Rain. More Rain.

 This image sums up my life right now. Demanding baby, demanding farm. Exhausted me.

"Nap when the baby naps" is the most often heard term a mom will hear when raising babies, but the reality is that meals must be cooked, other children must be cared for and the laundry must be washed. Add to this list the farm must be managed and you have my situation today.

This post is not to complain about all the many chores and demands, but to rather explain that there are days when the farming gets tough.

We have had lots of rain this year, which is a stark change from the horrible drought we suffered last year. The hay is thick and the grass recovers quickly. It has been so nice.

Except it has been hard on my herd of cattle. Although the cows have lots of dry pasture to stand in and graze, they tend to stand in water. When it rains inches upon inches within a few days, the ground becomes very wet. 

I knew that the wet ground could be an issue for my sheep and horse, but it seems the cows have suffered most. We have been battling hoof rot over here.

4 cows had hooves that were swollen and sore. A call to the vet confirmed the issue and we began treatment right away.

This girl, Ivy, had the skin break open above her hoof and there was a ulcer type of sore. We managed to get copper sulfate on the wound daily and it has healed up nicely.

 My girl Molly, however, had the worst case with all four of her feet swollen. After several treatments she now has only her back feet swollen, but one back foot is so bad that she will not put much weight on it. 

So we are still giving her medicine for pain. We are also feeding her grain to get some weight back on her, since she has lost many pounds. Poor Molly!

This morning she had a little puss oozing out from her foot, so I am hoping it will drain and start to heal.

I have been bringing cheddars out from the cave and this one is particularly yummy. I had run out of cheesecloth, so instead of wrapping it with lard and cloth I rubbed it down in olive oil and Thai Spices that I purchased from a local spice company. The results are delicious, and this 7 pound wheel is nearly gone! 

The baby turned 9 months old last week. He is crawling every where and getting into anything within his reach.  It always amazes me how quickly a baby can move and get into things.

It has been super hot every day here, with high humidity. The result is a heat index of 100 and greater. The only way to spend the day is in air conditioning or in the pool. Even the pool feels like bath water, but it is still refreshing. 

ome homeschooling supplies are starting to trickle in from various suppliers. My main focus this year is STEM, and I have purchased a couple of robotics sets. The kids are excited to get started. 

You might have noticed the blog look differently, thanks to photo bucket. I have been working on fixing broken widgets and expired photo bucket photos. Thanks for sticking around while I clean house here.

In the meantime, send good thoughts this way for my cattle and I will post updates!

Peace.

Sam

Greener Grass

I have found Fridays to be my one day to sit and enjoy the morning. Because of the many projects I am wrapping up before starting school and having this baby, I have been extremely busy.

One major project I started was to write up a junior entomology curriculum for the younger kids. I searched high and low for a bug program for the boys to no avail. Everything was geared for much younger kids, and Zeb is especially ready for something with more detail. I will post an update once I am finished.

                        ****One of many bugs Zeb has found around the farm and admired****



This was also a summer of no rain. It was very dry and hot until late July. We finally started getting some rain and the grass finally decided to grow.

In fact, it was too dry for a cutting of hay in June, but we should get a good cutting in a week or so. This should, along with all of the pastures, give us enough food for the cattle this winter.

A couple of days ago we moved all of the cows into the yard around the house.

                                   ****Valentine and Molly****


No fancy landscaping over here. I use cows to mow the lawn and I honestly do not care if they munch on bushes.
Not to offend anyone with beautifully landscaped yards, but I truly find more peace in watching my cows graze the yard. Grass based farming has so many advantages and we are blessed to have the ability to farm in this manner. Thank you Joel Salatin for all of the inspiration!

                       ****Baby Chance, who is not so much a baby any longer****


They were very excited to move to fresh grass and spent a good part of the moment jumping and bucking their way across the yard. We will let them graze a few days before moving them again.

Journee's elderly goat has spent each morning, now that they are cooler, basking in the morning sun on the drive. I have washed the drive twice this week of goat droppings, but it is a lost battle.

