, a good dairy week so far :-)

Happy Tuesday Ya'll!

More Land, More Fun

It's been an adventurous week. Well, to some it will seem like a normal or less than adventurous week...but to me it was quite a ride.

Journee and I took a loom beading class with my mother. Chattanooga has  fabulous new bead shop. A bead shop.
It has tons of fabulous beads and plenty of classes to go along with their inventory.

I am quite happy with my first bracelet and have made another. Journee is starting her third bracelet.
Rose even drew up her own design on graph paper so I could teach her. She did a fabulous job.
Never stop learning folks!

There is no question that my herd of cattle is growing each year. I have 30 acres for all of my cows and sheep and horse. Usually we have a neighbor bale hay from the front 15 acres and then I rotate the animals through several other paddocks. It works quite well, but we are feeling the strain of having more and more cows each year.
Fortunately, we secured a lease on the neighboring property that sits exactly next to our acreage. We will need to repair some fencing and add a new gate, but this will give us an additional 20 acres of grazing possibilities.

This is just a lower section of the acreage. We walked it out so we could scope out breaches in the fencing. I was pleased to see some green grass.

There is a creek, but we will be fencing to keep the cows away from the water. The owner who is leasing us the land doesn't want to see cattle from her side of the creek. I thought that was a funny request, but we will able to get water to the cattle from our side of the property line.

This is a picture of the railroad trestle over the creek. Our land is surrounded by the creek on 3 sides and the railroad on the other. 

Finally, Devin started a new job last month. He is back in the ER. He did enjoy his time at an urgent care clinic, but the ER pays better and he is able to work fewer hours a month.

More time at home means he can work on projects, such as fencing, and he can also take us all out more often.

In fact, we decided to take the kids bowling!

The kids had a really good time. This is an activity we do not get out for nearly often enough.

We rented out 2 lanes and used gutter guards on one of them. The boys probably had the most fun.

Fletcher had quite the time getting his ball down the lane. He tried using the metal roller a few times but preferred to toss the ball himself.

We are enjoying very warm temps this week before the cold returns next week. The bees and the frogs and the crickets all think spring has arrived. I wish it were true, but we have a few more weeks of cold.

Happy Hump Day Ya'll!

A Good Day

There are days that home schooling is just plain overwhelming! It is difficult enough on its own, but if you add in a farm and a milking cow (or two or three) it can be a daunting task to accomplish anything some days.

Then there are days like today when it all becomes clear again. You remember why this path is the right one and the tasks at hand are worth the effort.

 It's not everyday that you can wish outside with all of the kids to witness a new calf being born. Then you have all of the topics that come up for discussion such as colostrum, afterbirth, milk fever, engorgement, and umbilical cords.

Hands on science.

 Lucy finally had her calf, an Angus cross baby. A heifer. I have not named her yet.

She is a strong girl and is up jumping around and playing and searching for her first meal. This is the biggest challenge too, as Lucy is quite old in age and her teats are very low to the ground.

She is an attentive and protective mother, though, so I am leaving them alone for a few hours.
The world is a classroom and a farm is the only place I would want my kids learning their science and math and reading.

It is a good day.

Plus, we can always have lots of opportunities to learn about the various bugs while we wait for the new calves to appear.

Happy Friday Ya'll!

Cows and more cows

I just realized that I often share videos on my Facebook page that should also be shared here!

It has been a very busy week, but I hope to properly update tonight or tomorrow. Until then, here is a video update via my new You Tube channel.

Feel free to subscribe, as I am toying with the idea of adding some instructional videos in the near future.

Have a great Thursday Ya'll!

Chance

The days just get busier and busier!
This weekend we had perfect weather for working outdoors, so we decided to tackle the garden bed mess.

First we moved a raised bed to another spot, in order to make parking the tractor easier. Then Devin lifted all of the half barrel planters and dumped them into the raised bed. There was nice planting soil in the barrels and I am through with any large gardening. I will only be using my 3 raised beds and a few pots on my porch.

With the barrels gone and the beds cleaned up, it looks much nicer now. I may or may not plant many vegetables this year. Honestly I feel like I am at full capacity, as far as what I can do. I might plant some annual flowers and just patron a local farmer for vegetables.

I also finished class 3 of 4 of my Kid Embroidery Class. Rose did a fantastic job and will be hanging her embroidery art up on a wall...as soon as I can locate the picture nails.
This class was an embroidery of their handprint, a gift for Mother's Day.

When you get a call from a farmer friend wanting to sell a most beautiful and healthy heifer calf, you just say , "YES!"

We loaded her up into the back of our favorite stock trailer van and brought her home. She is a very healthy calf, born last November, and will make a fine milking cow one day.

She is the same age as our baby steer and she is happily out grazing the pasture with all of the other cows.

Saturday we burned her horns, a chore we always dread. It must be done however! Horns can be dangerous to not only other cows, but to any person who is milking and caring for the cows.

Of course this beautiful Jersey needed a name, so the kids all thought long and hard about what to name her. They decided to name her after the family cow in the show The Waltons.
They named her Chance.

Welcome to the farm Chance!!!!

Happy Monday Ya'll!!!

A Full Circle

I was sort of dreading my post today. Yesterday was a sad day here because our sweet dog of 16 years passed away.
Raven.
She was a faithful companion and she loved to swim and jet ski. Until this summer, a day at the lake would perk her up and cause her play like a pup again.
We took her to the lake July 4th but instead of being a lively youngster again, she was confused and didn't act like she knew where she was. Her hearing was gone and her sight not very good either.