                   ***Brownie. One of the steers ready to process this fall***


Our next big project is too get a blueberry orchard planted. This would be an easy task, except we must fence the orchard to keep the cows from chewing down the bushes. Devin will be better able to tackle the project once Dragon Con is over.

We spent a good deal of time Tuesday sewing the finishing touches on some cosplay costumes for the Dragon Con event. I know it will be  great time for everyone attending.

Moving the cows, cutting hay and prepping school supplies must mean one thing: Fall is almost here.

It's time to soak up these last few days of summer and that is exactly what I plan to do this weekend.

Happy Friday Ya'll!!!

Sami

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!

A Barn for Me

This week begins the holiday season and for this large family mama that can mean only one thing:
This house MUST get cleaned!!!

Okay, I know that is not the most important thing I could be doing with my time, but I seriously just need the open spaces cleaned. I don't mind if junk is crammed into closet and drawers. Cleaning out nooks and crannies can be a goal for the New Year.

I started this week with turkey processing. Monday we processed what we had, which was 9 very large turkeys. They processed easily and our home made Whiz Bang plucker  did a fine job plucking feathers. The lightest bird dressed at 14 pounds, several dressed at 15-16, and 2 birds at 23 pounds!

I admit that they were fun to raise, until they started dropping dead at 13 weeks of age. I am still puzzled as to why this happened. After the financial loss of losing big turkeys, I understand why there are very few farmers raising pastured turkeys.

I also must admit that I really enjoyed these birds. It was more difficult to see these guys go versus meat chickens. Turkeys have much more personality, especially the gobblers, and I enjoyed watching them go about their day.

Now, I have to indulge to ya'll the really exciting part of my week.
I have a barn!

Last month I was able to purchase a metal carport with two sides enclosed. After it was installed, Devin turned it into my new milking barn.
First, he moved my milk pump and milking equipment to one of the enclosed sides. Those posts holding the stanchion are in solid concrete. Cows have a tendency to scratch their heads on posts and they can really move posts around if they are not solid.

My stanchion is actually a two cow set up, so technically I can milk two cows at once if I upgrade my milk pump and get another surge milker. Devin set up electricity into the barn so everything could be connected easily. Penny was the first to test the new set up out!

Of course, dairy cows are creatures of habit and it took some coaxing to get the ladies away from the old milking set up. This old set up has served me well for the last 2+ years, but it was always meant as a temporary area (more on that later).  The cows stood for quite some time in the old area waiting to be milked. We will tear this set up down and burn it next chance we get.

The other enclosed side is not finished yet. Devin will be building me two 10 foot stalls on this side. Each stall has a large gate and will be a nice area to lock up animals when needed. We positioned the barn so that the walls block the north wind in the winter.

Devin put me an outlet over the stalls so I can plug in any equipment if needed or even a heat lamp. Sometimes it is necessary to house a young calf and heat lamps keep them warm.

No more working on animals in the dark either! I have lights!

At milking time, the cow comes through this gate to milk and out the other gate when finished. No more cows running over each other to get in and out!

This is a perfect barn for my location in Georgia. The weather is most often hot and humid and this open barn allows for air circulation that is needed in my climate.

Another perk is that metal carports are relatively inexpensive. We did not have to spend tens of thousands to get a nice barn set up and that is a bonus for any family on a budget. When you start farming well meaning  people will try and tell you that you must get a big, expensive barn set up. Do NOT believe them.

Let's get back to my temporary milking area set up. Temporary set ups are really nice when you start a farming life, especially for fencing and buildings. Having a temp set up or fence allows you to use that area and really decide if it works for your needs. The temp area I had for milking was nice, but the ground was lower than I like and therefore it stayed wet, very wet, after a rain. I also had 2 years to decide how I preferred to milk cows and where I wanted equipment to be set up. All of the *kinks* were straightened out before I had my barn set up.

This is also true of fencing. If you can use temporary electric fencing first, you will be able to decide if a particular area works for your needs before investing thousands into wire and wood fencing.

I will post pictures once Devin is done with my stalls. Today he is working and tomorrow we will be stuffing ourselves sick with food.

Today I clean!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!!