We knew her time was coming to a close, but it was still sad to discover she had passed away in her sleep.

But then the cycle of life makes a full circle. If there is one thing I have learned by farming it is the circle of life. It's the lesson that there will be death but then there will also be life.

Devin and I went to lunch this afternoon and came home to a wonderful sight!



Belle had her calf while we were gone. It is a large, healthy heifer too!

Although I wish I had another week of once a day milking, I am glad that calving went so well and that the calf is healthy.

I am still sad that we lost Raven, although she had a wonderful, long life.
I am happy and blessed to see a new life on the farm.

What will we name this heifer?
Well, I have a special friend in Huntsville and her very special daughter, Molly, has a birthday today. I think it only fitting that I name this sweet calf after her.
So, welcome to the farm Molly!

Happy Hump Day Ya'll!

Cows on a Monday

Well we had a very rainy weekend, so rainy the sheep could be sheared. Next weekend we will try again. In the meantime, the sheep are all up close to the house enjoying the grass.

I lost many meat birds to the cold weather and rain. I figured they were old enough to handle some inclement weather, however I was wrong. Poor birds. I am left with only half and last night those survivors were kept under tarps with brood lamps. Today the weather is making a turn around. It is sunny and in the 70's.  This week will be hot and humid and I expect my mucky animals lots will dry out.

We are wrapping up the school year and prepping for a little graduation party for Journee. The bees are really starting to populate and I plan to inspect hives tomorrow. Wednesday Devin will drive to Knoxville and pick up for me 2 more Russian hives.

This morning I made a wheel of cheese and then headed outside to snap a shot or two of my ladies.

  Lucy is always the easiest to photograph as she is so super friendly.

Penny is still shy but the look of my shoe had her very curious.

Now all I have to do is make a party store list, clean my house and cook some meals. If I can only drag myself from the animals, the sewing machine, and my spinning wheel.....well, I guess I can't play everyday.

Here's hoping the dreary weather is gone for a while! It's been a hectic Monday here but that's OK.
Hope you have a great day!
Happy Monday!

My New Penny

This week has already been a busy cow filled week.

Last October we hauled Belle off to a friend's farm to breed with his Hereford bull. She ended up staying most of winter, but we finally picked her up on Monday.

Belle is somewhat of a *beefy* looking Jersey, but I was pleased to see she was healthier than ever. She kept weight on nicely and was easy to load and bring back.
It didn't take long before Belle and Lucy hooked up and spent the entire day and night, like long lost friends.

Then on Tuesday we took the trailer up to  a nearby dairy and bought a new milk cow.

She is a young, 2 year old jersey, who just freshened a couple of months ago.  She is very gentle, although a bit shy.
She really is not too sure about the chickens clucking around.
She is milking well, and after a week I suspect she will be completely settled in to a milking routine here.

My only complaint is that she is quite skinny.

Here she is next to Lucy. I will be spending the next month trying t get some weight on her. She is easy to hand milk too, even though we use a machine milker.

She seems to be fitting in well with the calves and cows here.

After much thought and family debate, we decided to name her Penny. We especially love the white dot on her face.

                                        As of writing this, Lucy has not left Penny's side.

We also made good use of yesterday's nice weather to repair the sheep shelter/canopy.

The snow collapsed the canopy and the poles are badly damaged. Devin will have to replace most of them, but we have it rigged in the meantime. Now, we just wait for lambing to begin.

2 years ago we had no cows and today we have 9. I admit that we are somewhat smitten with the sweet Jersey beauties and will likely get more as the year progresses.

For now, we are enjoying the warm weather, the abundance of fresh milk and the promise of a spring season.

Happy Hump Day!!

Calf Wrestling

We have a nice two day stretch of nice weather before the freezing temps roll back in town.
There have been some calf chores that should have been done a couple of weeks ago, but we finally found the time to get them done.

First, the bull calves needed to be banded. Actually, the oldest bull calf has already been banded and we just needed to band the younger one. Banding them is an easy way for a family farmer to keep from raising a bull and to raise a steer instead.

This little tool is not expensive and I use it to band my young lambs as well. You put this band on it first.

Then you stretch it out and place the scrotum through it and release it slowly.

The important key is to make sure that BOTH balls are through. They can slide back if you are not cautious and not actually get into the band.

The procedure will feel a little tingly for the calf the first day. The band will cut off circulation to the scrotum and after about 2-3 weeks, the sac will fall off.

 

The next chore we had was to burn off the horn buds. Even if you raise a very docile cow, horns can be dangerous. It is best to "nip it in the bud" early. There are several ways to rid a cow of its horns but we have found dehorning paste works great on young calves.

 



 

It is best to apply this paste when you first feel the horn buds. First you need to trim the hair around the buds with some scissors. Apply the paste with a wooden tongue depressor or popsicle stick. The paste is very caustic so make sure it doesn't get on your skin or anywhere else on the calf.

It doesn't take very much and we like to lock the calves up by them selves overnight so they do not get the paste on another calf by rubbing heads. That is it!

All I had to do next was change clothes and start a load of laundry. It seems that when I wrestle a calf down I always roll down into a pile of cow muck! As a friend pointed out though, it's just grass, right?



Athena also got a nice work out since the sun was out and the temps were mild. Indiana walked her for a good while around the front pasture. We are looking forward to another nice day today.

Since the calves are growing and doing well, we will be getting another one tomorrow. A two week old bull calf. It should be fun!

Happy Monday Ya'll!